Speedo

Apr 20, 2023

Speedo is a UK-based fashion retailer founded in 1928 in Australia by entrepreneur Alexander John MacRae. The multinational clothing-retail company creates swimsuits for men, women, and children.

Speedo makes clothing, accessories, shoes, and swimwear. The British investment company, Pentland Group, owns Speedo and many other brands, like JD Sports, Berghaus, Endura, Ellesse, Mitre, Red or Dead, SeaVees, and more.

Pentland Group is the majority shareholder of JD Sports, which operates 2,420 stores. It has approximately 50,000 employees and sells products in over 190 countries directly or by licensees and distributors.

Speedo is at the crossroads of sport and fashion and encourages self-expression. Its collections inspire a lifelong love of swimming by providing comfort and confidence in the water.

Speedo helps millions of consumers live positive, active, sustainable lifestyles. It creates more sustainable products that support emotional and physical well-being.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

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Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags

For: Women, men, children

Type: Activewear, swimwear, loungewear, sneakers

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: XS-2XL, 6-18 (US), 8-20 (UK), 38-48 (EU), 8-20 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, viscose, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, silicone, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: Yes

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Belgium, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Cambodia, China, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, Vietnam

Certifications: FSC, SMETA, BSCI, SA8000

Sustainability Practices

Speedo takes wide-ranging measures toward sustainability to improve its products' social and environmental impact. It focuses on bringing communities together and supporting causes that matter to consumers.

Speedo recognizes the role businesses play in meaningfully reducing inequalities and tackling climate change. It runs positive business activities to help people and the planet through sustainability initiatives and charitable actions.

Speedo doesn't use any organic materials such as organic cotton. But it uses 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 synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, and more.

Speedo publishes a list of all its manufacturers and some processing facilities on its corporate website, pentlandbrands.com. It works with production partners committed to building a fair, ethical, and transparent supply chain.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave Speedo a score of 45% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

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

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

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

Speedo assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct through informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice carried out by independent auditing bodies of international standing.

Speedo doesn't use any animal products to manufacture its clothing pieces.

Sustainability Goals

Speedo has committed to reducing the environmental impact of its products. It will achieve net zero by 2032 through science-based carbon emission reductions and off-setting initiatives.

Speedo plans to produce 100% of its swimwear and packaging with more sustainable materials by 2024. It will increase recycled contents across all plastics used and minimize the amount of material used.