Our mission to engage our generation against climate change requires making lasting choices.
Certified B Corp™, FAGUO is on the right track: not to be the best in the world, but better for the world. Acknowledging our limits is the essential first step to making innovation our hallmark.
Recycled materials
Our waste is worth its weight in gold.
80% of FAGUO pieces currently contain partially or entirely recycled materials — from 10% to 100% of their composition — with a quality identical to that of a non-recycled piece. Our biggest challenge is to increase the percentage of recycled materials to reduce the carbon impact of our pieces while guaranteeing their durability, optimal sourcing, and this in every country of manufacture.
Synthetic vs Natural
Being a fashion brand means being endlessly torn over the choice of materials.
Should we prioritise their properties (breathability, warmth), their aesthetics, their durability?
Is using leather more respectful than using recycled polyester? Is it more durable?
The synthetic materials in the FAGUO wardrobe are 90% recycled. Our areas for improvement: prioritising natural and recycled materials for textiles, making the low CO2 choice for sneakers with alternatives (recycled leathers).
Energy
Distributing FAGUO with 100% green energy and helping our retailers switch suppliers to ENERCOOP — that's something we've always done.
FAGUO is working on the choice of production regions to move towards less carbon-intensive energy mixes. In 2023, we revolutionised our supply chains for several product lines in favour of near-sourcing (+40% versus 2022).
A degree of dependency exists, as with our sneakers made in Vietnam where we source the natural and recycled rubber needed for their soles locally. To support our suppliers, energy audits are being put in place across all our workshops in Asia (Vietnam, China) and in Europe (Morocco, Portugal, France, Tunisia). Precise action plans will reinvent energy use at the manufacturing stage.
Finishing
The pigments used to dye leather, rubber, and cotton are not natural. Even though FAGUO uses plant-based dyes on some pieces or regenerated yarns on others, our areas for improvement are to extend and attempt to mainstream these healthier practices.
Recyclability
Giving a second life to all materials. FAGUO has already taken the first steps: collecting from recycling bins to systematise the process, working with a partner who masters the complex recycling process for sneakers.
Our areas for improvement: continuing to extend our "Designed to recycle" approach. In other words, increasing the recyclability of our items without impacting their durability — for example by making it possible to remove the metal hardware from our DENIM.
The future? Resorbable thread, material reduction.
Recycled materials in numbers
Urban greening
More than 3M FAGUO trees have been planted in France. 2 FAGUO trees stand as symbols in the heart of the city: along the path leading to the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and in the orchard of the Cité des Congrès in Nantes.
Greening our cities is, for us, a philosophy of life and a major challenge for the years ahead. To get there, we'll need to shake up public-private relationships. Our research continues.
Another goal: bringing trees back to the heart of farmland through agroforestry. FAGUO has already supported its first projects. Now it's up to us to make it accessible to everyone.
Over-consumption
How can a sales advisor help limit "over-consumption" in favour of "mindful consumption"? Why does FAGUO exist when there are already so many brands?
The utopian solution would be to live naked. Our solution is to learn to dress less and better.
Less, by creating a hybrid FAGUO wardrobe that lets you do everything without changing outfit: work in the city, cycle around, escape into the forest.
Better, by replacing, when needed, your worn pieces with FAGUO items that emit as little CO2 as possible: made from recycled materials, second-life, or repaired.
Changing our approach also means limiting the temptation to buy and replace.
40% of our pieces are carried over from season to season to nuance the notion of "always being on trend".
Since 2019, FAGUO has also created Make Friday Green Again, the leading collective offering an alternative to Black Friday and bringing together more than 1,000 brands.