Conscious
For the last 50 years Browns has been at the forefront of fashion, bringing you the newest names, the hottest launches and all the latest from your favourite designers. Nevertheless, in recent times it’s become clear that forward thinking means acknowledging the impact that our love of fashion is having on our planet and our community. With our “cool to be kind” mantra, we’re now looking at how we can apply our ethos to the world around us, translating our love of creativity and new ideas into more than just aesthetics.
As a company, we know it’s not an overnight process. These are the first important small steps we’re taking, but they’re the path to bigger things. We’ll be keeping you updated as our plans develop, continuing to bring you more innovative and exciting ways to enjoy fashion with a conscious approach.
The Conscious Edit
Our conscious edit is an ever-growing offering of brands and products that have been created with the future of our planet in mind. In collaboration with Farfetch, we’ve commenced our partnership with Good On You, an organisation dedicated to being the world’s leading source for ethical fashion brand ratings, aligning with their initiatives to protect people, the planet and animals, as outlined below.
- People: ‘We look at a brand’s impact on workers across the supply chain; from policies and practices on child labour and forced labour to worker safety, payment and freedom of association (the right to join a union). We also consider a brand’s supplier relationships and auditing practices.’
- Planet: ‘We consider each brand’s resource use and disposal, energy use and carbon emissions, impacts on water, as well as chemical use and disposal.’
- Animals: ‘We downgrade for the use of fur, angora, down feather, shearling, karakul and exotic animal skin and hair. We also consider wool use, including ‘mulesing’, and whether and how the brand uses leather.’
Products you see labelled with the “conscious” tag have either been rated favourably by Good On You, or are made with materials or certifications widely recognised as aligning with these conscious values.
Progress, Not Perfection
For our smaller, new to world brands, we are working with those that, whilst not fully fledged in their sustainability goals, are taking tangible steps towards the above three objectives. For this we are working in partnership with our parent company, Farfetch, and their inhouse sustainability team to offer brands guidance on the steps they can take to become more conscious in their approach to fashion.
Reimagining Retail
We’re on a mission to keep offering you more ways to engage with fashion, both creatively and consciously. From spotlighting visionaries who create groundbreaking designs using upcycled and repurposed fabrications, to partnering with innovative marketplaces and rental businesses, we’re looking to continually evolve the future of our fashion and retail offering.
A Responsible Future
We’re also taking a look at the elements that make up the Browns universe. We’ve already started giving customers the option of conscious packaging at checkout, and all paper and cardboard packaging is now made from FSC approved sources. We’re introducing dust bags and suit carriers made entirely from recycled materials and we have a fleet of electric bikes and an electric van at the ready for our London deliveries. We’ve also begun working with The Bear Scouts, enlisting their innovative know-how to ensure our special project launch calendar is designed and produced with a conscious approach in mind.
