A.P.C. RESPECT PROGRAM
A.P.C. RESPECT, A PROGRAM THAT WE ARE COMMITTED TO
A SUSTAINABLE BRAND FOR 35 YEARS
Since its creation in 1987, A.P.C. has continuously aimed to achieve the best balance between creativity, simplicity and viability. “An authentic meatball has to be prepared with old bread. I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of salvaging, and we’ve constantly taken this approach at A.P.C.,” sums up brand founder Jean Touitou. Convinced that fashion must be eco-responsible and mindful of the social fabric, A.P.C. has implemented a number of concrete initiatives to improve its environmental footprint and ethical responsibility.The brand favours high-quality natural materials, designs and distributes sustainable and timeless fashion clothing and accessories, avoids waste and has never destroyed its stocks. A.P.C. has always been committed, through the various programmes it has launched, the special attention it pays to its teams and the quality of its relationships with suppliers.
PRODUCTION : A.P.C. REDUCES
RAW MATERIALS
Right from the start, the brand has focused on high-quality natural fibers and raw denim, avoiding polluting washes. The proportion of organically grown cotton, recycled wool and other more environmentally responsible materials in the collections increases every season. A.P.C. has also undertaken to stop using fur altogether and to use feathers from a label that guarantees their ethical origin and animal welfare.
An iconic piece in the A.P.C. wardrobe, raw denim jeans are renowned for the durability of their 100% cotton denim fabric. After it is woven, it does not undergo any artificial treatment or washing, two processes known to consume a lot of water and chemicals that are harmful to the environment and workers' health. A.P.C. also offers low-impact washed jeans, which are treated with particular care.
We work mainly with companies that have been committed to improving the impact of their activities on the environment and society from a very early stage. In particular, they have introduced closed-loop water reuse and air-drying of jeans, installed solar water heaters, joined the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals programme, support orphanages and employ people with disabilities. These efforts have been rewarded by the award of the B Corp label.
Only a small part of the environmental footprint of leather is accounted for in our carbon footprint™ since the animals are bred for the agri-food industry and their skins are considered as waste that we recycle. So, despite the significant carbon footprint of cattle rearing, leather can be considered relatively eco-friendly if it is traced and produced under the right conditions.
When tanning methods are well managed, there is little proven difference between them in terms of their environmental impact. Over the last 3 years, two thirds of our leather has been vegetable tanned and the remaining third chrome tanned.The key to guaranteeing low-impact tanning is to choose tanneries that have the best possible control over the use and recycling of water, air and solid waste, and control over the non-transformation of chromium 3 into chromium 6. Today, the best guarantee of achieving this objective is to work with tanneries that have been awarded the Leather Working Group (LWG) label, which includes these criteria in its specifications and of which A.P.C. is a member.
TRACEABILITY
In collaboration with Fairly Made, A.P.C. is increasing the traceability of its products by tracing all the factories in its production chain, from raw material to finished product. This work will soon enable us to affix a QR code to each of our products, enabling our customers to find out about the distance travelled, the countries of production (dyeing, printing, weaving and knitting for clothing and assembly and stitching for accessories), the recyclability and environmental impact of the components.
GOTS CERTIFICATION
In 2023, A.P.C. was awarded GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification by Ecocert GreenLife (Licence No. 214416).
This particularly demanding label guarantees that certified garments are made predominantly from organic fibres, in compliance with strict environmental and social standards throughout the production chain.
GOTS is an international certification for organic textiles based on environmental and social standards. Every stage of processing (spinning, weaving, washing, colouring, dyeing) is involved. All those involved in the production chain must therefore comply with the specifications before a textile can be certified.
CARBON FOOTPRINT REDUCTION TARGET
With an estimated carbon footprint of 20.7 KtCO2e in 2022, A.P.C. is well below the median carbon intensity of its sector: half the players in the textile industry emit at least twice as much greenhouse gas per million dollars of turnover as A.P.C.
OBJECTIVES
A.P.C. has set itself the target of reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions (mainly linked to gas and electricity emissions in the offices) by 42% in absolute terms by 2030 compared with the base year of 2022 (-6.58% per year). This target is modelled on that of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5°C.A.P.C. is also committed to reducing its Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions) by 51.6% by 2030 compared with 2022 (-8.67% per year) in intensity.
A.P.C. has entered into a partnership with Carbonfact, a start-up specialising in the fashion industry, which has developed a predictive tool for GHG emissions to refine our understanding of emissions throughout the production chain and enable us to steer the choices needed to achieve our objectives.
AT A.P.C. HEADQUARTERS
Since July 2023, all A.P.C.'s French sites have been supplied with electricity from 100% French renewable sources. All our shops are lit by LED lamps. They are particularly energy-efficient, consuming 10 times less electricity than an incandescent bulb and 6 to 8 times less than a halogen bulb.
The A.P.C. kitchen is also a meeting room where ecological practices are encouraged. Individual waste bins have been removed from offices, capsule machines have been replaced by bean-to-cup machines and the use of plastic water bottles and cups has been abandoned.
RECYCLING : A.P.C. REUSES
In 1992, A.P.C. opened its first Surplus in the center of Paris to sell unsold products at reduced prices. Its Surplus stores are now located on rue André del Sarte, at the foot of the Butte Montmartre, as well as rue Jacob in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
BUTLER
Set up in 2008, the Butler program allows clients to bring in raw denim jeans that have been worn for a long time and developed a natural faded finish. In return, these clients receive a 50% discount on a new pair of jeans. After being washed and mended, the Butler is put back on the sales floor, ready to be worn by a new owner.
QUILTS
The Quilts project took form in 2010, springing from Jessica Ogden and Jean Touitou’s shared love of patchwork and the aim to give new life to A.P.C. fabric stocks that have accumulated over the seasons. One-of-a-kind, these quilts with their diverse patterns, sizes and colours reflect the brand’s history.
A program launched in 2018 allows clients to take their used A.P.C. clothing back to a store in exchange for a voucher. The returned products are then given to associations to be resold in a network of charity shops and/or distributed to the less privileged.
RECYCLED AND RECYCLABLE BAGS
Since June 2021, A.P.C. has replaced single-use kraft bags with recyclable and reusable bags made from 100% recycled material sold at a fixed price ($3) in store. Before the introduction of the new recycled and recyclable packaging in our own sector, 172,850 paper bags and sachets had been distributed. Part of the money raised will be donated to the GoodPlanet Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by Yann Arthus Bertrand, which runs solidarity and environmental field projects around the world.
In 2022, A.P.C. raised over $51,000 for GoodPlanet. These funds have been used in particular to develop solar energy in bioclimatic schools in Ladakh, a territory of the Indian Union in the Himalayas.
USED TRAINERS
Since 2022, A.P.C. has been working with Revival, France's leading footwear recycling platform, to collect used A.P.C. trainers and turn them into "Shoegom", a recycled and infinitely recyclable surface for cycle paths.
