Australian fashion brand Bassike’s carbon-neutral mission

The Australian label was ahead of the pack when it set out to make its fashion sustainable. Now its founders have taken the next step.

Bassike founders Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan. Picture: Nick Cubbin

Atop the Stargazer Lawn of Barangaroo, the public parkland at the south-western end of the Sydney ustainable, responsible and considered design are not new concepts to modern Australian fashion brand Bassike. These principles informed the work of founders Mary Lou Ryan and Deborah Sams when they started the label back in 2006, way before the words were on the lips of many consumers.

The pair, who were friends for years before starting Bassike, were also ahead of their time when they decided they were only going to use organic cotton and make 95 per cent of their pieces in Australia.

In the past 16 years, those organic cotton T-shirts, trousers, and everyday dresses have become staples in the wardrobes of women and men across this country and all over the world. So it is no surprise that Bassike has taken the next step and got the company certified carbon neutral, and most recently its organic cotton jersey – used in the majority of its clothing – was also certified carbon neutral by joint government and business body Climate Active.

The achievement, the culmination of two years of hard work by the label, was led by Ryan, who officially moved into the role of Bassike director of sustainability and supply chain. It all began in the first few months of the pandemic in 2020, when both Ryan and Sams were forced to stop their normal lives, close their stores and go into lockdown in their homes.

“We have always used sustainable materials but there was definitely a light shone during the pandemic where everyone had the opportunity to stop and think about their business and what they really wanted to stand for,” Ryan explains to WISH.

Bassike. Avalon, NSW. Picture: Nick Cubbin

“I think the pandemic has created space for us to consider the way we do things and what is happening to our planet,” adds Sams, who is now the sole creative director. “We have seen the difference it makes between people moving around the planet and people being in lockdown, and what that does to carbon emissions. We have seen that we do have an impact on the planet.”

The first thing Ryan did in her new role was go through the entire business of Bassike to calculate its carbon footprint. This was no easy task, and she looked at everything from where the organic cotton came from, how it was farmed and how it was transported into the country, to the Australian manufacture of the garments and even the way it gets to customers online and in-store.

“The fashion industry contributes between 4 and 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and we play a part, so what can we do as an organisation to reduce that? What we have to understand first is our carbon footprint and then look at ways to minimise it,” says Ryan.

The first part of the process was not too surprising given Bassike has always used GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified organic cotton – which produces 46 per cent less emissions than conventional cotton – and has sourced it from a region in India where the crops are rain-fed so less irrigated water is needed.

It has also always used sea and road freight to get the cotton here instead of planes, which reduces emissions, and Bassike produces its garments in Australia, again reducing emissions and ensuring ethical facilities and labour practices. But what did surprise and interest Ryan was the consumer side of the process – the shift in online purchasing and the impact it has on carbon emissions.

Bassike organic cotton t-shirt.

Bassike organic cotton t-shirt.

“It was really the logistical part of someone purchasing a basic jersey T-shirt and sending it from the Sydney store to far North Queensland or wherever,” Ryan explains. “We know that freight is one of the biggest contributors to our carbon footprint so we just started thinking about what we can do from a logistical point of view, how important it is for big freight companies to get onboard. Whether it is through electric vehicles or carbon offset, they have a huge role to play.”

It soon became apparent to Ryan and Sams that reducing Bassike’s carbon footprint meant going beyond their organisation and really working with freight companies, cotton suppliers, mills and factories to get them on board and help change the way they work as well.

“Our jersey factories are solar powered so that was fantastic and there was a reduction in carbon there. Then our knitting mill was moving, so we collaborated with them to talk about reducing our carbon footprint,” Ryan explains. “Recently they moved into a new facility and it’s all solar-generated as well, which is wonderful.”

On the materials side of things, aiming to use only sustainable fabrics is also key to reducing Bassike’s carbon footprint. In its latest collection, 79 per cent of materials used were sustainable, including the organic cotton jersey and viscose made out of wood that has been certified by the FSC (Forest Stewards Council), so the trees are regenerated. “We would love to get it to 100 per cent and there is a pathway to get there but we just have to bring our suppliers with us,” Ryan adds.

There is also the hurdle of creating modern, beautiful clothing with sustainable fabrics when Bassike is known for being such a minimalist design-led brand. Consumer perception also needs changing (they often think sustainable means only fabrics such as hemp). “It definitely makes it more challenging from a design point of view,” says Sams. “But I like that, and I enjoy the discovery phase and the art of what is possible and creating new fabrics in a sustainable way.”

The work that Ryan and Sams have been doing led to Bassike being certified as carbon neutral as an organisation last year, followed by its cotton jersey last month. So a Bassike organic cotton T-shirt produces 44 per cent less carbon than a conventional cotton T-shirt (2.4kgCO2-e versus 4.3kgCO2-e).

Bassike has also switched the power at its warehouses and eight stores to renewable energy through Greenpower, uses reclaimed materials in its retail spaces, has a centralised recycling program and plants trees via Greenfleet Australia. In addition, the label offsets unavoidable carbon emissions by supporting regenerative farming, the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation and wind power projects.

Both Ryan and Sams have found the process very rewarding and are keen to help other Australian fashion brands follow in their footsteps. “It’s a really exciting space to work in because you can really start to see change,” says Ryan. “And I think all fashion companies should be collaborating on it and working together, because if we can move all brands to working sustainably and ethically, then we have a really clean industry. It’s a lot of work but you just have to start.”