Sustainability & Ethics Statement

We are in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling Australian swimwear and apparel to the world. We acknowledge that fashion is the second-most polluting industry in the world after mining and we consciously choose to play a role in addressing this. In recognition or our efforts in achieving this, we have been B Corp Certified since 2020 and Carbon Neutral Certified since 2021.

As well as doing everything possible to minimise the impact of our business on the environment, we also consciously manage the supply chain and operation of our business to ensure it respects everyone involved in the process, including our workers, suppliers and customers.

Certifying as a B Corporation goes beyond product or service-level certification. B Corp Certification is the only certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. The B Impact Assessment evaluates how our company’s operations and business model impact our workers, community, environment, and customers. From our supply chain and input materials to giving back and employee benefits, B Corp Certification validates that our business is meeting the highest standards of verified performance.

PREMIUM, ENDURING QUALITY GARMENTS
Making the highest quality products that withstand the test of time is at the heart of our business philosophy. We believe it is better for the environment and our lives as human beings, to encourage women to build their wardrobes with better quality garments in silhouettes that endure.  As a result, we are very considered in choosing the highest-quality fabrics and trims available, ensuring expert craftsmanship from our makers and creating design that stands the test of time.

LUXURY, SUSTAINABLE FABRICS
We choose to use fabrics that are of superior quality and are sustainably produced.  Our swimwear fabrics are sourced from premium Italian mills and are of the highest possible quality globally.­ For our apparel we seek to use natural fibres like linen, cotton, silk and cellulosic materials. Partnering with best-in-class mills in Europe and Japan. Where possible, we choose organically certified fibres.

The Environmental Product Declaration (EDP) is a certification that analyses and quantifies the environmental impact of a product’s life cycle including consumption of raw materials including chemicals, water and energy, the waste produced and the emissions of the mill that makes it. The EPD Analysis then converts all these impacts into a single measure called The Global Warming Potential, or Carbon Footprint and expresses it as a kilogram of CO2 (carbon dioxide) for every square metre of fabric produced. 

Our primary swimwear base cloth, Sculpteur® has a very low Carbon Footprint of 2.14, which is up to 10 times lower than fabrics made from recycled plastics. The Global Warming Potential of recycled plastic is significantly higher due to the intensive temperatures, water usage and chemicals required to transform old plastic into polyester thread. Recycled polyester is also not as stable and releases more plastic fragments into the water system when washing. We acknowledge the benefit of using recycled plastic to minimise virgin polyester being put into the supply chain, however, our judgement at this point is to choose a fabric that produces a 10th of the CO2 in its production and doesn’t break down as easily when worn or washed.

All swim fabrics used by BONDI BORN are OEKO-TEX Certified which means they do not release any harmful substances that can be hazardous to people's health such as pesticides, heavy metals, formaldehyde, aromatic amines or allergising colourants. The requirements and thresholds of this certification are constantly updated based on the latest medical-scientific studies.

ZERO LANDFILL POLICY
We do everything we can to avoid sending waste to landfill.

Warehouse/Office Waste
- We recycle all electronic waste, cardboard, paper and hard plastic so only the minimum goes to landfill

Garment Waste
- We never destroy or send to landfill any garments that are wearable. We sell them retailers, in warehouse sales or donate them to women’s charities
- Garments that aren’t wearable we send for upcycling/recycling to Upparel
- We give away excess trims to charities and sewing schools

Fabric Waste
- We consciously order our fabrics to reduce excess.
- We buy deadstock fabrics for our collections
- We make garments for our website and warehouse sales using remnant fabrics
-  We create custom garments for The Outnet  using remnant fabrics
-  We dye excess fabrics in seasonal fashion colours to black where we can
-  We sell excess fabric to deadstock fabric dealers

CONSCIOUS PACKAGING
BONDI BORN packaging is consciously chosen to be plastic free, recycled or compostable, inclusive of swing tags, satchels, and hygiene labels.  We keep our ecommerce packaging to a minimum for generate less waste and less CO2 in its transport.

ETHICAL MANUFACTURING
We form partnerships with garment makers who abide by our Supplier Code of Conduct that ensure they pay their workers fairly and offer good working conditions.  The majority of our makers in Australia and overseas are owned and operated by women. We engage third party auditors to visit our international makers to inspect and verify that they meet acceptable standards.

CLIMATE NEUTRAL
In partnership with Climate Neutral, a global not-for-profit organisation, we measure our total annual emissions and offset them entirely by donating to certified climate change solutions. The climate change projects we are supporting currently include the Paroo River Native Vegetation Regeneration Project in Western Queensland, the Peniup Native Reforestation Project in Southwest Australia and the Evercreech Plantation Forestry Project in East Coast Tasmania.
When our customers check-out at our websites, they can choose which not-for-profit carbon reduction project they wish us to donate to, to offset our carbon footprint.

CARBON REDUCTION POLICY
As well as offsetting our assessed carbon production, we make active choices throughout our operations and supply chain to ensure we minimise any carbon we create.  We choose to only work with fabric mills that have certifications or policies regarding carbon reduction.  We choose domestic and international couriers that have green energy and carbon offset policies. We choose to ship our fabrics into Australia by sea and not by air whenever we can. Whenever our staff fly, we offset the carbon on their flights. Our office/warehouse produces a very small amount of emissions at <4tCO2e per annum. For example, we use a government-accredited Greenpower supplier Energy Locals who produce our energy using green sources such as sugarcane and wood waste. 

WATER REDUCTION POLICY
We understand that water is a precious resource, and we do what we can to minimise its use in all areas of our supply chain and business operations. Our European mills all carry the highest level of certification for sustainable practices, including water saving methodologies. 

As our business grows we will continue to look for ways to never compromise on people and the planet.  We welcome your feedback and suggestions.  Please email sustainability@bondiborn.com at any time.