We are excited to build upon the sustainable achievements of our Signature & Mini collections thus far which include the use of revolutionary ECONYL® regenerated nylon awarded the EU Ecolabel for environmental excellence as well as OEKO-TEX certification that ensures no harmful substances are used in the production or dye process. Our Signature & Mini swimwear collections also boast recycled or biodegradable trims & packaging.
A truly considered collection.
While we recognise that offsetting the transport of our ECONYL® fabric and finished goods is just a small step towards mitigating the effects of climate change we believe in celebrating our achievements to date while communicating our goals for the future.
CPA's work includes providing sympathetic environmental restoration and planting of degraded land.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activity such as electricity and transport. Although CO2 is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth's carbon cycle, human activities are altering the carbon cycle by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by influencing the Earth’s ability to remove and store carbon dioxide.
CO2 is the largest component of aircraft emissions (70% of the exhaust) that mixes in the atmosphere having the same direct atmospheric warming effect that other fossil fuel combustion sources emit. Making air travel the second largest producer of carbon dioxide after electricity. Although with electricity we can choose alternative sources such as hydro and solar power, the aviation industry does not have the same technology in place - little progress has been made to decarbonise aeroplanes.
The past two years have been challenging times in many ways but the mass disruption of transport and logistics services have exposed vulnerabilities in the supply of goods causing financial strain for a lot of businesses. Almost overnight, flight cancellations restricted air-freight, temporary closure of ports led to container shortages, high congestion and slow customs clearance delaying the supply and flow of goods as well as extended production lead times. When in the past we could rely on sea freight, a more climate friendly option, instead we had to choose air freight to maintain timelines and seasonality.
This led us to explore offsetting our carbon emissions ahead of our sustainability timeline goal to be Carbon Neutral by 2024.
The Yarraweyah Falls site in WA. CPA have planted more than 100 native tree and shrub species across the 100 hectare site, with many seeds hand collected by the landowners.
Carbon Neutral is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions whether this is achieved by replacing or reducing carbon dioxide intensive processes or removing the carbon dioxide from unavoidable practices through carbon offsets.
At Zulu & Zephyr becoming Carbon Neutral is an important step for us as a responsible brand and a goal we are committed to making in the coming years.
At Zulu & Zephyr becoming Carbon Neutral is an important step for us as a responsible brand and a goal we are committed to making in the coming years.
Until we reach our goal of carbon neutrality and as a response to the increased use of air freight in 2021 we choose to offset our Signature & Mini collections which uses fabric produced in Italy and requires long-haul transport.
We choose to link up with Carbon Positive Australia whose climate projects have helped restore almost 300 hectares of native bushland in the past year alone, one of these being close to home in the high-value Koala habitat of Nightcap National Park, Northern NSW.
Carbon Positive Australia’s Carbon Calculator measured the carbon emissions from the transport of both our fabric as well as the finished goods to our warehouse. Our donation to Carbon Positive Australia goes directly towards their native restoration projects. Not only do these projects tackle climate change through carbon sequestration, the process of trees removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transforming into biomass through photosynthesis, they restore degraded land as well as increase habitat and biodiversity.
Read more about Carbon Positive Australia and their projects here.
Since re-launching our Signature collection, made from ECONYL® in 2020 the impacts have cumulated in climate-friendly savings of 1’052'899.7 MegaJoule/year of gross energy which is the equivalent of powering 10 Australian homes for 4 years as well as 75’140.8 kgCO2eq/year which is the equivalent emissions from 16 cars/year.
It’s important to Zulu & Zephyr that our collections maintain strong sustainability standards not only across Signatures but overall we have set a 2024 goal that all products will hold at least one environmental credential in order to be regenerative to our environment.