Natural fibres account for nearly 90% of our collections, the majority being silk, linen, and cotton. We limit the use of synthetics to garments such as swimwear, slips and pleated items that require nylon, elastane or polyester for specific functional reasons.

We select our fabrics for quality, texture and wearability. We are regularly looking for opportunities to use fabrics from sustainable sources; for example, we are proud members of The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), and from early 2021 we are using organic linen for T-shirting, and nylon made from recycled plastic in our swimwear linings.

Here’s a breakdown of fabrics we use:

Yes. Our collections are fur-free.

We do not use Angora.

We do not use banned animal-derived materials, including vulnerable or endangered species included on either the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) or the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists. 

Yes, we use a small amount of leather in our Runway Collections (currently under 1%). While our footwear and accessories businesses are currently a small part of our product volume, around 60% of the styles in these categories also use leather. These items are made in Italy, Brazil, Australia and Portugal.

We only source from tanneries with a proven track record on traceability and standards that meet our criteria, and all our suppliers have signed our Supplier Code of Conduct, which includes provisions on good animal husbandry. However, there is still work to do. The Leather Working Group is an international, not-for-profit membership organisation responsible for the world’s largest leather sustainability program. We aim to source only from tanneries that are members of the Leather Working Group by the end of 2021.

Although wool products form a small part of collections (under 2% currently), it is essential that we source wool from suppliers that meet our standards on animal welfare as outlined in our Supplier Code of Conduct.

Currently, we do not have figures detailing mulesed versus non-mulesed wool, however this is on our list of priorities. We are encouraging all of our wool suppliers to preference yarn and fabric made from non-mulesed wool. We aim to only work with non-mulesed wool completely by 2023.

As mentioned, we do not use fur, angora or any materials derived from vulnerable or endangered species.

Animal-derived materials account for less than 3% of our total material spend across all garment categories. This is an important area for us, and we are developing an expanded list of prohibited farming practices, including mulesing. These will be communicated throughout our design development and production process, to ensure that all suppliers meet our strict requirements.

ZIMMERMANN is a proud member of the Better Cotton Initiative. The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is the largest cotton sustainability program in the world, which exists to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, the environment it grows in and the future of fashion.

Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products due to the complexity of the cotton supply chain and the likelihood of being mixed with other cottons in the process. For this reason, Better Cotton is sourced through, ‘Mass Balance’, where farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source’.

Responsible, holistic farming is at the forefront of BCI’s mission. Registered farmers receive in-depth training surrounding water efficiency, caring for soil health and natural habitats, reducing the use of harmful chemicals and respecting workers’ rights and well-being. There are currently 2.1 million licensed BCI farmers in 23 countries around the world.

We are committed to sourcing 50% of our cotton as ‘more sustainable cotton’ in 2021 and aim to increase our Better Cotton sourcing percentage by up to 70% in 2022. ‘More sustainable cotton’ includes cotton sourced as Better Cotton, recycled, Fairtrade and organic cotton.

We currently use a small amount of organic cotton in our crochet swimwear and we aim to identify opportunities to use more organic cotton.

Denim has not traditionally been a large part of our collections but it is growing, with a new and environmentally friendly design direction. In our Code of Conduct we have banned sandblasting, and washing techniques that impregnate either materials or stones with bleaching agents (including hypochlorite bleach and/or potassium permanganate).

In order to maximise recycling potential, our new denim range has been designed with circular principals in mind. In some collections, we have opted not to use blended materials (denim with elastane) and chosen 100% cotton instead. There are no metal trims on the back of garments, to aid easier recycling post-consumer use.

Prints are key to our collections. All of our fabrics are digitally printed rather than screen printed. According to Texintel, typical water usage for screen printing is around 50-60 litres per metre, while digital printing can use less than two. In 2019, digital printing saved over 40 billion litres of water worldwide.

Of the 50-plus print and dye mills we work with, 70% have OKEO-TEX100 certification and 40% are ISO 14001:2015 certified. Constant improvement is an ongoing goal. Our sourcing team is working closely with the mills to improve these statistics.

To briefly explain these terms: OEKO-TEX100 is a worldwide consistent, independent testing and certification system for raw, semi-finished and finished textile products at all processing levels. To attain OKEO-TEX100 certification, the mill process has been tested and certified to be free from detrimental levels of more than 100 substances known to be harmful to human health.

ISO 14001:2015 is the international standard that specifies requirements for an effective environmental management system. It provides a framework that an organisation can follow and ensures the implementation of proactive initiatives to protect the environment from harm.

We use independent auditing services to verify these certifications.

We actively work to exclude harmful chemicals from our textile supply chains. This is managed by ensuring our printing and dyeing mills have OKEO-TEX100 certification and by testing all fabrics for restricted chemicals, such as AZO dyes, formaldehyde, and phthalates.

It starts with our fabrics. We buy the highest quality fabric and begin thinking about durability at the design stage, looking at every detail from linings to trims. We partner with highly skilled manufacturers, who build these garments to last.

Timeless design is one of our signatures, and we know that our clients collect our pieces and consider them precious. ZIMMERMANN garments have second, third, even fourth lives thanks to a high value on the resale market.

Because we do not focus on synthetics, most of our garments require dry-cleaning or handwashing. Some feature fine silks, delicate laces and trims. Ideally, clients will use their judgement to reduce the number of times garments are cleaned, for example when an unsoiled garment can simply be aired. Where possible, we encourage our clients to choose a green/eco dry-cleaning service - these are becoming more popular and easier to access. For hand-washable garments, we recommend choosing a gentle soap, and line dry out of direct sunlight.

We are constantly reviewing ways to recycle and reduce textile waste. While some waste is inevitable, we do the following to minimise it across our production processes:

Upcycle & on-sell – we sell as much of our excess fabric as we can to resellers for use by other designers. Where possible, we also over-dye old season colours to use in new season collections.

Circular yarn initiatives – we are participating in two textile-to-textile recycling pilot programs where existing unused fabric is being re-constituted into yarn for new knitted or woven fabrics. Our goal is to then buy back this fabric to use in future collections. We are expecting to receive the first swatches of these trials in December 2020 and yardage to sample in early 2021. We will keep you updated on this exciting project.

Sustainable fabric - there are existing swimwear fabrics that are partly made from recycled plastic material. The current quality for the main swimwear fabric does not meet our quality standards for colour or performance, but they are improving, and we are continuing to assess them. However, we have developed a swimwear lining fabric using this technology and it will be used in all our swimwear from early 2021. Beyond swimwear, we continue to monitor developments in fabric technology.

Donate – we donate fabric and other materials to various fashion colleges. We recently donated 1000 meters of fabric to the winner of the emerging sustainable fashion design competition, the Redress Design Award, for use in their debut collection for The R. Collective platform. Other fabric is donated to charities and NGOs.