One of our favourite outdoor brands, Craghoppers, has been working hard to close the loop. The company has really upped its game in recent years when it comes to sustainable innovation and corporate social responsibility. Recognising that it’s no easy task to be completely sustainable, Craghoppers are striving to make positive progress towards achieving net-zero by 2050 with their Mindfully Made campaign. They have mapped out everything they have achieved as a brand and where they are working to improve under the areas of Sustainable Product, Ethical, Environmental, Social and Conservation. Here are some of the big initiatives they’ve implemented into their business in recent years.
Mindfully Manufactured
During the global pandemic, the clothing industry came under huge pressure. Craghoppers ensured it didn’t shirk its responsibilities and honoured every order placed with its suppliers before COVID struck. They are active members of the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) and work hard to keep their supply line clean and address gender bias and pay equality.
They have mapped out their supply chain to ensure full visibility. They use the Higg Index to assess their supply chain’s environmental impact and are looking to reduce their energy consumption by 20% by 2022. Craghoppers are members of Bluesign, a globally recognised standard that ensures their materials are manufactured using kinder dyes and less water.
Mindful Fabrics and Materials
Craghoppers have taken a stand against down and now use only recycled man-made fillings in their insulated products. When it comes to leather boots and shoes, they use gold standard tanneries and only use merino wool which has been ethically sourced. They are making a huge effort to use by-products in their supply chain. At the moment, some of their footwear styles use recycled coffee beans; they also use the food waste product, oyster shells, when making polyester. The wax coating on some of
their jackets is derived from oil made out of rice bark (or rice peel), another by-product of the food industry.
Since Winter 2020, 70% of Craghoppers products are made using recyclable materials, compared to 12% in 2019. By the end of 2021, they will have recycled nearly 60 million plastic bottles. They joined the Microfibre Consortium in 2017 to find a solution to microfibre leakage into the oceans and are working with the research programme to find better fibres, yarns and fabrics to use in their collections.
Mindful of Our Environment
One of their most impressive achievements so far is that they have zero landfill for any waste from their facilities. As signatories to the UNFCCC Fashion for Global Climate Action, they are committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. In 2020, they already saw a 23% drop (against 2019 emissions) in their overall carbon footprint. One reason for this was using the train from Asia to transport their materials rather than travelling by air. This saved around 11,000 tonnes of CO2. In 2021, they installed 892 solar panels in their UK office; this move alone will result in a carbon reduction of 58.7 tonnes per annum.
Social Impact
Craghoppers run two main Social Impact Programmes overseas and one in the UK. First, the RHEP Programme which educates and empowers female workers in Bangladesh
 on health, hygiene, nutrition, finance and family planning. The programme has been completed in nine factories in Bangladesh, reaching over 15,500 workers.
They also fund the Savar Primary School, located in their garment factory area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The school offers life-changing education to 262 students between the age of 4-14, including 58 children with learning and physical disabilities.
In the UK, they support a small action group working with local primary schools in Trafford and Salford to help their most vulnerable children over the Christmas school holidays and beyond.
Mindful Packaging
Craghoppers use no excess packaging. Their swing tickets are fully recyclable; their labels are made with recycled content and are sourced locally and they use recycled materials in their printing. Their polybags contain 30% recycled material and are fully recyclable. Their goal for the Group is to move to 50% recycled from Spring 2022.
Mindful Conservation
Craghoppers work with some incredible organisations around the world. They have been working with the
 Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund since 2013, committed to protecting the Mountain gorillas of Rwanda and the Grauer gorillas in the Congo. They are supporting the work of Galapagos Conservation Trust, helping them to raise awareness of
 their plastic pollution-free project on
 the island, as well as their many other conservation projects including the work of Ambassador Jonathan Green and his Whale Shark research. They also support the work of Saving the Survivors who work tirelessly to save animals in South Africa that have been injured due to poaching or a traumatic incident.
Mindful Aftercare
They offer a Guarantee for Life on their clothing as well as a free repair service for their customers. They work with Newlife, a charity for disabled children who take their customer returns, end of season or excess stock and faulty items and assess them to either be resold or recycled for raw material reclamation. In 2019/20, Newlife’s unique recycling operation collected
 2,190 tonnes of items, diverting over 2,000 from landfill, generating 13,050 tonnes of carbon savings and reusing 3.3 million items. This is the equivalent to taking 4,800 cars off the road or the carbon used by 1,610 homes, enough to fill 80 Wimbledon Centre Courts.
At Outsider, we love seeing when brands we love because of the quality of their products become brands that now care about the things we also care about, like the environment. Craghoppers are really setting a benchmark for others in the industry to follow and we, for one, applaud them. Learn more about their commitment to sustainability here.
The outdoor clothing brand Craghoppers is quickly becoming one of the frontrunners in the industry when it comes to sustainable innovation and corporate social responsibility. Their products are designed with the planet in mind. Already 70% of their products are made from recycled materials. Learn more about their commitment to sustainability and their Mindfully Made campaign here. In addition to that you can also check out some of their products below, all of which have been made with some recycled materials.
Craghoppers Hanson Jacket Winter Lagoon
Price: €164.50 (reduced from €235)
This unisex insulated waterproof jacket is a stylish yet super functional jacket that will keep you warm and dry on even the bleakest winter days. Approximately 450g of recycled material went into making this product.
Craghoppers Anderson Cagoule
Price: €112 (Reduced from €160)
Another cracking unisex offering from Craghoppers! We absolutely love this colour-block cagoule. Made from a waterproof rip-stop membrane it will last you forever (or for several years at least!). It comes with everything you need for the outdoors including a concealed hood, half-zip fastening and zipped pockets.  Approximately 110g of recycled material went into making this product.
Craghoppers ExpoLite Hooded Jacket
Price: €112 (reduced from €160)
This super-light insulating jacket features diagonal baffles which are filled with a synthetic fill to help trap body heat in the same way that a natural down does. It’s super sleek and packs away into one of its zipped pockets. It also comes in a women’s knee-length version which is perfect for winter swims and colder days. Approximately 40 bottles were recycled to make this product.
