Consumer- and Environment-Friendly Business Activities

We at the Wacoal Group continue to manufacture products in a way that will earn the appreciation of consumers for many years to come while engaging in business activities that respect the environment based on our belief that it is our duty to protect the global environment.
Wacoal Corp. promotes the sustainable use of resources and materials within its supply chain, implements resource-saving measures, and reduces and recycles waste. To this end, it deliberates on procurement policies and quality standards for environmentally conscious materials while monitoring progress in waste reduction during production and procurement activities. Furthermore, centered on production department employees, we are implementing the SDGs Project. Through public relations activities concerning the donation and utilization of leftover materials, we aim to enhance external awareness of our environmentally conscious initiatives. Simultaneously, we are working to create new businesses and ventures by utilizing leftover materials. In particular, we are promoting co-creation with local communities and other companies using discarded materials such as leftover lace.

Reducing waste

■Creating Products That Will Be Loved for a Long Time

In order to provide products that customers will "love for a long time," we are promoting activities aimed at improving quality in all processes, from material procurement, to product planning and design, to production. Encouraging customers to use our products for a long time will contribute to making their consumption activities more sustainable.
Please see here for more details

■Providing Sustainable Choices Through Services Tailored to Each Individual

Through consultative sales by sales staff and the digital technology–based service "SCANBE," we enable customers to make sustainable choices by providing products and services tailored to each individual.

■Developing Systems That Mean No Leftover Inventory

Wacoal Corp. is striving to minimize product waste by adopting production systems that respond to demand (demand-linked production), and aiming to achieve waste-free production. As a result, its product waste rate (the number of products disposed of relative to the number produced) has been reduced to around 1%.

Initiatives for Realizing a Resource-Recycling Society

Upcycling Activities

(Domestic)

In 2024, we collaborated with Kyoto-based company "SHOYEIDO INCENSE CO." to host a workshop where participants created one-of-a-kind scented pouches while feeling both companies' craftsmanship spirit. Furthermore, at the "Circulation Festival" reuse event, which promotes new vintage clothing circulation systems alongside Gen Z, we are working to realize a resource-circulating society in collaboration with the local community through workshop sessions and the sale of upcycled products. Through these activities, requests from business partners to host workshops have increased, leading to the creation of new customer touchpoints via the utilization of leftover materials.

(Overseas)

Upcycling activities are spreading not only in Japan but also to overseas Group companies. At Dalian Wacoal Co., Ltd. in China,initiatives such as wall art made from leftover materials and exhibitions of handicrafts created by employees provide opportunities to raise awareness among internal and external stakeholders about the challenges and potential uses of leftover materials generated during the production process.

■Recycled-Hanger Initiative (Reducing Plastic Waste)

Wacoal Corp. has been working with Nippon Copack Inc. since 2000 to promote a "hanger recycling" initiative. Through this, we have been working to reduce plastic waste by collecting plastic hangers that were used in chain stores (mass retailers) and turning them into other plastic products or solid fuel, and have recycled some 9 million hangers a year to date.
Furthermore, in 2023, we developed and began introducing "recycled hangers" made from collected plastic hangers. Through this, we are further promoting effective use of resources and reduction of environmental impacts.

Brassiere Recycling Activities

Based on customer feedback that "bras are hard to throw away, Wacoal Corp.'s "Wacoal Bra Recycle" initiative is designed to collect and recycle unneeded bras. Through participation in JEPLAN, INC.'s BRING program, the collected bras are reborned into recycled plastic.

• Wacoal Bra Recycling

* Numerical value converted at 1 unit = 100g, based on the total recovered weight

Developing environmentally friendly products

Implementation of sustainable materials

The Wacoal Group is working to reduce the environmental impacts of all of its business activities in order to achieve a sustainable global environment. As part of this, we are increasingly using "environmentally friendly materials" in our product development.
Wacoal has set a goal of raising the proportion of environmentally friendly materials used to "50%" by 2030, including switching to recycled fibers and yarns.