Our mission to engage our generation against climate change requires us to make lasting choices.
B Corp™ certified, FAGUO is on the right track: not to be the best in the world, but better for the world. Showing our limitations is the essential first step for innovation to become our crowning achievement.
Recycled materials
Our waste is worth its weight in gold.
80% of FAGUO items are currently made partly or entirely from recycled materials - from 10% to 100% of their material - with the same quality as a non-recycled item. Our biggest challenge is to increase the percentage of recycled materials to reduce the carbon impact of our items while ensuring their durability, optimal sourcing and availability in every country of manufacture.
Synthetic vs Natural
Being a fashion brand means being endlessly torn over the choice of material.
Should its properties be prioritised (breathability, warmth), its aesthetics, its durability?
Is using leather more responsible than using recycled polyester? Is it more durable?
The synthetic materials in the FAGUO wardrobe are 90% recycled. Our areas for improvement: prioritise natural and recycled textiles, and choose low-CO2 options for sneakers with alternatives (recycled leather).
Energy
Distributing FAGUO with 100% green energy and helping our retailers switch suppliers to ENERCOOP is something we have always done.
FAGUO is working on selecting production regions to move towards lower-carbon energy mixes. In 2023, we transformed our supply chains for several products in favour of nearshoring (+40% versus 2022).
A form of dependency exists, as with our sneakers made in Vietnam, where the natural and recycled rubber needed to make their soles is sourced locally. To support our suppliers, energy audits are carried out in all our workshops in Asia (Vietnam, China) and Europe (Morocco, Portugal, France, Tunisia). Detailed action plans will reshape energy use during manufacturing.
Finishing
The pigments used to dye leather, rubber and cotton are not natural. Although FAGUO uses plant-based dyes on some pieces and regenerated yarns on others, our areas for improvement are to extend and try to generalise these healthier practices.
Recyclability
Giving all materials a second life. FAGUO’s first steps have been taken: collecting through recycling bins to systematise the approach, working with a provider that masters the complex process of recycling sneakers.
Our areas for improvement: continuing to expand our “Designed to recycle” approach. In other words, increasing the recyclability of our items without affecting their durability: for example, by making it possible to remove the metal accessories from our DENIM.
The future? Dissolvable thread, fewer materials.
Recycled materials in a few figures
Urban greening
More than 3 million FAGUO trees have been planted in France. Two FAGUO trees grow as symbols in the heart of the city: on the path leading to the Louvre Museum in Paris, and in the orchard of the Cité des Congrès in Nantes.
Greening cities is a philosophy of life for us, and a major challenge for the years ahead. To achieve this, we will need to rethink private-public relationships. Our research continues.
Another goal: bringing trees back to the heart of fields through agroforestry. FAGUO has already supported its first projects. It is up to us to make it accessible to everyone.
Overconsumption
How can a sales adviser help limit “overconsumption” in favour of “responsible 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 outfits: work in the city, cycle around, escape into the forest.
Better, by replacing worn pieces when needed with FAGUO pieces that emit as little CO2 as possible: recycled, second-life or repaired materials.
Changing our approach also means limiting the temptation to buy and replace.
40% of our pieces are carried over from season to season to challenge the idea of “always being fashionable".
Since 2019, FAGUO has also createdMake Friday Green Again, the leading collective offering an alternative to Black Friday and bringing together more than 1,000 brands.