Rifó

Rifò has a very close connection to their supply chain, which is located within a radius of 30km next to their headquarters. It’s an absolute benefit and offers a business strength to fulfil a high standard of social and environmental requirements. The performance in the production facilities will be monitored frequently by own staff from Rifò based on the regulation of an own Code of Conduct.

With their training program for ​“cenciaioli” (the artisans of textile recycling) and spinners, they contribute to a social impact by training people to learn a craft through a paid internship and being integrated into the society.

The mission from Rifò is to reuse resources for their products and to avoid producing any new raw materials. That’s why they’re creating recycled and recyclable products. Rifò selects their materials based on strong criterias, prioritizing natural options like cotton that consist of a minimum of 50% recycled fibres. Most of the yarns are certified by ​“Global Recycle Standard” or ​“Organic Content Standard” according to their needs and for chemical requirements they’re following ZDHC conditions. Rifò can show the transparency of a full supply chain and fosters as well a close business relationship to yarn and fabric suppliers.

Another resource which will be used by Rifò are deadstock fabrics, which are leftover materials from other suppliers.

For all kinds of transportation they don’t use any plastic bags but prefer carton boxes as well a newly developed recycled and reusable felt bag.

Rifò is a circular fashion brand as they’re producing garments made out of recycled and recyclable materials. As they’re focused on knitwear items, there is almost no waste available and fewer trims will be used. Besides, this microplastic doesn’t appear in the material composition, which is a positive effect for the environment as it won’t be discharged into water. With the project ​“Re-Think your Jeans” Rifò developed as well an innovative alternative to produce yarn for their collection, and it’s really interesting to see how jeans turns into a sweater!

Rifò motivates customers to repair their clothing and provide a repair service as well.

In Italy they’re also offering a take-back service: they collect worn clothes (wool, cashmere sweaters or jeans) and transform them into a new resource. Hope they can offer this service soon in other countries!

The producers of the supply chain from Rifò are primarily centred in Prato’s textile district which offers the opportunity to visit them several times a month. Due to this comfortable situation they’re able to minimize for transportation their carbon footprint, foster fair job opportunities, guarantee product quality and keep a standard of essential social requirements in their production process.

Rifò is going to arrange the distribution to their clients via DHL Go Green in future.

Rifò is using mostly recycled wool material which is certified under ​“Global Recycle Standard” and just a very small percentage of virgin wool material which is partly certified with ​“Responsible Wool Standard”. Due to the wool certification standard it’s clear that unfriendly mulesing procedure (cutting away skin at the hindquarters to avoid fly infections) is forbidden.

For Rifò it’s important to make a long-lasting product without any specific trends so that it’s never out of fashion. They don’t participate in the seasonal sales but offer a presale system with discount for consumers who are waiting for the product which will be produced on demand. This is an absolutely helpful method to avoid any overproduction. Rifò concentrates on usual seasons as Spring/​Summer and Autumn/​Winter and makes garments that last as design in material and manufacturing.

In their yearly sustainability report Rifò is communicating their activities and efforts to their clients. According to some specific Sustainable Development Goals Rifò has set targets which will be reviewed and updated year by year. For the next report which is actually under preparation, Rifò starts to provide more details about CO2 emission calculation in their supply chain.

You can even get more transparency by joining their textile tour where you’ll get informative insights into the supply chain and can have a look behind the scenes.

Don’t miss to book a tour during your next holiday in Italy!