Houdini's sustainability

We expect the brands we choose in our collection to meet our sustainability criteria. Our criteria consist of actions that take the environment, social conditions and climate into consideration. Here’s how Houdini meets our criteria:

Environment:

Brand uses environmentally preferred raw materials for more than 70% of its volume.

• Houdini uses recycled, recyclable, renewable, biodegradable or Bluesign certified materials 100% of its volume.

Brand has eliminated at least three suspect chemical group, such as Phthalates or Perfluorinated chemicals from its entire production

• Houdini doesn’t use any harmful chemicals in its production and complies to the Bluesign chemical standards.

Brand reports what percentage of its consumer packaging materials are renewable or made from recycled materials, and the brand implements concrete policies which have reduced the environmental impact of their packaging materials

• All the consumer packaging Houdini uses are evaluated and chosen with sustainability and circularity in mind. They are constantly looking for better options of packaging and their goal is to move away from plastic that is not recycled and, in the future, not use plastic at all. All packaging used are yearly evaluated and shared with the Swedish organization FTI to see the progress and work towards more circular use of packaging.

Brand encourages the longevity of products by offering a lifetime guarantee, repair services or supporting the return or re-use of garments

• Houdini offers a repair service, and when the garment is totally worn out, you can return it to them for recycling, or for example compost it if it’s biodegradable.

Brand supports environmental NGO's or other organizations to promote environmental sustainability

• Houdini supports many NGO’s, for example WWF, The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Exponential Roadmap Initiative and Race to Zero.

Social conditions:

Manufacturing of more than 70% of product volumes happens in low-risk countries

• Manufacturing at Houdini mainly takes place at selected and specialized European manufacturing partners in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Portugal. This manufacturing network close to their global distribution center in Sweden (which could be considered “local” in a textile supply chain perspective) enables them to have a lean set-up with tight collaboration and an efficient way of working, meeting and shipping.

Origin of the materials, design and the manufacturing is shared openly

• Houdini’s fabrics are sourced mainly from Japan, Taiwan and Italy. This enables Houdini to provide the highest quality and best practice while also maintaining the highest environmental, social and ethical standards.

Brand is following buying practices that enable living wages and good labour conditions, such as long-term relations with factories, and concentrating production at a limited number of factories

• Houdini’s value chain is global and the number of supplier partners very few. Most of the fabric suppliers produce their fabrics in developed countries where high social standards are regulated by law, legal requirements environmentally are strict and federal control functions are in place. Also the factories in EU makes sure that EU social and environmental standards apply, and legal requirements and government control functions are in place.

Open list of direct suppliers that have collectively contributed to more than 90% of the purchase volume

• Houdini tells very openly about all of their suppliers.
• Find all their suppliers here: https://houdinisportswear.com/en-se/sustainability/suppliers-and-production

Brand publicly commits to a living wage benchmark with defined wages per production region or factory

• Houdini has a Supplier Code of Conduct in place that supports living wages. This code is signed by all of their suppliers, but isn’t yet public.

Houdini hasn’t audited that one factory which isn’t located in EU and they don’t support social NGO’s or other organizations to promote social sustainability.

Climate:

Has the brand disclosed the annual absolute climate footprint of its 'own operations', and has it accomplished an overall absolute climate footprint reduction compared to the result of the previous reporting year?

• In 2018 Houdini launched the first ever corporate sustainability report based on the holistic Planetary Boundaries framework. The report is based on a research framework that illustrates the safe operating space and boundaries of the planet’s limitations, “the Planetary Boundaries”. They have used the Planetary Boundaries framework to understand the impact of their operations and to prioritize their policies

Houdini doesn’t yet have at least 50% of the electricity from renewable sources, but their goal is to use 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Houdini’s history, values and sustainability

Houdini’s founder Lotta Giornofelice was missing clothes for start- and stop activities like climbing and ski touring, so she started to make better underwear for those activities for herself and her friends. The rumours spread in the climbing and ski community like a wildfire and the demand started to rise. In 1993 Lotta presented her first collection, and ever since the Houdini has been in a mission to create better outdoor clothes more sustainably and becoming a force for good.

Houdini’s purpose and vision is about inspiring and enabling mankind to reconnect to nature, to lead a healthier and happier lifestyle in partnership with nature, to evolve as individuals and form a prosperous society on a thriving planet, for us and future generations. This is why they work hard to provide state-of-the-art products and services designed for the great outdoors. This is why they innovate and develop technologies that work with nature rather than at the expense of it. This is why they connect and build our community together with conscious, active and engaged people like themselves worldwide.

We intend to go 100% circular with nature as the blueprint for our circular principles.

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. For us there is no contradiction between sustainability and good business. It's essential in the long run. We constantly work to transform our business, our industry and society. We have gotten far, but we are far from done.

Houdini, it’s factories or fabrics have also met the criteria for these certifications:

Wool / Merino Wool

• For wool products they are working with two different certifications ZQ & AME.
• All merino wool is mulesing free

Lyocell Tencel

• All Lyocell Tencel used is FSC certified from Lenzing.

Bluesign

• Houdini is a member of Bluesign and as of now they require that new manufacturers comply with Bluesign chemical standards. Part of their products are certified as Bluesign products.

Polyester 

• Most of the polyester used is recycled and follows the standards of GRS.