River Island

Oct 01, 2022

River Island is a British fashion retailer founded in 1948 in London, United Kingdom, by Bernard Lewis. The multinational clothing-retail company creates womenswear, menswear, and kidswear.

River Island delivers the latest fashion clothing and trends for women, men, and kids. It sells clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, beauty, and fragrances.

River Island employs around 8,400 people and operates over 300 stores in the UK and the ROI. It has been ranked as the UK's 15th best big company to work for and the 10th best retailer to work for by Best Companies.

River Island is making fashion a force for good. It's taking responsibility for a kindness revolution and has made 12 commitments to people, the planet, principles, and partnerships.

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Sustainability Rating: 6/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men, children

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

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: petite, XS-XL, 2-12 (US), 4-14 (UK), 34-42 (EU), 4-14 (AU), plus

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: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Albania, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Italy, India, Madagascar, Moldova, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Vietnam

Certifications: GOTS, OCS, BCI, GRS, RCS, FSC, PEFC, RWS, LWG, RDS

Sustainability Practices

River Island only uses a tiny proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton or recycled materials such as recycled cotton, 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.

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

River Island publishes a list of all its manufacturers and processing facilities on its corporate website. It aims to promote a consciously inclusive business and attain transparency across the industry.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave River Island a score of only 27% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

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

The British 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.

River Island has adopted the ETI Base Code as the minimum standard that should apply to workers in its supply chain. It assesses compliance with the ETI Base Code by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice.

River Island 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

River Island has committed to making half of its synthetic fabrics from recycled sources by 2025. Its goal is to reach at least 50% of its garments made using sustainable materials by 2023.

River Island wants to reduce water use in products' manufacturing processes by 50% by 2030. It will achieve zero waste to landfills from all UK operations by 2023 and its products' manufacturing processes by 2025.

River Island plans to introduce end-of-life solutions for customers by 2022. And it will reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.