Berlei

Berlei is an Australian fashion retailer founded in 1917 and sold in Australia by Hanesbrands. The multinational clothing-retail company creates underwear and shapewear for women.

The fashion group Hanesbrands Inc. owns Berlei along with other clothing brands, including Hanes, Bonds, Champion, Bali, Wonderbra, Playtex, Maidenform, L'eggs, Just My Size, and Barely There.

Berlei is committed to making the world a more comfortable, livable, and inclusive place. Its sustainability approach focuses on areas addressed by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals under three pillars: People, Planet and Product.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

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Category: Clothing

For: Women

Type: Basics, underwear

Style: Casual

Quality: Low

Prices: $

Sizes: XS-2XL, 2-14 (US), 4-16 (UK), 34-44 (EU), 4-16 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, lyocell, modal, viscose, polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic, wool

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: not transparent enough

Certifications: GOTS, RCS, FSC, Oeko-Tex

Sustainability Practices

Berlei only uses a tiny proportion of sustainable materials, such as organic cotton, or recycled materials, such as recycled polyester.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

Berlei also uses a small proportion of semi-synthetic fibers or regenerated cellulosic fabrics such as Tencel lyocell, modal, and viscose.

Tencel is an eco-friendly fiber made with wood pulp from certified sustainable forests. But only a tiny proportion of the materials used by Berlei are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Berlei doesn't publish a list of all its manufacturers and processing facilities on its corporate website. It makes more than 70% of its apparel in its own facilities or those of dedicated contractors.

The Australian clothing retailer doesn't show any labor certification standard that would ensure good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

Berlei has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors. It assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits.

Berlei doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses wool to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

Wool is an animal-derived material, cruel and unethical. It also harms the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

Berlei has committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 50% in Scope 1 and 2 and 30% in Scope 3 (in the Purchased Goods category), by 2030 compared to 2019.

Berlei will reduce water use in its owned operations by 25%. It also aims to meet the wastewater standards of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals initiative by 2025.

100% of its cotton will be sustainable in 2030. And in 2030, 100% of the polyester it uses in its garments will be recycled or biodegradable polyester.

Berlei will achieve zero waste across its operations and support key suppliers to do the same by 2025.

It aspires to completely phase out single-use plastic by 2025.

Its goal is for its operations to be powered by 100% renewable electricity by 2030.