Yet another year on the way towards sustainable fashion – LPP publishes its integrated report

• A financially stable year and achievement of social and environmental objectives.

• Translating the solid results for 2019 into a PLN 1.1 bn contribution to the State budget in taxes.

• Valuable environmental initiatives in 2019: reduction of plastic consumption by almost 250 tons and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The last months of 2019 were marked by preparations for the implementation of further steps towards sustainable development, which were included in the new strategy entitled “For People For Our Planet”. The 2020-2025 plan, announced as early as in October, focuses on four pillars: environmentally friendly design and production, reducing the circulation of plastics in the environment, developing the company’s infrastructure based on ecological solutions and chemical safety of production. The decisions taken by LPP last year to join the international New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the United Nations Global Compact started the process of attaining the ambitious goals of the new strategy over the next five years.

For LPP – a Polish family business – the past year’s activities primarily revolved around projects aimed at reducing the company’s environmental impact and promoting the creation of sustainable fashion. The implemented solutions, allowing for the reduction of the number of foil envelopes in online sales, resulted in the reduction of plastic consumption by almost 250 tons by 2019. The percentage of Eco Aware products in LPP branded collections and the use of recycled or closed-loop materials, for example, has also been gradually increasing. One in six items in the Reserved collection from 2019 were produced in already more sustainable manner. LPP’s activities also include support as regards used textiles management, i.e. in 2019 LPP continued its used clothing collection action in selected stores. In addition, 2019 is the company’s base year for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – this means that for the first time the company has calculated its environmental footprint from the stage of raw material acquisition to the disposal of clothes. – This is still a rarity on the market, especially in the clothing industry. It shows our commitment to providing the public with transparent information about the company’s impact on the environment. We will reduce our emissions by 15% between now and 2025 – explains Anna Miazga, Sustainability Expert, LPP. The average greenhouse gas emission per piece of clothing by LPP amounts to 5.68 kg.

Last year saw a continuation of work undertaken by the Polish company to improve safety and production conditions in suppliers’ factories. – Over seven years, we have allocated a total of over PLN 25 million for this purpose, of which nearly PLN 5 million is the value of outlays on improving safety in the factories of suppliers in 2019. Importantly, during the period covered by our latest report, LPP auditors conducted a total of 1564 occupational health and safety, working conditions and human rights audits in 10 countries, and in Bangladesh alone 85% of our factories were rated very good or good – adds Anna Miazga.

Monitoring the environmental impact of the company’s operations and controlling the supply chain remain priorities for LPP, and the company’s non-financial objectives set out in the new sustainability strategy will continue to be implemented. Today, however, many of the company’s business plans have changed due to the global epidemic. The main goal of the Management Board of LPP has become to lead the company through this difficult period, and all actions taken are focused on maintaining the company’s stable situation and thus ensuring the safety of employees and long-term contractors in Poland and worldwide.

Despite the difficulties faced by LPP, this Polish family business is not indifferent to the fate of others. As in previous years, social projects in the field of social exclusion prevention, health care or pro-environmental actions, as well as those carried out as part of employee volunteering and sports activation of company employees played a prominent role in the company’s non-financial activities in the past year. – Our social involvement has been implemented on an increasingly large scale, and in the current crisis caused by the pandemic, a sense of responsibility and awareness of the social impact of business on the immediate environment are more important than ever. Year by year, not only is the number of projects and organizations supported by us as part of the activities of the LPP Foundation growing, but – which we are particularly pleased about – also the number of employees involved in volunteering activities. Thanks to all the initiatives carried out in 2019, we were able to support 140 organisations by donating over PLN 2.8 million for this purpose – comments Anna Miazga, who is also Vice-President of the LPP Foundation.

Environmental and social initiatives are not the only way LPP exerts a positive impact on its immediate environment – economic contribution and support for the local economy are also important. The 2019/2020 financial year again proved the significance of the company as one of the largest tax payers in Poland. The taxes paid by LPP and other levies for this period amounted to almost PLN 1.1 billion contributed to the state budget. Income tax alone amounted to nearly PLN 134 million.

Full version of the LPP’s integrated report for 2019/20 financial year is available at

https://www.lpp.com/en/sustainable-development/annual-report

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LPP SA is a Polish family business and one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. For over 25 years it has been successfully operating in Poland and abroad, offering its collection already on 25 markets, including in such prestigious capitals as London, Berlin, Tel Aviv or Moscow. LPP SA manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, and Sinsay. The company has a chain of over 1700 stores with the total area of over 1 million sq.m. The online offer of the brands collections is available on 30 markets. LPP plays another important role as it employs over 25 thousand people in its offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.