Embark on a thought-provoking expedition into sustainability within the fashion industry with our series Sustainability Strides. This week, IMAGES Business of Fashion explores the sustainability initiatives by Calvin Klein, unveiling their innovative strides in reshaping the fashion industry.
Calvin Klein is one of the world’s leading global fashion brands, driven by its minimalist and sensual aesthetic. Its designs and marketing are connected by the intention and purpose of elevating everyday essentials to globally iconic status. Its products are underpinned by responsible design and high-quality construction for pieces that wear well and remain relevant season after season.
By 2022, the brand continued the important work of reducing its impact on the planet while improving the lives of its associates and communities globally. Calvin Klein remained steadfast in its commitment to its strategic sustainability and inclusion priorities.
The brand focused on reducing single-use packaging waste and sourcing more environmentally preferred materials, as well as championing inclusivity by empowering associates with educational training and strengthening commitments to its NGO partners.
The brand is recreating its iconic designs with more environmentally preferred materials – aiming to reach 100% sustainable cotton, viscose and wool by 2025 and 100% sustainable polyester by 2030. And it’s eliminating plastic waste from our business by 2030, starting with our packaging.
Climate Action
The company is now making a substantial commitment to sustainable energy by investing in a new wind farm.
- Increased the usage of environmentally preferred materials to comprise 32.6% of the brand’s global materials footprint, up from 22% in 2020
- Increased the percentage of more sustainable mainline styles from 2% to 16% since 2021 for Calvin Klein global underwear and North America apparel Climate Action
- Launched Calvin Klein Jeans Reimagined Denim, an upcycled limited-edition capsule collection available exclusively in Hong Kong; created in partnership with designer Kay Wong of Fashion Clinic Collective Hong Kong and produced locally, the collection reworked over 2,000 pairs of unworn jeans
- Developed and launched Earth Colors, earth-toned pigments partially derived from agricultural waste, as an alternative to traditional synthetic options
- Launched CK Everyone Eau de Parfum, a Cradle to Cradle Certified®Gold fragrance, certified by the independent Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
- Updated its North American retail shopping bags with recycled materials and piloted the transition to recyclable paper transit polybags for select women’s underwear in North America
- Trained 800 Calvin Klein associates and licensing partners on Calvin Klein’s sustainable product guidelines
