Koton that Makes Sustainable Production, Saved 62 Million Tonnes of Water
Koton, one of Turkey’s leading fashion brands, announced its 2022 Sustainability Report reflecting its sustainability practices and goals. Koton also introduced the new season of Respect for Water Collection and announced that it saved 62 million litres of water in 4 periods with this project.
Koton announced that with the “Respect for Life” Manifesto published in 2020, it handled its sustainability efforts under the headings of ‘Respect for Our World’, “Respect for People”, “Respect for Society” and “Respect for Our Business”. Stating that it will transparently share its sustainability efforts with the public, the brand published its second sustainability report showing its goals and progress.
In 2022, Koton, which continues to move at full speed towards its goal of becoming a carbon neutral company by 2040, obtained 25% of its products from sustainable products, obtained 33% of the energy it uses from renewable sources, reduced plastic waste by 22%, expanded its production with Better Koton, the first company to sign Better Coton in the Turkish retail sector, and 15% of its total production came from good cotton practices. In addition, with the sustainable materials used in the ‘Respect for Water’ project, 62 million liters of water was saved in 4 seasons and approximately one ton less carbon was emitted. Increased the global female employee ratio from 64% to 72% and the female manager ratio from 52% to 54%, and included 6 thousand women from Southeastern Anatolia in the production chain since 2016 with the “Hand Made Project”.
“We Aim to Increase the Use of Recycled Packaging by 50% by 2026”
Koton CEO Dr. A. Bülent Sabuncu talked about some of their sustainable goals: “We plan to be carbon neutral by 2040 and use renewable energy in all our facilities by 2030. We also aim to increase the use of recycled packaging by 50% by 2026 compared to 2023. We have received Zero Waste Certification at our headquarters, logistics centers and 41 stores, and the certification process is ongoing at our other stores. We supported 65,000 tree planting initiatives. Our employee satisfaction and engagement was certified by Great Place To Work this year. Our company aims to reach wider segments through digitalization while continuously improving product quality.”
Şahika Ercümen, the face of the Respect for Water Collection, said: “I have been in the ocean for about 25 years, I have witnessed a great change in 25 years, which is a very short time for our world. Warming in the water, plastics, illegal and overfishing pose a great threat to the oceans. Water is my home, the sea and oceans are my habitat. Our common goal with Koton brought us together 3 years ago for the Respect for Water Collection. Our collection is meticulously prepared every season to protect every drop of water and design products that are friendly to our world. I am happy to join forces with Koton, which has prepared a collection dedicated to water by feeling responsible in this regard.”
Yılmaz Yılmaz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Koton, shared his impressions of COP28: “This year, the fashion industry was mentioned for the first time at COP28. Solutions and innovative approaches were shared for the shift to a sustainable fashion industry. We are a company that takes important initiatives in the field of sustainability in Turkey, and we were happy and proud to represent Turkey there. What made this year’s summit different from previous events was that it was a much more inclusive summit. Civil society, business world, bureaucracy, activists, scientists were all together and worked together for a solution.”
Gülden Yılmaz, Member of the Board of Directors of Koton and Chairwoman of the Sustainability Committee, stated that they are a brand with a high sense of responsibility that offers products and services to millions of consumers in Turkey and around the world, and that sustainability will continue to be a top agenda item in their future vision.
