Make a difference
Banana Republic
Banana Republic offers sophisticated clothing, accessories, shoes and personal care products for men and women. From work to casual occasions, we provide modern, covetable style.
As we grow, we are committed to becoming a more eco-conscious brand. We are changing the way we work to reduce our environmental impact. At the same time, we continue to provide our customers with the consistent quality and affordable luxury that we’ve built our name on.
Greening our Products
Denim Clean Water Program:
To achieve the look and feel our customers love, our denim products go through an extensive dyeing and treatment process. We require all denim laundries to participate in Gap Inc.’s Denim Clean Water Program. This means that the water used in washing our jeans has been specially treated to ensure that it’s safe and clean for local communities when it leaves the denim laundry. All of our denim has this commitment represented on the label.
Greening our Packaging
Our current packaging supplies, including boxes and shopping bags, are made with a percentage of recycled material. We are working to increase these percentages, when possible.
- Our everyday shopping bags contain 15 percent recycled material and are recyclable. Sale shopping bags contain 20 percent recycled material.
- Our shoe boxes contain 50 percent recycled material and are recyclable.
- Our standard gift boxes are made with 35 percent recycled material and are recyclable.
- Our price tickets are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and/or made of 100 percent recycled material.
- Our gift cards are made of 88 percent recycled content. (The card’s magnetic strip takes up the remaining 12 percent.)
- Banana Republic participates in Gap Inc.’s recycled gift card program; 500,000 gift cards have been recycled since the programs launch in May 2009.
- We are in the process of making all on-garment tags from FSC certified stocks and/or recycled materials.
Greening our Stores
At Banana Republic, we are proud of our stores. We know that the materials used to run our business impacts the environment. As a part of Gap Inc., we are a proud partner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program, a voluntary initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of energy saving upgrades, each of our energy-efficient stores saves more than 16 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.
Energy Initiative:
Our Energy Initiative, which is focused on lowered usage of HVAC and lighting, has proven successful in our U.S. stores. In 2009, we saw an 8 percent reduction in energy usage in our U.S. stores. To encourage participation, Banana Republic communicates quarterly to all stores for our year to date estimated savings and energy saving ideas. With 364 stores participating in the U.S., we are expanding our Energy Initiative by launching to Canadian stores in 2010.
Beyond that, we keep our environmental impact top of mind when we open new stores and remodel existing ones. For instance,
- Banana Republic store floors are made with (FSC) certified wood from sustainable forests.
- Our store restroom tiles are made of 15 percent recycled material.
Our stockroom areas feature wheat board shelving. Wheat board offers a greener alternative to particleboard because it eliminates the use of formaldehyde. Wheat board also is lighter in weight, which requires less fuel for shipping.
