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Interview with Katharine Beacham

Katharine Beacham
Katharine Beacham
Head of Materials and Sustainability
Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer

Our quality products are created with care and made to last
Marks and Spencer (M&S) is a leading British retailer bringing quality, great value food, clothing and homeware to millions of customers around the world. M&S’ Head of Materials and Sustainability Katharine Beacham speaks to Fibre2Fashion about sustainability, traceability and goals set at the company.

How would you describe the consumer awareness about sustainability in fashion in 2022 as opposed to five years back?

We know, sustainability really matters to our customers. Latest research from our M&S Family Matters Index, demonstrates that more than half (60 per cent) of consumers are making an effort to find more practical ways they can reduce their environmental impact – in fact, over a third of now consider the planet when shopping for clothes. Climate change has accelerated since we launched Plan A, our sustainability action plan in 2007. To face the issue head on, we have put building a more sustainable business at the heart of our core strategy to ensure that the planet – and M&S – are in a better shape for the future.
 

What amount of M&S's apparel & footwear collection is sustainable currently?

Cotton is very important to M&S. Within our clothing & home business it is the largest raw material and on average we use around 40,000 tonnes of lint cotton each year, of that around 35,000 tonnes is used in our clothing. In 2019, we achieved our goal for 100 per cent of cotton in all our clothing to be sustainably sourced – something we continue to meet today.

How do you plan to improve traceability and transparency for end consumers?

Our clothing and home supply chain is global. In 2016, we launched our interactive supplier map which shows where our M&S clothing & home products are made to improve traceability and transparency for our consumers. The map highlights production countries as well as individual factory locations and profiles for sites used by our direct suppliers.

What kind of commitments and criteria do you look for in vendors or third parties you outsource from? Can you share a few details?

In 1998, we introduced our Global Sourcing Principles, which set out our minimum global supplier ethical and environmental standards to ensure that our suppliers’ employees, producing our products, are provided with good working conditions.

What are the biggest sustainable fashion trends you think will dominate globally in the next 4-5 years?

As customers’ sustainability concerns continue to grow, there is a greater focus on the circular economy, with fashion rental platforms and peer-to peer marketplaces thriving – and we don’t see this slowing down. In November last year we started working with Hirestreet – enabling customers to rent M&S womenswear clothing on the UK’s leading rental site and this year we announced a trial with dotte, the UK’s first fully circular kidswear peer-to-peer marketplace where parents can buy, sell, donate, and recycle outgrown kidswear. Our quality products are created with care and made to last – making them ideal for rental or resale and these are just a few of the ways we are helping our customers to live lower carbon lives in the years to come.

How do you plan to improve the industry standards and reduce environmental impact of clothes?

We believe there will always be demand for new clothes, but it is important that we continue as an industry to innovate in how we produce our products, whilst protecting our planet. In 2021, we introduced new sustainability standards for a core product range – denim. Working with Jeanologia, the leader in sustainable finishing technologies, we have made significant changes to each stage of the development process, from reducing water consumption and chemical impact to increasing our sustainable fibres. This year, we also unveiled our first capsule collection of jeans as a participant of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Jeans Redesign Project – the styles in the collection are made with circularity in mind made to be used longer, to be made again and in a way that is better for garment workers and for the environment.

What are the long-term and short-term sustainable goals set at M&S?

Last year, we reset our Plan A sustainability programme, with a singular focus on becoming a net zero Scope 3 business across our entire supply chain and products by 2040. The ambitious target would see us achieve full net zero ten years ahead of the government’s UK-wide strategy. 
By 2025, we have committed to: 
  • Work on using more sustainable raw materials across all clothing & home products  
  • Increase the use of recycled material across all clothing & home products  
  • 100 per cent of polyester will be recycled 
  • 100 per cent more sustainably sourced man-made cellulosic fibres. 
Published on: 26/05/2022

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

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