Athleta

How sustainable is Athleta?

This screening has been done by Fairify on March 31^st 2020

Athle­ta is Gap Inc.’s women’s athle­tic wear brand. Unli­ke other Gap Inc. brands, Athle­ta does offer more infor­ma­ti­on about its ope­ra­ti­ons on its web­si­te. It pro­vi­des transpa­ren­cy con­cerning the mate­ri­als it uses for its pro­duc­ti­on, which inclu­de recy­cled mate­ri­als, orga­nic cot­ton and res­pon­si­ble down. The total per­cen­ta­ge of its more sustai­na­ble mate­ri­als is 60%, with a tar­get for 80% in 2020. The com­pa­ny offers life­ti­me gua­ran­tees on its clothing, which is tru­ly ama­zing. Athle­ta is a B‑Corporation and pro­vi­des more infor­ma­ti­on about its water and was­te reduc­ti­on. Con­cerning wor­kers’ rights, it’s paving the way to soci­al res­pon­si­bi­li­ty of the mother com­pa­ny by get­ting two of its fac­to­ries Fair Tra­de Certified.

More ethi­cal than its parent, but not the­re yet

Though it’s very clear that Athle­ta stands out in the Gap Inc. port­fo­lio, the brand is still a part of the over­ar­ching cor­po­ra­ti­on, which means that most of what goes for Gap Inc. also goes for Athle­ta. Its car­bon foot­print remains unme­a­su­red and even though it’s impro­ving wor­king con­di­ti­ons in its own faci­li­ties, we’re still not sure if some of the­se high standards also hold up in the rest of its sup­ply chain.