What are M.J. Bale's next steps to becoming more sustainable?

M.J. Bale are committing to becoming carbon positive by 2025, where each financial year we will increase our offset investment by +10% starting from 2023, with the end of goal of achieving +30%.

For now, we see achieving carbon neutrality as merely the first step. The hard work of reducing emissions related to the creation of our products along the supply chain – from farm (fibre) to weaving (cloth) to making to store to garment end of life - is a work in progress.

We have been working for the past 18 months on reducing Merino sheep methane emissions to undetectable levels with a world-first commercial trial at our Kingston farm in Tasmania. Our partner in this ‘zero-emission wool’ project is Tasmanian sustainable seaweed producer Sea Forest. By feeding our Merino sheep Sea Forest seaweed daily for 300 days we have shown the global wool industry that it is possible to produce an elite natural fibre with close to zero greenhouse gas emissions. 

We are also focusing on replacing all synthetics in our garments with natural fibres (using natural materials to replace all plastics), ethical sourcing methods and reducing fashion waste.

By the end of this year more than 50 per cent of M.J. Bale’s stores across Australia will be powered by renewable energy. We’re aiming for 100 per cent by the end of 2022.

Being a Climate Active Network Member involves committing to continual improvement and emission reductions. We are working on our comprehensive emission reduction strategies and will make these public in early 2022. We are also furthering our commitment to social responsibility. Our full Sustainability Report, which will include our actions to-date as well as our commitments moving forward, will be released second quarter 2022.