Etam

May 09, 2022

Etam is a French lingerie brand and fashion retailer founded in 1915 that creates womenswear collections in Paris. It's the leading designer and retailer of women's ready-to-wear and lingerie in Europe.

Etam makes clothing, underwear, activewear, swimwear, and sleepwear. It sells dozens of millions of items every year from over 3,700 stores in 54 countries where it does business.

Etam is committed to sustainable development and runs a WeCare program for responsible fashion. It wants to do something for the society and preserve the world we live in.

Etam aims to make the lingerie and fashion industry fairer and more environmentally friendly. It has committed to taking action on 6 major themes, including recycling and second-hand, material sourcing, and packaging.

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Sustainability Rating: 7/10

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Category: Clothing, bags, shoes, accessories

For: Women

Type: Basics, denim, dresses, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Price: $$

Sizes: XS-XL, 2-12 (US), 4-14 (UK), 32-44 (EU), 4-14 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, lyocell, modal, viscose, cupro, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, silk, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: Yes

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: China, Portugal, Italy, Bangladesh, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco

Certifications: GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS, RWS, FSC, BSCI, SMETA, ICS, SA8000, Bluesign, Oeko-Tex

Sustainability Practices

Etam takes wide-ranging measures to reduce its environmental impact, limit wastage, protect biodiversity, and combat climate change. However, the majority of its business remains detrimental to the environment.

Etam teams up with non-profit organizations, recycling companies, textile manufacturers, and recycling technologists to collect used products and resell or recycle them.

Etam is part of major international initiatives to promote sustainable raw materials and fibers. It's raising awareness of textile impacts and encouraging the use of more sustainable materials.

Etam only uses a small proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton or recycled materials such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

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.

Etam also uses a small amount of semi-synthetic fibers or regenerated cellulosic fabrics such as Tencel lyocell, modal, acetate, 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 Etam are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Etam publishes its manufacturing facilities on its corporate website. It aims to help women feel free, support them and improve their situation.

Etam manufactures its clothes in Turkey and many other East Asian countries where human rights and labor law violations still happen every day.

The French clothing retailer shows labor certification standards that ensure good working conditions, health, safety, and other human rights for workers in its supply chain.

Etam has a Code of Conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors to ensure safe working conditions, treat employees with respect and dignity and maintain environmentally responsible manufacturing processes.

Etam assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. It aims to improve the working conditions in its factories.

Etam doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, silk, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

Etam aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. It has committed to using more eco-friendly materials.

50% of its cotton will be sustainable (organic, BCI, and recycled) by 2024. And 50% of synthetic fabrics used in its garments will be recycled by 2024.

Etam wants more responsible WeCare products to make 80% of its collections by 2025 using eco-friendly fabrics, low-impact processes, or upcycling initiatives.

Etam plans to eliminate all plastic packaging by 2025. It will guarantee full traceability for all its WeCare products by 2025, and all its collections will include eco-friendly fabrics by 2025.