Our take on Picture Organic Clothing’s ethical and sustainable approach

Eco-friendly materials used by Picture Organic Clothing:

Percentage of eco-friendly materials:

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : 84% of the cotton used is organic, 69% of the polyester used to make the technical garments is recycled from plastic bottles, and 100% of the wool and leather used come from animal-friendly supply chains, free from harmful chemicals. Some pieces are made from cotton fabric offcuts from previous productions.

The brand gives detailed explanations about the organic, recycled, bio-based, reconditioned and animal-derived materials it uses, as well as its perfluorocarbon-free (PFC-free) water-repellent treatment.

💬 Our opinion

✅ Picture Organic Clothing uses a wide range of eco-friendly materials: organic cotton, recycled materials (such as recycled polyester) and reused materials. A very large number of garments are made of at least 70% eco-friendly materials (listed above), and some even 100%.

🔴 Some products still contain no eco-friendly material at all, with no further explanation from the brand.

Approach to environmental labels

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : Picture Organic Clothing uses a number of environmental labels : GOTS, Oeko-Tex 100 Standard 1, Global Recycled Standard, bluesign®, and the company is also B Corporation certified (" certifies companies that build social, societal and environmental goals into their missions, business model, workforce, products or services ").

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems committed to obtaining labels so that its practices are checked by an independent third party. Among those mentioned above are the well-known GOTS, Oeko-Tex100 Standard 1 and Global Recycled Standard. bluesign® is a label certifying products that are safe for the environment, workers and consumers, although it does not prevent the use of GMOs. Finally, B Corporation certification, founded in 2006, is increasingly chosen by young brands, showing a desire to combine business with corporate responsibility.

🔴 However, some products still lack external certification, particularly those made from animal materials.

Other eco-friendly initiatives

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : The brand has put in place, or is developing, a very large number of eco-friendly initiatives. Among existing actions is the Picture For Good project, a platform for calls for responsible projects created in 2018. Picture Organic Clothing's transport policy also aims to minimise the brand's ecological impact : no planes are used to transport the brand's products, everything goes by boat. The brand plans to move 50% of its transport to rail by 2030. For some items, the description states " x kilometres were saved for the collection ". Finally, the brand designed Precious Plastic, a plastic recycling machine used to produce some of the furniture in the Picture Stores.

As for the brand's future projects, it aims to switch to 100% renewable energy for the production of Picture Organic Clothing products by 2030. This list is not exhaustive: the brand runs other projects, which you can find on its website.

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems fully committed to many eco-friendly initiatives aimed at minimising its environmental impact.

🔴 The brand could go further by measuring its impact and making these measurements public. This would show the reduction in the company's environmental footprint.

Support for environmental NGOs or associations

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : Picture Organic Clothing partners with at least 5 environmental NGOs and associations. The brand works with Solar Portraits on a project promoting solar energy around the world. It works with WWF on a mission to move away from fossil fuels. Beyond Boarding, the big winner of the Picture For Good competition, which campaigns against oil and gas projects in British Columbia, is also a partner of Picture Organic Clothing. Picture Organic Clothing also works with Summit Foundation, whose mission is to reduce the environmental impact of human activity in heavily visited places. Finally, the brand took part in a waste clean-up expedition in the Himalayas with Moutain Wilderness.

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems to work with other organisations to support its environmental actions.

R&D efforts and laboratory testing

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : Picture is committed to developing bio-based materials made from plants, and says it carries out green chemistry tests to do so. It aims to reach 30% bio-sourced technical materials for the winter 2020-2021 collection, made from sugar cane waste. The idea is to offer recycled and recyclable clothing. In addition, in its search for new materials, Picture Organic Clothing invented a new material, Eicoprene, made of 70% limestone and 30% recycled tyres.

💬 Our opinion

✅ R&D seems to be one of the brand's levers for further reducing the environmental impact of producing its materials and of their end of life. The brand seems actively involved in researching bio-based and biodegradable materials to replace the synthetics widely used in sportswear and outdoor clothing.

Transparency about production sites

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : Although it isn't possible to trace the origin of a garment directly, the brand gives a number of indications about where its items come from. To begin with, Picture Organic Clothing says it works with twenty production factories, two of which produce 84% of the brand's total production volume. The first is the Li Lian factory in Dongguan, China, for technical products. The second is the Seyfeli factory in Izmir, Turkey, for lifestyle products, which employs 64 workers: 21 men and 43 women.

On the brand's website, you can find out which factory made a product depending on its category and materials. For some factories, the number of workers and their breakdown by gender are also given.

The countries of manufacture are: China, Turkey, Taiwan, Vietnam, France, Thailand, India, Lithuania.

Finally, Picture Organic Clothing mentions setting up a telephone hotline for all workers in Picture factories " for any complaints, in every country and in their native languages ".

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems committed to transparency about its production sites, naming its 2 biggest suppliers in China and Turkey.

🔴 However, information is still missing on wage levels, working conditions and suppliers' labels. Information is also missing on the other suppliers outside the 2 main ones.

Approach to labels and social audits

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : Picture relies on the Fair Wear Foundation social label, which certifies some of its factories. Annual audits are carried out by the Fair Wear Foundation, and you can access the brand's latest audit on the Picture Organic Clothing website or the Fair Wear Foundation's (we've added it to the sources for you).

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems committed to having its production chain checked by third parties, with labels such as the FWF. The brand even publishes the FWF audit on its own website, which shows a desire for transparency.

Here are the conclusions of the 2019 FWF audit (translated from English)

Picture met most of the FWF performance requirements, with a monitoring threshold of 86% using external audit reports and a score of 46. This places the brand in the "Good" category.

Picture sources most of its products from two main suppliers: one in China and the other in Turkey. During its last financial year, Picture consolidated its supply chain. However, it sources from a wide range of countries and so still needs to pay particular attention to its verification process.

In its second year of membership, Picture was still working on collecting all its sourcing information, including that of subcontractors. An FWF audit was carried out at the Chinese supplier, but as data on working hours and wages could not be collected, there is still a lot to do on the legal minimum wage and living wage indicators.

Picture publishes its list of factories on its website, which is good practice in terms of transparency. In the coming year, Picture Organic Clothing needs to explain the FWF's mission and methodology to its two main suppliers.

🔴 The FWF is only active in certain countries: China, India, Turkey, Vietnam. Verification therefore covers 86% of the brand's production volumes. What about the other suppliers today?

Traceability of the whole supply chain

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing : The brand says it is " only in direct contact with the maker of the finished product " but has " knowledge and expertise of the whole supply chain, from the farmer in the cotton fields to the plastic bottle recycler and the fabric knitter ".

💬 Our opinion

🔴 The brand is transparent about its tier 1 suppliers (manufacturing), but very little information is available for the rest of the chain. The brand could go further and trace its products from raw material to finished product.

Support for NGOs or associations working to improve workers' social conditions

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing: Picture Organic Clothing takes part in Fashion Revolution, a collective campaigning for a more transparent fashion industry. On this occasion, Picture showcases some of its suppliers with the " I made your clothes " campaign.

Picture also works with Rider for Refugees, donating warm clothes collected from customers and employees or coming from the after-sales service once repaired.

Governance

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing: The Picture Social Program lets employees go on humanitarian or environmental missions at the company's expense. Employees can also take training courses funded by the company.

Company capital

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing: No information published on the brand's website about its funding and capital structure.

💬 Our opinion

🔴 The brand could go further on transparency about its governance and funding, and make this information publicly available on its own website. How are decisions made in the company? How much weight do shareholders and stakeholders have in these decisions?

Sales and marketing

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing: Picture Organic Clothing is transparent about its pricing policy and its sales channels. Articles are written to explain the brand's choices to consumers, covering prices as well as where its suppliers are based and how it distributes its products.

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand is transparent about how it sells and distributes its products.

🔴 However, the brand says nothing about stock management, promotions or sales.

Raising awareness and educating about overconsumption

Information published by Picture Organic Clothing: Picture Organic Clothing encourages people to repair its clothes, offers advice and recommendations to make them last longer, and encourages buying second hand, upcycling and recycling clothes. Customers can be put in touch with Picture Organic Clothing's clothing repair centres. The brand also sells beeswax to maintain the water-repellent finish of its clothes (natural water repellent).

Finally, the brand plans to introduce a « lifetime repairability guarantee » for its clothes.

💬 Our opinion

✅ The brand seems genuinely committed to making clothes last and to encouraging more mindful consumption.

This article was written by: Anna Demont, Sawsane Djazouli, Victoria Adjanohoun and Marie Nguyen.

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