Helping Advanced Clothing Solutions to cut environment impact by 90%

Key results

The global clothing industry is estimated to be responsible for over 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ every year.

Advanced Clothing Solutions (ACS) specialises in supporting retailers to embrace the circular economy by offering services to support the resale of used items, such as refurbishment and cleaning, photography, storage and shipping. Major brands like eBay are among ACS’s customers. Aiming to lead by example and enhance its own sustainable credentials, ACS was seeking to implement effective emission reduction strategies. However, due to a lack of data, it couldn’t quantify the current environmental impact of its processes and materials.

As part of a drive to achieve net-zero emissions in 2023 and make itself more attractive to green investors, NMIS helped ACS to conduct a carbon accounting exercise. NMIS explored data related to ACS Clothing’s processes, consumable materials and other business-related activities. After analysing factors such as materials usage and storage and how colleagues travel to work, each element was then categorised according to the greenhouse gas protocol.

Michael Cusack, Head of Sustainability, Advanced Clothing Solutions said:

Sustainability and the circular economy are central to ACS’s core identity. Through help from the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) we have implemented real solutions that will have a tangible impact on how we operate. This approach has already driven results by helping us secure investment to keep us growing. Our relationship with NMIS also given us a larger voice within the industry – helping us to influence policy and others in the textiles industry to become more sustainable.