We speak with Annette Tenstam, Strategy Lead for Circularity and Environmental Sustainability at Lindex, and Tina Lemke, Marketing Manager at Oncemore, who share their experiences and advice for brands aiming to make a similar impact.
Here’s an outtake from our conversation on what it takes to create lasting change across the supply chain.
Annette, what has your journey into sustainability been like, and what’s changed in the industry?
Annette: “Sustainability has always been important. But I think what has happened is that both the scale and the scope have really increased, and the requirements for us as a company to step up have also increased a lot. And, I mean, the topics that we are working on now, like we’re going to have to limit climate change. We’re going to have to work to reduce dependence on natural resources. These are big questions, and we will require a system change. We are moving into a whole new economy, like a circular economy. So, this means transformative change. And it is a change that cannot only happen within Lindex, it’s for the whole industry.”
Tina, Oncemore provides a different solution from other textile recyclers. How does that help brands like Lindex?
Tina: “My role is a marketing manager, but I’m also a brand experience manager. So that means that I’m focusing on the brands we collaborate with, Lindex being one of them, helping them with all the necessary communication, communicating with them regularly to have all the data, and so on. Right now, we’re also focusing on having collaboration throughout the value chain… but also, of course, building our own brand Oncemore is important, getting the knowledge out that our solution is out there.”
How did this collaboration between Lindex and Oncemore come about, and what did the process look like from each of your perspectives?
Annette: “Yeah, I mean, we have a goal to increase recycled content in our products, and we were searching for solutions to scale because we realised that the solutions that exist, they had some, they came with some limitations. And so we just looked for new solutions, and at the time we were connected with Söder and Oncemore, and we realised that they have a scalable solution and also where we remain the quality, which is very important. And so I think we just decided to explore how we can collaborate.”
Tina: “Yeah, I think that is very cool. Something that we are also proud of with this collaboration is that Lindex went from a pilot to one million garments in their store quickly. And that scale-up is so important, of course, for everyone. But it shows that we can be there for the scale-up solution. We are not a startup. We are producing our material already on a big scale, and I think that is cool and a big step for Lindex to take, and it’s so impressive that you took that step. And one million, we said, but it went even more, so I think that is awesome.”
Annette, what has it been like implementing this on a larger scale, especially in terms of supply chain coordination?
Annette: “Yeah, I mean, yes, this is a new way of working. I mean, traditionally, our main business partner is with a garment producer, or we have some, to some extent, also, a relationship with fabric producers. But now we are talking far down the value chain. I mean, it’s in the raw materials. So, of course, these kinds of partnerships came with a lot of new questions to us, like how do we even make these agreements? What should it look like? There are a lot of middlemen between Söder and us. And also how do we even calculate purchasing in tons of materials instead of pieces of garments?”
Tina: “We see that the brands have not that much knowledge about the raw material to start with and also even knowing what viscose comes from, that comes from trees and so on. So yes, the education there is needed and the information there is needed, not only external but also internal, of course.”
What advice do you have for other brands who are just starting out on this path?
Annette: “I think the start is to work on your fabrics, like consolidate your fabrics. I mean, in Lindex we have a fabric manager that is working very strategically with our fabrics, mapping them and consolidating them so that we can make these big transformations. Then also of course understand your value chain and supply chain and create that traceability and just start because it may sound difficult but sometimes you realize it’s not as difficult as you once thought.”
Tina: “When the brands see where we are and how we can connect it, of course, the connection part is really important and quite hard as well. But when we get that connection, you get the traceability. And that is the goal, of course, and have that both traceability but also transparency through the value chain.”
Finally, what’s been the most rewarding part of this collaboration?
Tina: “The really cool thing is that you actually can go out in Lindex stores or online. Sounds like a commercial. And see garments with the Oncemore logo. You can find them, you can buy them, you can feel them. And for us, it’s such an opener for showing other brands that you can do this now. You can use our pulp and create this. It’s easy. We’re out there.”
Annette: “Yes! And for us as well, the way we’re working and just realizing how much business value that it brings working in this way. And maybe just repeat again to get started. You just need to like consolidate your fabrics, understand your supply chain, start piloting and then don’t stop there. Also scale up.”
