Based on the carbon footprint calculation tool developed with AIR – the Picture Your Impact – we are happy to announce that our 2015/16 fall winter collection has saved the equivalent of nearly 950,000 km driving, which is almost 24 times around the Earth!
How to explain the growth with the winter 14/15 collection? (Reminder:780,000 km saved)
First of all, our business activity has increased. We produced and sold more products than last year, and mechanically we saved more kilometers. But thinking only in terms of number of items does not make sense. Our mission at Picture is to reduce the impact of each product.
-> So, the most important question to ask ourselves : What is the average of kilometers saved by product compared to last year ?
Here is the answer: A FW 15/16 product is saving an average of 4,5 km driving, compared to a fall-winter 2014/2015 product, which saved an average of 4 km.
In others words, our production increased by 14% whereas our economy increased by 20%.
How to explain that ? Mostly because we have a better rate of recycled polyester and organic cotton in our products. Some of them had a low rate of sustainable fabrics. We worked on this, and by having a good relationship with factories, running with them a long-term collaboration, and redefining our development process we have been able to change our products’ features, meaning using a better rate of recycled polyester and organic cotton.
950,000…How did we do it? We calculated the CO2 emission of each Picture product, according to its weight, its composition, and the factory where it is made. This gives us a figure in kg CO2 equivalent emitted. To calculate the savings compared to traditional manufacture, we do a second calculation without the percentage of recycled and organic materials.
The difference between these two calculations gives us the saving in kg CO2 equivalent that we then multiply by the production volume of each item.
Finally we use the Ademe emission factor (the average CO2 emission of a one km drive by car is 0,256) to have the amount of saved emitted CO2 in equivalent km covered by car
Now it’s your turn! Calculate your own footprint with Picture Your Impact