Princess Polly Sustainability
- Lauren
- Jan 30, 2022
- 4 min read
Hi everyone,
Welcome to the first ever Sustainable Style Sunday!! Today, I am going to be talking about Princess Polly. Princess Polly is an adorable Australian boutique. They have clothing items ranging from nice floral dresses to cute sunglasses to pair with an outfit. I have always found such cute stuff on Princess Polly, and, while I was shopping recently, I found their sustainable section. It can be found in multiple places, however it is most notable in the New This Season section.
Style Selection:
Above is the outfit picked from their sustainable collection. The handbag and the shoes definitely look a little bit off because of their stark contrast to the rest of the look, but with limited options I think the outfit is really cute. The shoes dress it down, but if you pop on some cute heels it will look a lot fancier.
So what does this mean? The Princess Polly website states that they “believe the whole fashion industry needs to do better.” Recognizing the issues of fast fashion on the environment is a great step towards creating a more environmentally friendly company. They continue by saying that they created the Princess Plly Earth Club “to play a big part in the movement for lasting change in our industry to put people, the planet and community first.” This development is fairly recent. Only last year they joined the United Nations Global Compact, which focuses on a variety of different social issues, including sustainability. They work to implement changes in various companies' environmental policies that are ambitious. The UN Global Compact stated that their COP26 (most recent UN climate change conference) “represents a major milestone as the world looks to recover better from the global pandemic and implement the transformative change necessary to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5ºC”. Princess Polly committed to the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact about human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption (here they are).
One of the major components of Princess Polly’s sustainability initiative is ethical sourcing. 100% of their factories have a valid ethical manufacturing audit. Their producers both register with the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, which works to improve and promote ethical workplaces, and go through an independent audit.
Additionally, Princess Polly works on producing sustainable products. They work to find lower-impact materials that prioritize the planet. Currently, they use organic cotton, recycled cotton, recycled nylon, recycled polyester, recycled PU, water based PU, recycled plastic, and recycled metal. They strive to have 100% of their products made by lower-impact materials by 2030. Secondly, Princess Polly created a Demand Driven Fashion program. Where, rather than 6 months in advance, they produce their products 3-6 weeks in advance to focus more on consumer needs, thus preserving material and preventing overproduction. They have certifications from Global Organic Textile Standard, Organic Content Standard, Global Recycled Standard, and Recycling Content Standard to ensure that the materials used are preferable for the well-being of the planet. Fully certified Earth Club items are built with at least 70% lower-impact materials, while the blended Earth Club products are at least 40%.
Furthermore, they are working to Protect the Planet. One of the ways they do this is by providing resources on how to keep your clothes for a long time and prevent waste once you are done with them. Princess Polly strives to reduce their carbon emissions by a minimum of 30% by 2030, have net zero emissions from their entire supply chain before 2030, have their global offices and warehouses be carbon neutral by 2023, and have zero waste to landfill by 2025 (including damaged return products). They have great goals that they are working to accomplish. These will benefit the environment greatly. In terms of packaging, 100% of their new packaging is made of recycled content and recyclable packaging. The recyclable packaging produces ¼ of the carbon emission of regular packaging, which is a serious decrease!!
Finally, Princess Polly works to create a more equal and community based company. They want to make sure everyone finds products for themselves, so they launched the Curve collection, which extends to a US size 20. Princess Polly recently established the Princess Polly Society that partners with charities promoting mental health, body positivity, and wellness for individuals and communities. Each year, they donate $500,000 to charities involved in the three topics mentioned above. Their first partners are the Butterfly Foundation and the Loveland Foundation, each of whom have received $150,00 each. The Butterfly Foundation provides support for eating disorders and body image problems, specifically in Australia. Check them out here!! On the other hand, the Love Land Foundation supports communities of color, particularly Black women and girls. They provide these women and girls with therapy, thus helping them heal. Check them out here!!
Overall, Princess Polly is working to help the environment and promote ethical practices and equality. I hope you learned a lot above. Here are some links you should check out to learn more!!
Links/Sources:
All the best,
Lauren Seidel
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