John Lewis

Jun 08, 2023

John Lewis & Partners is a British fashion retailer founded in 1864 in London, United Kingdom, by John Lewis. The clothing-retail company creates high-end fashion for men, women, and children.

John Lewis makes clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, eyewear, watches, and jewelry. It operates more than 50 stores and has approximately 70,000 employees.

John Lewis is helping build a more sustainable future. It takes your pre-loved clothing to be resold or recycled. It also showcases fashion brands that are leading the way in sustainability.

John Lewis offers a fashion rental service so you can switch up your wardrobe as often as you like without it costing the Earth. It has committed to sourcing raw materials used in its own-brand products responsibly.

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Sustainability Rating: 7/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, denim, knitwear, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear, workwear, shapewear, nightwear, boots, sandals, flats, sneakers

Style: Chic, classic

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: petite, XS-2XL, 4-18 (US), 6-20 (UK), 38-52 (EU), 6-20 (AU), plus

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

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: Yes

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Macedonia, Maldives, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam

Certifications: GOTS, OCS, GRS, LWG, FSC, BCI, Oeko-Tex, Sedex

Sustainability Practices

John Lewis takes wide-ranging measures to protect biodiversity, reduce its consumption of water, energy, and other resources, avoid waste, and combat climate change.

It wants to be better and more efficient by looking at every aspect of its value chain to ensure the healthy functioning of our planet. However, the majority of its business remains detrimental to the environment.

John Lewis only uses a tiny proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp, or recycled materials such as recycled cotton, recycled polyester, and regenerated nylon.

Only very few of its collections are dedicated to sustainable fashion. 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.

John Lewis also uses a small proportion 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 John Lewis are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

John Lewis publishes a list of all its manufacturers on its corporate website, johnlewispartnership.co.uk. It aims to be transparent and to champion the voices of workers across its supply chains.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave John Lewis a score of 34% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

The British clothing retailer does show some labor certification standards that could ensure good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

John Lewis has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors based on the regulations set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

John Lewis assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. It works with international and local unions and NGOs to improve the working conditions in its factories.

John Lewis 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

John Lewis believes that business has a responsibility to drive much of the change required to keep the 1.5°C climate goal alive. It has a business-wide commitment to an ambitious sustainability strategy.

John Lewis will achieve net zero emissions across its own operations by 2035 (Scope 1 & 2). It will end the use of fossil fuels across the Partnership's transport fleet by 2030.

John Lewis has committed to taking action to make responsible sourcing and zero deforestation production the norm across producer and consumer markets.

John Lewis is currently working toward a zero deforestation target date of 2028 for those cases where it doesn't already have a target of 2025.

All cotton used in own-brand products will be from sustainable or recycled sources by 2025.

85% of all operational waste across the Partnership will be recyclable by 2028. All own-brand primary product packaging across its two brands will be widely recyclable, reusable, or home-compostable by 2023.

All product categories will have a buy-back or take-back solution by
2025. All electricity procured by the Partnership will be 100% renewable
certified by 2028.