For a seller of undies, Organic Basics doesn’t have qualms about letting it all hang out.
As part of its mission to become the Patagonia of bras, briefs and socks, the Danish company has rolled out what it calls the Impact Index: a tool that measures the environmental impact and footprints of its organic cotton, Tencel and recycled cashmere garments against those derived from more traditional materials.
Using a methodology based on publicly available benchmarks and cradle-to-gate data, it traces every item from raw material production through to consumer use, Christoffer Immanuel, Organic Basics’ co-CEO and founder, told Sourcing Journal.
But although the tool takes a life-cycle-assessment approach, it crunches the numbers in a way consumers can immediately understand.
Soon, each product page on its website will include an Impact Index bar that reveals how much waste, water, chemicals, carbon and energy an Organic Basics legging or muscle tank saves compared with conventional versions.
“To some extent, the Impact Index works almost like labeling that allows products to be compared based on the choices we make regarding materials and other factors,” he said.