Our Sustainability
At Jenerous we are striving to be sustainable in our fabric choices and production processes. As well as ensuring that the people making our clothes have safe and fair working conditions, we also believe it is important to care for our planet.
Our sustainable actions:
The majority of our collection is made using sustainable fabrics such as organic cotton and Lenzing Modal. We source our fabrics from India where our garments are manufactured.
We’ve partnered with a sustainable block printers so that our dying and printing is done using eco-friendly dyes.
We reduce our waste by making matching mini-me girls dresses and use fabric offcuts from our collections to make a range of zero waste accessories.
We support local Indian businesses by including some deadstock end of roll fabrics in our collections and stock fabrics, which prevents these going to landfill and uses up fabric that has already been produced.
We bank with the co-op the only UK bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy, and a yearly sustainability report. All of the electricity sourced by The Co-operative Bank is 100% renewable.
We use Octopus green energy from 100% renewable sources like sun, wind and water for our home office.
We use recycled and biodegradable packaging for deliveries and all promotional material and swing tags are printed on recycled paper.
We have a Jenerous Pre-loved scheme and encourage our customers to return their unwanted Jenerous items so that we can resell them and extend the life of our clothing. We donate the profits from re-sale to our charity projects.
We plant a tree for every order and new subscriber to our mailing list. We have planted native tree species in Madagascar, Kenya, Nepal, and Indonesia with a company called C-Free since 2021 and planted a total of 800 trees. Many of the trees were in mangroves as they help reinstate soil stabilisation, improve the quality of the water, and provide a natural habitat for fish and other rare sea creatures. Mangroves are also fantastic carbon sinks and (pound for pound) remove four times more carbon than rainforests! We also helped to ensure a decent income for the local villagers that plant the trees, and guaranteed income even on days where no trees were planted due to extreme weather. We are in the process of sourcing another tree planting company to partner with in 2024. In the meantime we will be keeping a record of all our orders and sign-ups!
We are committed to increasing our use of sustainable fabrics.
We use carbon neutral international shipping and keep our shipments to a minimum, including new sample development with production orders.
We keep our international travel to a minimum, liaising remotely where ever possible. We have reduced our international travel from 2 annual trips a year to zero. We utilise virtual meetings instead.
The Sustainable Development Goals
We are working towards the the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a set of 17 goals that are the blueprint to achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. These goals address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
In particular we are working towards…
Goal 1 that seeks to end poverty in all its forms
Goal 5 that looks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Goal 8 that promotes inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all, ending all forms of forced labour and modern slavery.
Goal 12 which seeks to ensure responsible sustainable consumption and production patterns. You can read more about our progress here.
Goal 13 that addresses climate action and the need to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 17 that promotes global partnerships to achieve the goals.
The SDGs We’re Working On
No Poverty
We are working to reduce poverty through sustainable employment for people from low socio-economic backgrounds. We also give back from sales to support charities that are working to alleviate poverty in India where our clothing is made.
Gender Equality
We are a women led business and believe in equal opportunities and supporting women workers. Our clothing is made primarily by women, which is representative of garment workers within the fashion industry. We are seeking to empower women through our business and partner with several women-led organisations in India.
Decent Work & Economic Growth
We are working towards Goal 8 through partnering with fair trade producers that are providing decent, safe work and paying above the living wage. Fairtrade suppliers do not use forced or child labour. We seek to raise awareness and empower consumers to make better purchase choices. Whenever we buy clothing we have the opportunity to empower workers in the fashion industry. We believe in creating a transparent fashion industry and are open about who makes our clothing.
Responsible Consumption & Production
At Jenerous we are committed to reducing our consumption and adopting the most sustainable processes for our production, distribution and packaging. Since we launched in 2019 we have learnt a great deal about being a sustainable business. We have committed to taking steps to reduce our environmental impact and continue to become more sustainable one step at a time. You can find out more on our Responsible Consumption & Production page.
Climate Action
We are conscious that we are in a climate emergency and are working to reduce our impact by making sustainable operational business choices.
Partnerships for the Goals
At Jenerous we have global partnerships with like-minded organisations that are working to achieve the same goals as us.
Our Impact Reports
We are pleased to be able to publish our first Impact report in 2022, using the UN’s SDG framework to help us provide clarity on what we are doing across key areas. We have just published our 2023 impact report showing our progress.
We are committed to being transparent and showing what a small business can do. We truly believe that every business no matter what industry they are in can make a difference. The United Nations have provided a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future, and we are proud to be able to contribute.
We hope you enjoy reading our Impact reports and can see how small changes within one business across key areas can make a positive contribution.
We will publish our 2024 reporting soon so you can see our progress.