Selfridges Sustainability: Positive Environmental Change

Selfridges Sustainability: The UK's Selfridges department store is making environmental change by promoting sustainable brands and designers.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Selfridges Sustainability: The UK’s Selfridges department store is making environmental change by promoting sustainable brands and designers. Image: Unsplash

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Selfridges Sustainability: How the UK’s Selfridges department store is making environmental change

Selfridges is a chain of upscale department stores in the UK that has been around since 1909. The store in London is the biggest department store on Oxford Street and the second biggest in London after Harrods. Some of Selfridge’s most famous departments include the shoe departments, which are among the largest in the world (with over 5,000 pairs of women’s shoes and 3,000 pairs of men’s shoes). The store also has over 1700 m2 of sales floor exhibits filled with fine jewellery, watches, sunglasses and other luxury accessories.  

People may not know that Selfridges‘ sustainability team has been involved in the environmental movement for many years. In 2005, the companies announced a ban on any products containing animal fur. In 2011, Selfridges Sustainability launched Project Ocean, an initiative to protect oceans from overfishing and plastic pollution. This included the end of selling any endangered fish species in any of their restaurants and removing any animal-derived products from the ocean.  

In 2014 Selfridges Sustainability became the first UK department to achieve the Carbon Trust Triple Standard. This standard recognizes organizations that follow best practices in measuring, managing and reducing their environmental impact. Following this initiative came ones that supported designers who put the environment and sustainability first with their designs. The company has phased out plastic from their stores and restaurants and pledges to commit to reducing single-use plastics every year on World Oceans Day.  

While in 2015, Selfridges Sustainability went plastic-free with their iconic yellow customer bags, in 2017, they launched their CupCycling scheme to make 20% of the bag’s composition out of recycled coffee cups. One large bag contains the equivalent fibres of one 8oz cup. Selfridge’s paper bags combine fibre from coffee cups with wood pulp for sustainable forestry sources. Over 500 million coffee cups are being recycled in the UK and given to James Cropper, the company that helps turn them into new paper products.  

In 2017, Selfridges Sustainability partnered with Positive Luxury, which helps businesses achieve and support environmental initiatives. Brands are certified with the Butterfly Mark, which identifies that specific luxury brands meet the highest standards for verified innovation and environmental performance. It offers transparency at points of sale and helps customers make more informed purchasing decisions.  Selfridges also launched the Buying Better Inspiring Change initiative, which includes information on product tags, including if the product is certified organic, has a reduced water footprint, or is British-made.

As part of their Project Ocean campaign in 2020, Selfridges Sustainability pledged to ban cosmetic glitters containing microplastics from its stores by 2021. Within its beauty counters, they have removed single-use beauty wipes from sale and use. They also continuously promote the reduction, reuse and recycling of bathroom products.  

In 2021, Selfridges Sustainability launched a rental program allowing customers to rent styles from designers and brands. The program was designed to help reduce clothing waste. They launched a RESELFRIDGES program which allows buybacks of used fashion and accessories. Following the 2020 pandemic, Selfridges Sustainability launched the RESELFRIDGES: the Wedding program, an entire line of pre-loved wedding items from dresses and suits to accessories. The company also encourages repairing products with their Selfridges Repair Concierge.  

Selfridges continues to take initiatives to reduce its environmental impact and highlight brands and designers doing what they can for the environment. When you think department store, you probably don’t think about sustainability or the environment, but Selfridges is working to change this. The environmental initiatives they have taken and continue to take are great examples for departmental stores around the world to implement and to help make shopping a more sustainable experience. We can’t wait to see what environmental initiatives Selfridge’s will take next.

 

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