Long-lasting and sustainable materials
We want to create items that truly last in use, and thus a key consideration for us when choosing materials is their quality and longevity. In addition, recognizing that through material choices we can reduce the environmental impacts in our upstream value chain, we are committed to increasing the share of sustainable cotton and other more sustainable materials in our products and packaging. We commit ourselves to reduce the environmental footprint of our textile materials by 30 percent (measured in the Higg Material Sustainability Index) by 2025 through using more sustainable materials.
Although cotton is the most traditional and widely used raw material, designers are constantly looking for new materials suitable for different purposes speaking to today’s consumer and being more sustainable. In addition to the cotton, materials used in the collections include, for example, linen, wool, merino wool, lyocell, modal, viscose, silk and leather. We also use recycled materials on a seasonal basis, for example recycled cotton and recycled wool. We aim to increase the share of recycled materials in the future.
To support responsible sourcing of different materials, we have drafted product policies that define our sustainability requirements for the materials and their production processes. You can explore the product policies here.
Marimekko has been the first Finnish company to join the international Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) in 2013. The goal of the BCI is to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in and better for the sector’s future. In 2019, more sustainably produced Better Cotton accounted for 88% of our total cotton use. Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products. However, BCI farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we source. We aim to use only more sustainably grown or traceable cotton by 2025.
The cotton we use comes from different parts of the world. We source mainly Better Cotton, which is grown by around 2 million cotton farmers in 15 countries or areas around the world, for example in India, Brazil, Africa, the United States and China. The conventional cotton used by us comes, for example, from India, Pakistan, the United States, Peru and Turkey. Due to human rights violations related to cotton production in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, we do not currently accept cotton from these countries or areas in our products. We require our suppliers to annually provide information about the origin of the cotton materials they source for us.
Taking care of the products
It is our goal is that, if properly cared for, Marimekko products last for one generation to another. Proper care helps prolong the product’s life cycle and keep it beautiful longer. Extending the product’s life cycle is also an effective way to reduce its environmental footprint.
To help our customers care for their items, we published care tips for different materials in our online store. In addition, our textile products are marked with the Clevercare label. At Clevercare.info our customers find care instructions that save the environment and the product as well as effort and money. The instructions remind for example, that the product should not be washed too often or in too high temperatures.