Country Road and Australia Post deliver sustainable fashion for the future

Iconic fashion brand Country Road brings style to our wardrobes, but at the same time strives to care for the unique world we live in. Recognising their responsibility as a guardian of the planet, they are putting sustainability at the forefront of their business – at every level. Country Road has aligned itself with partners such as Australia Post that believe in the importance of sustainability too. A partnership which has been particularly important with the surge of online shopping since the pandemic. Together Australia Post helped Country Road put a smile on their customer’s faces by delivering online orders with recycled packaging.

Here Lok-Man Shu, Group Environment Manager at Country Road Group, helps us look at some of the innovative ways Country Road is putting climate change under the spotlight, as well as fashion on the catwalk.

Fighting climate change by reducing emissions

Lok-Man says that he’s really proud that Country Road has been doing a lot of work from a climate perspective. As well as installing LEDs throughout to make their stores more energy efficient, they’ve been working with renewables.

“As of this year, we've transitioned all the sites where we directly source our energy to renewable energy through green power or an equivalent. That represents over 60% of our overall consumption,” he says.

To further lower their impact, all new stores are 5 Star Green Star Design Stores, as Lok-Man proudly tells us. Their inspiring Chadstone store boasts innovative sustainable features such as reclaimed bricks, fitting room hooks made of recycled ocean plastic and fixtures made from recycled yoghurt pots.

Lok-Man says Country Road has also looked at its climate impacts from a logistics point of view. “We've been really fortunate to partner with Australia Post because we've been able to better understand our logistical footprint, but also how we can mitigate those impacts. Whether it be from an offsets point of view, or how we can make ourselves more efficient by using more road rather than the air [for deliveries].” 

Encouraging customers to play their part

For Country Road to help reduce their emissions further, they are encouraging customers to jump on board. Informing customers about the environmental initiatives they can get involved in, and the little things they can do at home to make a difference such as switching to cold washes and air drying clothes. “Everyone wants to do the right thing, but we've got to make it simple enough for them to do [so],” he says. 

Finding the perfect packaging

Country Road has done a lot of work to make sure that their packaging is as environmentally friendly as it can be. When working together with Australia Post on a ‘best in class’ sustainable satchel, Lok-Man says it was important to balance the sustainable attributes and the commercial elements, as well as think of the life cycle of the packaging.

“We wanted to see more recycled materials in our packaging, but also ensure that the packaging was recyclable. It was really great working in this partnership, because we were able to source a bag that was more than 80% recycled content but also was fully recyclable at the thousands of REDcycle [soft plastic collection bins at major supermarkets nationwide].”

Using recycled materials

Country Road is taking steps to build sustainability into every stage of their products’ lives, from design to waste. Using recycled materials in their fabrics is part of this commitment. More specifically, Country Road has recently started a Towards Circularity program which looks at where they can absorb their manufacturing offcuts and materials back into their products. As part of this initiative Country Road has put together a collection using 30 percent recycled cotton made from their waste offcuts and faulty garments.

To include customers in the process, Lok-Man talks about Country Road’s long established Fashion Trade program with Red Cross. This encourages people to donate their old Country Road clothes back to be re-sold, diverting them from landfill and raising much needed funds for Red Cross. “It provides that circular kind of opportunity,” he says. Another example of how Country Road is working together with their customers to reduce, reuse and recycle.