ZALORA Commits To Shaping A Sustainable Fashion Ecosystem In Southeast Asia

Recognising its unique position to positively influence Southeast Asia’s fashion ecosystem, ZALORA has released its Sustainability Strategy, establishing ambitious targets for 2022 and 2025. With this Strategy, ZALORA emerges as the first fashion e-commerce player in the region to establish a comprehensive plan to make a positive change, by taking accountability for its own environmental impact and inspiring its customers to shop in a more conscious way. 

The Strategy is anchored by four key pillars, and takes a holistic approach by involving all stakeholders in the fashion ecosystem – from customers, brands and vendors, to ZALORA employees. 

Across the four sustainability pillars, ZALORA has announced numerous concrete targets and actionable commitments that directly relate to all aspects of its business, from sourcing to product delivery: 

Environmental Footprint. ZALORA commits to reducing the impact of its packaging, warehouses, and transportation all along its supply chain. For one, it aims to ensure that 100% of delivery and internal packaging that it procures incorporates sustainable materials by end 2022. ZALORA also looks to achieve 100% carbon offset from its operations and transport by end 2025 and will define long-term carbon emissions reduction goals using Science Based Targets.

Sustainable Consumption. ZALORA aims to help customers shift towards conscious shopping and extend the life cycle of fashion items. By end 2025, ZALORA aims to ensure that 50% of its extensive product assortment meets its sustainability criteria, and 30% of active consumers are participating in Circular Fashion initiatives.

Ethical Sourcing. To drive positive social and environmental improvement in its private label supply chain, ZALORA will continue to enhance supply chain ethical standards and transparency. To reduce its raw materials impact, starting this year, ZALORA aims to launch a private label capsule made from sustainable materials, and by the end of 2025, sustainable materials are to be used in 40% of its private label products.

Responsible Workplace & Community Engagement. ZALORA aims to continue creating a responsible workplace and building a culture where employees are engaged in the communities where the company operates. The aim is for ZALORA employees to contribute 20,000 volunteering hours per year by the end of 2025. 

“As a leading fashion e-commerce player that serves millions of customers in the region, we recognise the impact we can have in creating a better future through a sustainable fashion ecosystem in Southeast Asia. We want more consumers today to buy sustainable products and participate in the circular economy. We want to inspire our customers to contribute to these sustainable practices by making it easy for them and educating on benefits,” said Gunjan Soni, CEO of ZALORA. 

To kickstart efforts, ZALORA has already made a disruptive first step towards supporting the circular future of fashion by partnering with luxury marketplace reseller Style Tribute in Malaysia and Singapore in December 2019, allowing consumers to purchase pre-loved fashion luxury items on ZALORA’s website and mobile app. 

This year, ZALORA has also made strides in inspiring customers to make sustainable shopping choices, including featuring products that are made of sustainable materials, and rolling out tagging of these products, where customers have better visibility on products with a lower environmental impact. This will be followed by the introduction of a sustainability filter, so it will be easier for customers to find ethically and sustainably made goods among ZALORA’s offerings. 

In order to effectively achieve their sustainability targets, ZALORA will focus on assessing and measuring the environmental impact its business activities have and commit to honest and transparent reporting on the progress. The fashion e-Commerce leader believes that the success of the sustainability programme will hinge on ZALORA’s inclusive approach, accountability, continuous review of targets, as well as improvement of knowledge around sustainability. 

Details of the Sustainability Strategy can be found here.