What is Cradle-to-Cradle?

Cradle-to-Cradle is a certification standard designed for a circular product economy, focusing on five key areas: material health, product circularity, clean air and climate protection, water and soil stewardship, and social fairness. It ensures that products are designed to be fully recyclable or biodegradable, use safe materials, and have minimal environmental impact throughout their lifecycle.

31 January 2024

Responsibility

A Circular Solution

a woman in a denim jacket and shorts posing.

Since years we have collaboratively worked alongside our partners to explore sustainable alternatives. Including Cradle-to-Cradle Certified® products and fabrics. But what exactly are they? As we integrate more of them into our collections we decided to break down the significant certification step by step. As making a sustainable choice should be an understandable choice.

a denim jacket is sitting on top of a rock next to a stream

The Philosophy

In nature, there is no concept of waste. Everything effectively becomes food for another organism or a system, and all the materials are reutilized in cycles. Cradle-to-Cradle designs strive to mimic these same principles. As the fashion industry moves towards a more circular future, we aim to integrate this philosophy and responsible initiatives into our work process more and more.

a woman in a blue denim jacket and jeans posing for a photo

The Certification

To implement this philosophy into products, a Cradle-to-Cradle certification standard, powered by the Cradle-to-Cradle Products Innovation Institute, is used as a framework. Cradle-to-Cradle also known as ‘C2C’ is the only certification designed for a circular product economy. It is the most rigorous, requiring unparalleled levels of transparency, collaboration throughout multiple tears of the supply chain and a holistic design perspective. The extensive certification is further amplified by varying levels product can achieve, ranging from bronze, silver, gold to platinum. All whilst taking into consideration these five aspects:

Material Health: Ensuring all the selected materials are safe for humans and the environment
Product Circularity: Enabling a circular economy through regenerative products and process design
Clean Air and Climate Protection: Protecting clean air, promoting renewable energy, and reducing harmful emissions.
Water and Soil Stewardship: Safeguarding clean water and healthy soils.
Social Fairness: Respecting human rights and contributing to a fair and equitable society.

a man in a denim suit standing in a room

The Denim

In 2018 we presented the world’s first Cradle to Cradle Certified® Gold denim fabric through “Our Most Sustainable Jeans”, to date at that time. The innovative fabric contained 100% organic cotton and was dyed using zero harmful chemicals while not wasting a single drop of water. We have been building on this innovative fabric ever since, launching many different versions. With these adaptions to the initial innovation, we are able to continuously increase the use of circular fabrics throughout our collection. By providing more and more sustainable choices, we aim to make it easier for our customers to make a responsible choice.

In 2020 we even went beyond the fabric and launched our first Cradle to Cradle Certified® Gold product. Here, the full product, including buttons, yarn and labelling were Cradle to Cradle Gold Certified®, resulting in a 100% recyclable product.

Since that first certified fabric and product, we produced over 200.000 full C2C Certified Gold garments. And already more than 30 different fabrics are transformed in almost a million garments washed with the same chemicals and processes that were assessed for the full C2C Certified products. And we won’t stop here.