6 WAYS WE'RE MAKING FASHION A FORCE FOR GOOD

World Earth Day, celebrated every year on April 22nd, is a chance for all of us to raise awareness about protecting our planet. From planning beach litter pick-ups to big-name brand commitments, we’re all in this together. Here’s a snapshot of everything we’ve achieved so far in making fashion a force for good.

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Our Newlife Partnership

Over £1.6m was spent in 2021 partnering with charities & social enterprises in their purposes. Our longest standing charity partnership is with Newlife. As well as directly donating 100% of our carrier bag levy money to support families with disabled and terminally ill children (a total of £3m), we also partner with Newlife for all our terminal stock, which is either sold to raise further money for charity or broken down for recycling. When it comes to product waste, we sell nearly all our clothing. Over 850,000 garments have been reused or recycled through our Newlife partnership, saving 2290 tonnes of CO2 in 2020.

RI x Reskinned Takeback Scheme

Our takeback scheme in partnership with Reskinned launched in April 2022, and has now been rolled out to 200+ UK stores. In short, we’ll find new homes for your old clothes - just bring them into participating locations or arrange an online pickup <here>. Items are then hand-checked and ozone-cleansed by Reskinned using a zero water, eco-friendly cleaning process, and you’ll be given an RI voucher to say thank you! Soon, you’ll also have the chance to shop these pre-loved styles through our eBay shop. Watch this space.

More Recyclable Materials

We have also now eliminated single-use plastic from our packaging. All our carrier bags and shipping bags are made from recyclable materials, including our own waste, and are recyclable.

Green Energy Usage

We committed to the British Retail Consortium’s Climate Roadmap to net-zero emissions by 2040. As a result, we’re proud to say we use 100% green energy in our stores, head office and distribution centre. We also want to reduce the environmental impact of taking care of your RI clothing. As of 2022, all our wash care will be 30 degrees to empower our customers to reduce their carbon and water footprint.

Our Material Agreements

All the cotton in our jeans is responsibly sourced. 1 in 4 of our products are currently sustainably attributed but our goal is to make at least 50% of our garments using sustainable materials by 2023.

Plastic and Cardboard

When it comes to saving plastic and cardboard, we’re making huge progress. Our distribution centre is already zero waste to landfill, with everything that comes through the DC either recycled or reused. 1223 tonnes of cardboard and 20 tonnes of plastic were saved in 2021.