Annual sustainability reports are becoming an increasingly popular way for fashion brands to inform their customers and stakeholders about the complexity and impact of their sustainability endeavours. The creation of a sustainability report is typically managed and overseen by a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) or Sustainability Manager within the company, with engagement of external consultants and third-party auditors. With the rising demand for sustainable fashion, and customers becoming more educated about the differences between greenwashing and a brand’s genuine efforts, a sustainability report enhances a brand’s credibility and helps it deliver complex messages that go far beyond advertisements or social media campaigns.
A comprehensive sustainability report should detail a brand’s efforts to find more responsible ways of material sourcing, producing, distributing, merchandising, communicating and end-of-life treatment. It should also reflect a brand’s efforts towards positive social impact. Different companies tackle sustainability aspects in different ways, while priorities can vary depending on factors such as a brand’s profile, product range, localisation or communities they are a part of. Differences aside, below is a summary of the key features that a comprehensive sustainability report should cover, and provide details and insights for.
Executive summary on Goals and Progress
A sustainability report usually begins with an overview of a brand’s sustainability targets, which is an outline of a brand’s holistic vision and objectives for the foreseeable future. The opening section should also provide a summary of a brand’s progress and achievements up to the report date. Numbers, percentages, and milestones are provided for a general overview, which are further analysed in subsequent sections of the report, along with the standards a brand adheres to, and the certificates it operates with. This is where a brand makes a detailed statement of its mission and credo – something that won’t fit into social media or advertisement campaigns. Information on how the brand engages with stakeholders, which include customers, employees, and communities, to promote sustainability, should also be included.
As with any research paper, this is where a stakeholder decides whether to stop or continue reading. Comprehensive reports not only provide viable information but also tell an authentic and engaging story of the brand’s efforts, trials, and ultimately, its success.
Supply Chain Transparency
Supply chain transparency essentially translates as a brand taking it upon itself to vouch for full sustainability compliance throughout the supply chain it belongs to. This is no mean feat, and requires the accomplishing of two challenging tasks. The first – identifying suppliers, manufacturers, and collaborators that have been verified by third-party institutions for their sustainability claims. Negotiating optimal cooperation terms and conditions is an effort in itself, and being included in a grid of verified businesses is definitely an achievement worth highlighting in a sustainability report.
The second challenge is optimising the balance between production efficiency, ethical sourcing and transparency, while investing in a sustainable infrastructure, along with its continuous improvement. In sustainability, the process speaks more about a brand than just the outcome. The effort to provide a complex mapping of its operational objectives will go a long way, as it will serve as a reliable backing of all sustainability claims that would otherwise remain unsupported.
Certification and Memberships
This section is where a brand provides more details about any certifications it has obtained, and membership status it holds in local and international animal-, planet-, or human- welfare organisations. It is a follow up from the Executive Summary and the information on the brand’s official website. This is also where a brand presents its sustainability team and external partners they work with on a daily basis. A brand can also capitalise on this space by telling the story of how it achieved its certification milestones, which shall serve as testimonials to a brand’s complex efforts.
Certifications are a definitive indication of whether a brand or a supplier complies with the standards and regulations they claim to uphold. With the Greenwashing Directive coming into force in EU Member States on 27 March 2026, certifications will become mandatory for brands aiming to stay on the sustainability course in the European market, regardless of their country of origin. For brands that have strived to maintain supply chain transparency, this development will relieve them of the responsibility to audit suppliers on their own, and allow them focus their resources on developing and improving their own sustainability agenda – all of which shall find shall be prominently featured in their sustainability report.
Sustainable Materials, Innovation and Technology
Vegan and sustainable materials should be at the very heart of a vegan brand’s operational objectives. This is where a brand can truly excel in its choices and investments, and share all technical details and data sheets about the materials it uses that wouldn’t normally be included on their e-commerce platform. Partnerships with innovative companies that produce next generation materials, or with organisations that stand for the ethical sourcing of materials, should be highlighted in this section.
A brand can tackle innovation in many ways, from sourcing and using innovative materials in its production, to implementing next generation tools and software in its operations, or developing new materials on their own or in partnership with other companies and organisations. The ‘Sustainable Materials, Innovation, and Technology’ section is the place to describe all the processes and technicalities involved. If a brand aims to apply for additional funding to pursue an innovation project, this is a perfect place to lay the groundwork for an investment pitch.
Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment
This is the essential section of the sustainability report. It should include all the technical details and a deep analysis of a brand’s – and its products’ – complex environmental impact. In recent years, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become a fundamental instrument for fashion brands in addressing ecological footprints. It aims to quantify and reduce the environmental impact of a product, identify ‘hotspots’, and outline areas for better sustainability efforts. Thanks to its comprehensive methodology, LCA is also considered as the ultimate validator of a brand’s ‘green’ claims. The most popular LCA tools are developed in accordance with ISO 14040, ISO 14044, and ISO 14067, such as the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) developed by the European Commission, and Carbonfact.
In any comprehensive sustainability report, three key areas should be meticulously addressed and analysed: carbon footprint, water footprint, and waste management. Carbon footprint measures the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) generated throughout a garment’s life cycle, from raw material sourcing to end-of-life. It breaks down the emissions of energy-intensive processes for both renewable and non-renewable sources, chemical usage, transportation and distribution, retail and consumer use. This is where popular materials such as animal leather and fuel-based virgin synthetics fall short due to their enormous GHG emissions, opening doors to discussions about a switch to plant-based and recycled fiber. There are tools and softwares dedicated to measuring, projecting, and reporting greenhouse gas emissions that are in accordance with international standards (GHG Protocol by WRI and WBCSD), and EU regulations (Footprint Expert by Carbon Trust, Ecochain).
Water footprint measures the water usage throughout garment production, from material cultivation and textile processing to consumer washing. Given the global shortage of drinking water, this is where high-water-consuming fiber like conventional cotton fall short on sustainability. The most popular tools to measure water footprint are Higg Index, Water Footprint Network, and Ecochain. Waste is becoming a growing concern as roughly 15% of waste is generated at the design and productions stage, and roughly 85% of all textiles produced end up in landfills each year. With mounting pressure to impose mandatory Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) globally, it is only reasonable for brands to address the waste problem at every production stage, from design and prototyping (AI is showing great promise), to more accurate predictions on sales, and end-of-life treatment. Presenting efforts and milestones in the waste management area as a fundamental part of a comprehensive sustainability report.
Circularity
Circularity, while a fundamental part of environmental impact analysis, deserves a dedicated section as it encompasses all everyday and strategic brand activities, from sourcing renewable and recycled materials, to operational decisions on recycling, upcycling, disposal and consumer-facing services such as repair, maintenance, resale and rental. For a brand to effectively address sustainability issues, it should incorporate circular economy solutions step-by-step, and align the solutions both vertically and horizontally.
The ‘Circularity’ section should detail all milestones achieved in a brand’s transformation from a linear to a circular economy model, as well as future projections for next steps. Challenges faced by a brand during this transition deserve a thorough case study. Given the current state of the fashion industry, every brand faces obstacles in this transformation, and it is only by sharing stories and learning from each other that brands can collectively overcome these challenges and enable tangible circularity. This is also where a brand provides its customers with the information and insights they need to embrace circularity in their consumption habits. Customers do like to learn useful things from a brand, and a comprehensive report is a valuable source of information – if not a better one than many others.
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility covers all critical areas such as social equity, community engagement, and fair labor practices throughout the supply chain. And while creating a sustainability report already represents a brand’s tangible effort to embrace its complex role and responsibility throughout the entire chain, the way a brand addresses social responsibility issues is a solid statement about how far beyond its own operational facilities a brand is willing to go to deliver on its social welfare promises. This is particularly important for brands that have their items produced in countries with less rigid social responsibility regulations.
There are common hotspots in social responsibility that should be addressed in a sustainability report, such as child labour, fair wages, and inclusivity. A brand cannot responsibly claim to be socially responsible if there are unaddressed hotspot issues within its supply chain. This section of the report should demonstrate the brand’s commitment to building and maintaining strong community ties and addressing social inequalities that concern its own community. This is a place for inspiring stories, breakthrough revelations, and a brand’s call for stakeholders’ support for its cause.
Appendix
Last but not least, a brand should keep in mind that a sustainability report, although created by professionals, is intended for an audience that may not be familiar with fashion and sustainability-specific terminology. Including an appendix with a glossary and any necessary technical explanations to help readers better navigate the dense content is always a welcome gesture.
Brands that tackle sustainability reports like a champ
As more fashion brands decide to invest in sustainability reporting, here is a list of reports that we at Vegan Fashion Repository find truly worth referring to (in alphabetical order):
Bamboo Clothing Impact Report 2023
MUD Jeans Sustainability Report 2023/2024
Pangaia Impact Report 2023
Save the Duck Sustainability Report 2022
Stella McCartney Impact Report 2023
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