Boohoo : Sustainability Report 2023

SUSTAINABILITY

REPORT

2023

COVER

2023 Sustainability Report

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WHAT WE HAVE DONE IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

2023 Sustainability Report

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PLANET

PLT

MARKET

PLACE

PROCESS

Science-based	PLT	£2.3m raised by	We moved to
targets approved.	Marketplace	BHF through clothing	totally renewable
*Submitting Near Term Targets 2023.	launched.	donations. *since 2019	electricity.

				In year two, 2,254
New Low Energy feature	boohoo group match funded	farmers managed
available on boohoo's	CottonConnect emergency flood	12,054
womenswear website.	response in Rajanpur Pakistan .	acres of land.

Fashion Transparency Index: We

increased our score by 8% since the last reporting period.

Responsible purchasing

awareness training.

42% of our suppliers	Welcomed external
completed the FEM	experts to train our
module 0% was verified.	teams on circular design.

Product Compliance	In-house sustainability champions
and Testing Laboratory.	programme launched.

In year three of our CottonConnect programme we are delighted that two UK retailers will be joining us to pilot a new programme in India.

Converted 13% of our

cotton usage to Better Cotton certified cotton.

Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we source.*

PEOPLE - OUR PEOPLE, OUR COMMUNITY, OUR SUPPLIERS

boohoo

womenswear

introduced vintage products into a

collaboration collection for the first time to test second life clothing with its customers.

	Almost
	2000 hires
	from Oasis, Miss
	Pap, Warehouse
Launched	and Boohoo with Hirestreet,
Karen Millen rotate,	saving 38,600 kgs
our first hiring service.	greenhouse emissions.

First British retailer	Our teams learnt about
to achieve Pride	individuality with the experts
365 certification.	at The Human Library.

We launched a 'Let's	The Garment and Textile
Talk About' series to talk	Workers Trust grants of
about challenging topics.	£300k+ issued.

Our Diversity, Equity &	We introduced Brown
Inclusion (DEI) family	Bag development
programme created.	lunches for our teams.

• 168 garment

  workers in Leicester qualified with KTL training.

• KTL (Key Training & Learning) is

a training provider based in Derby, delivering qualifications for the textile industry.

Repair pop up shop	First technology
with Karen Millen	'greenprint'
(knitwear, leather).	created.

• Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. Better Cotton Farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we source.

Reconfirmed our commitment to the International Accord for Health and Safety.

Over a 12 month period we supported 45 individual charities and community organisation.

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2023 Sustainability Report

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2023 Sustainability Report

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SHORT ON TIME? HERE IS A SNAPSHOT OF OUR PROGRESS

WHAT'S INSIDE…

This report is designed to provide an open, no-nonsense and transparent update on our progress to become a more sustainable business.

We want to provide a fair and balanced assessment, so whilst we are proud to showcase the progress that we have made, we haven't shied away from talking about the challenges that we are facing in achieving the stretching targets we have set ourselves.

TargetWhat we have done

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By 2025 all of our	In 2022 10% of the	In 2022 we increased the
polyester and cotton
polyester we purchased	% of Better Cotton in our
products will contain
contained recycled content.	supply chain to 13%
recycled or more
	and 1.65% of our total
sustainably sourced
materials.		cotton purchased was organic.

Our partnership with

CottonConnect shifted focus in 2022 to the provision of aid following the floods which devastated the country and all forms of crops. .

This is our third report and in pursuit of continual improvement we are changing our approach. We have tried to avoid some of the more complicated sustainability language and have written this report in plain English. We have focused on the three areas that we get asked most about by our customers, colleagues and shareholders: The planet, our people and the processes we use to produce our products.

SHORT ON TIME?	5
HERE IS A SNAPSHOT OF OUR PROGRESS
A VIEW FROM JOHN LYTTLE, CEO	9
PLANET…	10
AND WHAT WE ARE DOING TO TACKLE OUR IMPACT
THE ACTION WE ARE TAKING	12
THROUGHOUT THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
HIGG BRM 2021 SCORES	17
OUR PEOPLE
(INCLUDING OUR EXTENDED BOOHOO FAMILY)	18
AND WHAT WE DO TO SUPPORT THEM
PROCESS	23
WHAT'S NEXT… A MESSAGE FROM ANDREW REANEY	29

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By 2030 all of the materials we use in our garments will be more sustainably sourced.

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By 2023, we will launch resale and recycling offers across our brands

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By 2025, no textile waste will go directly to landfill from our UK supply chain.

In 2022 20% of our products contained more sustainable materials.

in accordance with the criteria established in our sustainability plan.

PrettyLittleThing launched MARKETPLACE our first ever resale site in summer 2022.

Karen Millen and Oasis have partnered with resale experts Thrift+.

Over 1700 garments have been hired through brand partnerships with Hirestreet.

You can now HIRE products from FIVE of our brands.

Efficient systems to recycle textiles in this country do not yet exist, meaning that there is not one simple solution to this issue.

The details of all the action we are taking can be found in the product pages of this report.

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2023 Sustainability Report

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2023 Sustainability Report

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Sustainable design: innovation to reduce waste, increase durability and improve recyclability.

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By 2023: All customer garment packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable and any plastic will contain over 50% recycled content.

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This year we will announce our goals on water, chemicals, biodiversity, microfibres, developed in partnership with experts.

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By 2023 map our raw materials supply chain for key fibres.

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By 2025 publish key raw material supply information.

We have had experts in circular design visit our sites to talk to our design and buying teams. Our teams have participated in working groups run by WRAP which is looking to create a guidance document for the industry.

All our mailer bags across the group are made of 80% recycled material and are fully recyclable (if taken to the right recycling points).

Our return polybags are 95% recycled and fully recyclable (if taken to the right recycling points).

Our swing tickets are now 25% smaller. We have removed lamination and they are now made from recycled material and are fully recyclable. When calculating the impact of this change, from our nominated suppliers alone (who produce 45% of our volume), this reduces our paper consumption.

This is something we plan to address this year. We are moving into our third year of CottonConnect programme and at the end of this year we will be able to see the benefits the programme has had on the soil.

We are committed to mapping and publishing our raw material supply chain and we have commenced a pilot mapping our top China suppliers from farm through to production.

We will be focusing on one of our key sourcing regions for 2023.

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By 2023 demonstrate improvements in UK garment factories and positive impact on workers.

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By 2025 demonstrate the impact of our improved supplier management programme over 5 years.

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Make it easier for our customers to make sustainable choices with us.

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By 2030, achieve a carbon reduction across our value chain, aligned to SBT equivalent of 52% reduction in emissions relative to growth.

At the time of writing, we had 74 apparel suppliers based in the UK. 

In 2021 we announced that they would be moving to the fast forward model of auditing and today ALL of our UK suppliers are engaged in the programme.

Last year we were one of only 4 retailer members of the AGM PPP who volunteered to work with Unions in Leicester to support access to our suppliers. 

The garment and textile workers trust established by the group has recently announced in the region of £350,000 of funding for organisations whose purpose is to support garment workers in Leicester.   

We have been partnering with local training providers to provide access to free on site training for our suppliers.  To date 178 workers have achieved a L1 NVQ.  

Our intensive three-year focus on strengthening, consolidating and auditing our supply chain has delivered a 89% year-on-year reduction in red-rated audits across our supplier base (2022: 56 red-rated audits; 2023: 6 red-rated audits).

Driving change at the affordable end of the fashion sector is vital to achieve the critical mass to drive meaningful change. But, making change accessible and affordable isn't simple. Our customers want to make more responsible choices without spending much more or compromising on style. So, we are focussed on implementing changes that mean they don't have to.

We are doing this in lots of different ways: improving the volume of more sustainable materials, offering vintage and pre-loved items, improving the quality and longevity of our products, creating guidance on how to care for purchases, and offering different ways to purchase and responsibly part with pre-loved items.

We're also working hard to ensure that our communication with customers is honest, accurate and transparent

We have partnered with a new carbon accounting specialist Emitwise who have conducted a thorough review of our entire value chain.

Total market-based emissions have decreased by 8% from 852,370 tCO2e to 781,146 tCO2e.

Our new methodology has initiated a reassessment of our targets to ensure we are aligned with the standards set by SBTi. This means we are re-benchmarking and have submitted a near term target submission to SBTi. The group's first TCFD report can be found in the FY2023 Annual Report on our website https://www.boohooplc.com/.

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2023 Sustainability Report

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By 2022, publish our social impact strategy.

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By 2025 receive independent external recognition via an award, accreditation or kitemark

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The group launched BeYou, our social impact strategy in summer 2022. The programme was supported by a group commitment to donate 1% of pre-tax profits to good causes.

In 2022, the group was delighted to become the first British retailer to achieve Pride 365 accreditation. 

We are an active member of Inclusive Employers and Diversity in Retail.

2023 Sustainability Report

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A VIEW FROM

JOHN LYTTLE, CEO

Dear readers,

Three years ago, we examined every aspect of our business and determined that there were areas where we could do better to limit our impact on the environment. In 2021, we announced a new approach to our sustainability journey, accompanied by a set of stretching targets designed to accelerate our progress to decarbonise our business, which last year were certified by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

for doing the right things by our people and a genuine commitment to D&I.

We are keen to earn further recognition for our work to be an employer of choice. 

In this report you will read an honest assessment of our progress and what we have planned for the year ahead.

While I am proud of how far we have come in meeting a number of our ambitious targets, for example: delivering an 89% reduction in red-rated audits, receiving external

LINKING EXECUTIVE REMUNERATION TO ESG PERFORMANCE

In 2021, the group introduced non-financial targets into the annual bonus scheme to ensure that management remained focused on making progress against some of the wider strategic issues affecting the business.

In 2021, non-financial targets were linked t o the successful delivery of the Agenda for Change programme, and in 2022, the targets were linked to delivery against the UP.FRONT sustainability strategy.

To deliver our ambition requires the attention of every single member of our team. Our people are the driving force behind the progress we make, not just our specialists in sustainability, but the collective will of everyone at

the boohoo group, and I'm incredibly proud of their determination to ensure that we do better in every aspect of our operations.

As a business, with a duty to deliver for our shareholders, our unwillingness to settle means that we have taken some great strides: In the last 12 months we have: Launched our new social impact strategy, BeYou which sees us champion individuality, support young people to be their best future self and support the smaller charities that matter most to our people. The Trust that we funded to improve the lives of those employed in the garment industry, has gifted over £350,000 in grants and we have recently found an innovative new partner, Yellow Octopus, who have novel and importantly, scalable, ideas to tackle textile waste, which we will be begin to realise in the coming financial year.

Building on the examples listed above, the next few pages demonstrate how the group is creating long- term sustainable value for our shareholders through our continuous improvement plan. As we progress and learn from the innovation we are trialling, and the new partners we are working with, we're adapting our habits and behaviours to meet the demands of what lies ahead.

recognition for our D,E & I work and reducing our market based emissions by 8%, we still have more work to do for us to achieve our 2030 goals. That is why this Sustainability Report carries particular significance for us. Together with our committed team, collaborating beyond our borders and continuing to prioritise sustainability, we will continue to raise the bar.

Thank you for reading our Sustainability Report.

JOHN

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