House of Dagmar launches exclusive capsule collection for Zalando

Swedish family-fun fashion label House of Dagmar, which won the inaugural Zalando sustainability award during Copenhagen Fashion Week, has unveiled a capsule collection for the European e-tailer.

The exclusive 20-piece House of Dagmar sustainable collection has been developed in partnership with Zalando and highlights the fashion brand’s sustainability efforts and explore material choices such as certified organic, recycled, and responsibly sourced materials.

The collection focuses on three key areas of House of Dagmar’s sustainability strategy - to reduce carbon emissions, save water and minimise waste through material choices. To showcase this, Zalando funded a fibre impact report by sustainable activator, Anthesis, based on the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) to provide transparency and learnings.

The impact assessment showed reduced carbon and water impacts overall, through the House of Dagmar choosing more sustainable materials, compared to the equivalent conventional materials. By doing this the collection has avoided an estimated 7,700 kilograms of CO2, the equivalent of driving from Berlin to Madrid 13 times (31,000 kilometres), and 184,000 litres of water, approximately 600 bathtubs.

Sofia Wallenstam, brand director at House of Dagmar, said in a statement: “We hope we can inspire our customers to be bold and establish a new mindset when it comes to what they wear and why. A conscious mindset, where each purchase is of a product that is made to last. And that each clothing item added is part of a style that can last a lifetime, or be passed on to a new wearer.

“Just like Zalando, we strive for transparency, so we’re incredibly proud to have won the award and to have produced this capsule collection and Fibre Impact Report – it’s another step towards a more sustainable future.”

House of Dagmar x Zalando - highlights sustainable design

The capsule has been designed to be “timeless, versatile and elegant,” explains House of Dagmar, and takes wardrobe staples such as a denim shirt, cable sweater, loungewear, and a coat and remakes them using more sustainable fabrics. With 55 percent of the collection containing recycled content, such as recycled wool and recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, of between 30 and 100 percent.

The collection aims to offer “stylish, seasonless products that minimise environmental impacts, provide consumers with more sustainable choices, and help drive change in the industry,” adds Zalando.

Sustainable highlights include the Thelise coat made from recycled wool and polyester, equating to 74 percent less carbon emitted than a similar garment made from virgin wool and polyester, and the Alba denim was created from raw, GOTS certified organic cotton, meaning no additional processes are applied to the fabric after the dying stage, reducing pollution, chemical use, carbon emissions and supporting the health of manufacturers.

While the Maggie and Greta knitted loungewear trousers and vest are made from recycled wool, the report adds that knitted garments have very few offcuts, which reduces waste.

Kate Heiny, director of sustainability at Zalando, added: “We want to enable our customers to make more sustainable choices and speak a sustainability language everyone can understand. By calculating the fibre footprint of each item in the collection, we are able to transparently show our consumers why each product is a more sustainable choice - driving change and having a positive impact on people and the planet.”

The report from Anthesis concluded that House of Dagmar considered the environmental impact, as well as the longevity of garments, from an aesthetic and a durability perspective, in design, by choosing recycled, organic and other lower impact fabrics, as well as incorporated sustainability considerations when selecting manufacturing partners.

However, it also added that for House of Dagmar to build on this foundation that they would need to dive deeper into the detail of the manufacture as well as increase visibility down the value chain. It recommended ensuring recycled content certificate availability, working with manufacturers to create more bespoke fibre models, creating their own Life Cycle Assessment, improving transparency to farm level, and considering the use of blended fabrics, which can give fabrics longer-life through increased durability.