Adore Me is redefining inclusive and sustainable intimate apparel
Founded in 2012 in New York, Adore Me became the first US lingerie brand to champion inclusive sizing. Today, it also offers activewear, swimwear, and loungewear that combine comfort and style.
It has evolved into a leader in accessible sustainability through initiatives such as the Adore Me Cares program, its in-house AIM and eco-design tools. By using recycled fabrics, adopting digital printing, and pioneering low-impact dyeing with Everdye, the brand continues to minimise its environmental footprint.
Partnering with Carbonfact for carbon measurement and Reforest’Action for reforestation, Adore Me integrates transparency, accountability, and purpose into every step of its journey toward a more responsible fashion future.
In a conversation with Fibre2Fashion, ESG Manager, Alexandra Ilie discussed how the brand’s inclusive ethos, technology-driven strategy, and sustainability commitments continue to shape its growth.
Adore Me has grown from an online lingerie startup in 2011 into a full-scale DTC lingerie and apparel brand. What key strategies drove this transformation and expansion?
Our various initiatives have driven Adore Me’s growth over the years, but the most significant factor has been our strong relationship with customers and our team’s agile test-and-learn approach.
Expansions into new categories—such as swimwear, loungewear, and more—have been guided by insights from customer data and interviews.
Additionally, our in-house technology has enabled faster delivery, greater adaptability, data-driven decision-making, and enhanced personalisation for our customers.
How has the Home Try-On service model changed the way customers engage with intimate apparel shopping?
For so many people, trying on intimate apparel is such a personal and vulnerable experience, especially when you can’t do it in the comfort of your own home.
The Home Try-On service completely reshaped this experience by bringing the fitting room to the customer’s front door, where they can try pieces on at their own pace with the option to pair with items they already have in their wardrobe. The service has turned into a confidence-building experience.
Adore Me became the first Certified B Corporation intimate apparel brand in the US. How does this certification influence your approach to sustainability and business decisions?
Becoming the first Certified B Corporation intimate apparel brand in the US reaffirmed a mindset we have embraced since the beginning of our sustainability journey six years ago—continuous improvement.
The B Corp standards reflect our approach to business: raising the bar each year for our products, practices, and overall impact.
From integrating eco-design principles into product development to reducing our carbon emissions year after year, we view every milestone as a step toward doing better than before. This philosophy lies at the heart of both Adore Me’s identity and the B Corp standards.
How is the company addressing social responsibility, particularly for workers in its supply chain?
Adore Me holds suppliers contractually accountable through our Upstream Supply Chain Guide (USG).
The USG outlines obligations across key areas of human rights, environmental protection, and ethical business conduct.
All direct suppliers are required to comply with applicable labour laws and international standards, including fundamental ILO conventions.
Could you share some insights into Adore Me’s initiatives around sustainable fabrics and materials?
One of Adore Me’s ESG pillars is Better Products, which means continuously improving materials and processes involved in the manufacturing of our styles.
In 2024, we reduced the share of raw material emissions by 20 per cent compared to our 2021 baseline, largely driven by increasing the use of recycled fibres in our fibres mix.
Raw materials remain our most actionable lever for lowering our footprint, and this progress is central to our eco-design strategy.
We also advanced product innovation by integrating Everdye’s non-toxic, low-heat dyeing technology, which is another partnership developed through our Adore Me Sustainability Accelerator.
This process replaces petrochemical dyes and toxic mordants with bio-sourced pigments that work at ambient temperatures, reducing both energy use and emissions.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results showed that Everdye’s process emits as little as 0.45 kg carbon dioxide per kilogram of dyed fabric, outperforming other conventional dyeing methods.
How does Adore Me integrate ESG principles into its overall business strategy?
Adore Me formalised its ESG efforts into a comprehensive strategy built on three core pillars: better products, a better supply chain, and stronger community reach—all supported by three key enablers: data, tools, and governance.
We have empowered individuals across every department to implement practices and methodologies that advance our sustainability goals.
This decentralised approach ensures that sustainability is not treated as a standalone initiative but is instead woven into Adore Me’s everyday operations.
How does the company measure and report progress on its carbon reduction goals?
For the past three years, Adore Me’s carbon reporting has been supported by our trusted third-party partner, Carbonfact.
They were among the first innovators to join the Adore Me Sustainability Accelerator, a program that provides startups with access to our internal practices to help strengthen their solutions within the industry ecosystem.
Carbonfact’s measurement framework is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and when secondary data is used, its calculations incorporate emission factors from globally recognised databases, including IEA, EPA, Ecoinvent, UK Defra, and GLEC.
Each ESG Report builds on this foundation with a comprehensive carbon footprint section that includes detailed analysis of priority topics.
How do you balance affordability for customers with sustainable production practices?
At Adore Me, we are committed to making sustainability part of the mainstream shopping experience, not a luxury. We balance affordability and sustainable production by optimising processes for greater efficiency, leveraging data and technology, and building strong partnerships across our supply chain and industry ecosystem.
A key enabler here is our test-and-learn approach, which allows us to pilot new solutions quickly, evaluate their commercial and environmental performance, and then scale what works.
In recent years, we advanced this through our Proof-of-Concept methodology, piloting capsule collections such as the most recent Ace Collection featuring Regen Ocean Nylon made from discarded fishing nets to demonstrate that sustainable solutions can be both scalable and cost-effective.
Looking ahead, what are the key ESG priorities for Adore Me in the next 3–5 years?
Looking ahead, Adore Me’s focus is on scaling eco-design and enabling sustainable solutions across the supply chain through trust, collaboration, and shared accountability.
Achieving these ambitions depends on deepening collaboration with our suppliers, as addressing Scope 3 emissions remains the most critical challenge for fashion.
We also recognise that this challenge extends beyond our operations, which is why we will continue to work across the wider ecosystem to drive solutions through collective effort and shared learning.
How is the lingerie and intimate apparel industry adapting to growing consumer demand for sustainable and ethical products?
The lingerie and intimate apparel industry continues to evolve to meet growing customer expectations around responsibility and transparency. More customers are open to learning about the journey behind the products they purchase, creating an opportunity for brands to both educate and deliver better choices. At Adore Me, this translated into deeper supply chain traceability and new ways to communicate openly with customers.
In 2024, we advanced this work through our partnership with CommonShare by rolling out a pilot of Digital Product Passports. These passports consolidate data from across our value chain including information on product origin, composition, certifications, and environmental impact—into a format that will ultimately be accessible to customers.
This milestone not only strengthens compliance and accountability but also lays the foundation for empowering customers with direct, transparent insights into their garments’ lifecycle.
What challenges does the fashion industry face in scaling the use of recycled or sustainable fabrics?
Scaling preferred fabrics remains one of the industry’s main challenges. Availability of high-quality recycled fibres remains limited, and prices are often higher than conventional alternatives.
Overcoming these barriers requires deeper collaboration across the supply chain and intentional investments to ensure that sustainable fabrics meet both performance and affordability standards.
How are brands in the fashion sector balancing fast fashion trends with long-term ESG goals?
Across the fashion industry, brands are learning to balance fast-moving trends with long-term ESG goals by embedding sustainability into their design and production processes.
At Adore Me, we address this through our internal eco-design tool, which evaluates each design across four key categories: fibres, water, waste, and chemicals.
This tool ensures that even trend-driven collections meet our sustainability standards, allowing teams to stay agile in responding to customer demand while continuously improving product sustainability.
