Our Fabrics
Country Road Group sources raw materials, fabrics and garments from a range of countries including: China, Pakistan, India, Spain, Portugal and Australia.
We're committed to improving traceability through the supply chain and ensuring the responsible sourcing of our key raw materials – cotton, man-made cellulose, leather, synthetics, wool and timber.
Cotton
Cotton farming can be resource intensive, requiring land, water and chemicals to cultivate. As cotton is the most used natural fibre in the fashion industry, and a key material across the Country Road Group, we have an important role to play to support sustainable farming practices in the cotton industry.
We are committed to sourcing 100% of our cotton as ‘responsible cotton’ by 2025. ‘Responsible cotton’ includes Better Cotton, organic cotton, recycled cotton and Australian Cotton.
Country Road Group partners with Better Cotton to improve cotton farming globally. Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, Better Cotton farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source’.
Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF)
Man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCFs) like viscose/rayon, modal and lyocell are derived from wood-based sources, including trees or bamboo. The MMCF supply chain is global and complex, with risks that timber is sourced from ancient and endangered forests to create fabric.
Country Road Group partners with Canopy, an organisation working to protect the world’s forests, species and climate by collaborating with business leaders, scientists and decision-makers to find lower-impact, lower-carbon fibre sources that help keep climate critical forests standing.
We prioritise fibre suppliers that complete CanopyStyle audits and are ‘Canopy Green Shirt’ rated as we work towards sourcing MMCF fibres that do not use timber from the world’s ancient and endangered forests.
Leather Working Group
Country Road Group is committed to supporting responsible leather manufacturing across the globe and that is why we are proud members of Leather Working Group (LWG)
We encourage our suppliers to source leather from tanneries that are audited against the LWG Audit Standard – assessing the environmental performance and compliance of leather manufacturing facilities (tanneries).
Country Road Group became a partner of LWG in 2017 and we are committed to engaging in LWG working groups and discussions with a diverse range of stakeholders to address the complex issues within the leather and beef supply chain.
Responsible Wool Strategy
As part of Country Road Group’s ongoing work to achieve greater traceability within our supply chain, we are proud to work with our wool suppliers to improve sourcing standards and to prioritise that animals in our supply chain are treated humanely and with respect.
Country Road Group supports a transition away from the practice of mulesing in Australia and is committed to working with suppliers to drive continuous improvement in all aspects of animal welfare and sustainable land management practices.
In addition to ensuring our suppliers understand the expectations outlined in our supplier Code of Conduct and Animal Welfare Policy, Country Road Group has developed a Responsible Wool Sourcing Strategy, which features the following time-bound commitments:
By winter 2021, all pure wool Country Road products will be verified non-mulesed or from farms that have ceased the practice of mulesing.
By winter 2023, all wool-rich Country Road products (with 30% wool composition or more) will be verified non-mulesed or from farms that have ceased the practice of mulesing.
By Winter 2026, our aim is for pure wool (100% wool fibre composition) and wool-rich (30%+ wool fibre composition) products to use wool fibre that is non-mulesed or ceased-mulesed and certified to the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) or ZQ or ZQRX Merino Standard. We will review and revise our recognised certifications as new research, programs or certifications become available and as our sourcing and our GBJ strategies evolve.
When shaping this strategy, we engaged farmers, industry bodies and animal welfare groups to ensure that we understood how to best support progress for every party involved. These stakeholders included the Australian Wool Innovation, the Australian Wool Exchange, RSPCA Australia, Four Paws Australia and Humane Society International Australia.
View Our Animal Welfare Policy