Sustainability
Since joining the company in July of 2023, we have continued to make improvements in our sustainability. It is difficult to control manufacturer and suppliers level of sustainability (or traceability for that matter) but processes in-house are improving slowly.
We are aware of how the fashion industry is becoming exponentially aware of sustainability and traceability. In today’s post, we will introduce some of the sustainable products from different manufacturers, a fabric reselling program, and general sustainable practices that we encourage (and aim to improve), all while maintaining the customer-first outlook.
Table of Contents
Sustainable fabrics and trims on ApparelX
We have a style tag called sustainable, where you can view the the different fabrics and trims at all levels of sustainability. Whether it is just recycled plastics or dyed with natural dyes or is biodegradable, there are various types of products available.
Fabrics
This earth-friendly, sustainable drill is dyed using dyes extracted from ingredients contained in vegetables scheduled to be discarded by food companies. More than 90% of the dyes used are natural and chemical dyes are kept to a minimum, resulting in gentle colours.
Pile fabric made from recycled wool. Since recycled materials are used, thread of different origins may be mixed in.
Trims
This button uses oil that comes from castor beans (non-edible raw material). Made from renewable organic resources. It is an eco-friendly button that also protects the limited resources of petroleum.
(OEKO-TEX Standard 100) This product uses organic cotton eligible for the “PBP YARN PROJECT”. Donations are accumulated at the time of thread production and are used for support in line with the SDGs, such as supporting cotton farmers to convert to organic farming, prohibiting child labor, and supporting school attendance and scholarships.
Check out the sustainable style tag linked above to see more! We are able to ask manufacturers if they have certificates so if you are looking at organic cotton and you need the certification for it, send us an email and we’ll ask the manufacturer for it.
Fabric collection and re-sell program
This past spring, we planned and started a fabric collection and re-sell program. While this is currently open to domestic brands only, we have a form open for brands to tell us about any usable leftover fabric they have and they want to get rid of.
It costs money to throw out large items here in Japan, so leftover fabric is not easily thrown out. Many brands have stocks of fabric rolls that are sitting either in their own warehouse or at their factories that are left over from the previous seasons. We want to do our part and upcycling fabrics.
This form allows us to accept or reject certain fabric (if its too short of a piece, not enough information etc.) and to decide if its a place we can go pick up ourselves or have to request a pick up through a courier.
Once we approve the collection and the fabric arrives at our office, we take pictures and register it on out OUTLET page at a discount.
The brands get APX points dependant on sales, which they can use on their future purchases.
General Sustainable Practices in/at the Office
While we still have plenty to improve, here are just some of practices that we have in-house.
- No paper towels
- We have no paper towels in our restrooms or at our kitchenette area. Everyone carries around a personal handkerchief (which most people in Japan do anyways) and we use small towels and rags for cleaning.
- Water dispenser and Coffee machine
- As a country with convenience stores (“Konbini”) and vending machines at every corner, it is very easy to have bottles and bottles of drinks. Everyone has their own office mug/cup and having the hot/cold water dispenser and the coffee machine cuts down on people buying plastic bottles of them.
- Digitalization
- While this is still a work in progress, the apparel industry (any others honestly) in Japan are still FAX and paper heavy. We are gradually asking more and more of our fax based clients and manufacturer/supplier partners to go digital when placing orders to cut down on not only paper but also time! (I remember fax machines on the home phone when I was in the US like pre-2006, but I hadn’t used it before, so when I started working here they had to teach me – thankfully it’s just part of the office copy/printer machine so it was just a couple of buttons but wow)
- Paper as notepads
- When we do print paper, as long as it doesn’t contain confidential information, we use the backs of printed papers as notepads to quickly write notes on (to pass down to our warehouse staffs and back, etc.)
Conclusion
We are working on adding more sustainable fabrics and trims as well as improving packaging, decreasing waste and digitizing more of our work. Let us know if you have specific topics of sustainability that you’d like us to write about.
ApparelX is a BtoB ecommerce platform for brands, tailors and the like to order from small MOQs from a variety of manufacturers in one order. And we ship worldwide!
Check out our FAQ page, Youtube, and LinkedIn if you have basic questions or looking to stay connected.
If you are looking to bulk order, custom order, or have any other questions, contact us through our contact form and a member on the Global Strategy Team will get back to you within the next business day. (Please understand that we are based in Japan and our office hours are 9am-6pm so we are only able to answer during that time).