Today, products can no longer be made without considering their environmental and social impacts. On the other hand, sustainability is much more than what the products are made of and where: it is also about how the products are designed and produced, how long they serve us, and what becomes of them at the end of the lifecycle. How long we use the products will greatly depend on the Emotional Durability of the product, which includes key aspects of design such as styling, fit, and functionality. Nobis Conscious Performance is therefore focused on Designing for Durability – both physical and emotional.

With durability and longevity at the core of design, sustainability must not reduce the quality or performance of products. We want to seamlessly merge performance with sustainability in order to achieve both aspects without sacrificing durability.

The Conscious Performance framework consists of four pillars: Culture, Business Models, Product, and Process. It all starts with Culture – through a culture of continuous improvement we can achieve operational excellence and long-term success.

OUR PROGRESS TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

PFAS-Free Water Repellants

Water repellency is an important property in outerwear. We want water to bead up and roll off the fabric surface in order to keep our clothing dry.

To make fabrics water-repellent, a chemical treatment is added to the fabrics. Many of the water-repellent finishes used in the apparel industry are made with per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances, or PFAS in short. These treatments have been widely used in the apparel industry. They work great to repel water, even oil and stains, but have been associated with environmental pollution and risks to human health. They are highly persistent and bio-accumulative, which is why they are referred to as “forever chemicals”. As a result, the industry has been shifting to more sustainable options that are entirely PFAS-free.

Despite increasing efforts to regulate PFAS use in consumer products, PFAS chemicals are still widely used as durable water/stain/oil repellents in clothing and other products. The water and stain-repellent properties are attributed to carbon and fluorine bonds, which are very strong chemical bonds and take years to break down in the environment. Due to their toxicity, PFAS have been targeted by several countries and states with regulative measures to restrict PFAS use in certain consumer products, including apparel.

Long-chain PFAS such as C8 are more harmful than short-chain PFAS such as C6 and C4, referring to the number of fluorinated carbon atoms in the chain. These fluorinated carbon atoms are detrimental to the environment and human health because they persist and bioaccumulate. Long-chain PFAS have already been widely banned, triggering the apparel industry to shift to short-chain treatments, only to discover that these alternatives were not much better, after all.

PFAS are often used interchangeably with PFCs, perfluorochemicals or perfluorinated compounds. But there is a difference. PFCs are a subset of the wider substance group, PFAS, and materials labeled as “PFC-free” could potentially still contain some other forms of PFAS. Therefore, it is important to ensure that products are made entirely without any intentionally added PFAS chemicals, and not only “PFC-free”.

Since 2020, Nobis has been working to eliminate intentionally added PFAS from our fabrics. In 2022, Nobis began introducing fabrications with PFAS-free water-repellent treatments to the market. Our first PFAS-free fabrics were the Recycled Crosshatch and Recycled 3L Micro-Denier, introduced in 2022. Developing all fabrications with new finishes and systematically phasing out older fabric inventories has been a lengthy process, and in 2025 we are proud to announce that we have phased out PFAS-based water-repellent treatments from our fabric production.

To ensure that our fabrics remain PFAS-free, we require that our fabrics are either bluesign® approved or Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX® certified. These certifications limit the use of hundreds of harmful chemicals and have recently been updated with a complete ban on PFAS in textiles and apparel. In addition, we make occasional checks in production to ensure that no PFAS is detected in our fabrics.

Nobis products are made to last and therefore we need to ensure that our water-repellent treatments fulfill the promise of longevity. It is well known that C0 water repellents are not as durable as PFAS-based alternatives. While we strive to match the performance level of the PFAS-based treatments, we must sometimes accept weaker durability in PFAS-free alternatives. We continue working with our suppliers on more durable alternatives without compromising other performance factors while ensuring that we continue using safer treatments associated with a lower environmental impact.

Recycled Fibers

Many of us are acutely aware of the negative environmental consequences of the fashion and apparel industry. Heavy reliance on fossil fuels, non-renewable resource depletion, water consumption, environmental pollution, deforestation, and waste are some of the issues associated with the industry that produces billions of items annually.

When approaching sustainability at Nobis, we started by looking at the raw materials we use in our products. We calculated that on average, 60-65% of the Global Warming Potential (kg CO2e) of an average Nobis jacket could be attributed to the raw materials. According to research, even 80% of a product’s environmental footprint can be attributed to the bill of materials, so raw materials is an appropriate area of improvement.

Nobis started converting virgin polyester and nylon fabrics into recycled alternatives in 2020. Our first recycled fabrics were introduced in 2022, including the Recycled Crosshatch and Recycled 3L Micro-Denier. Both are made with a minimum of 40% recycled polyester from plastic bottles. In the FW24 collection, 83% of our primary raw materials including fabrics and insulations were developed with at least 20% recycled content.

Recycled fibers are a key part of our sustainability goals, to help reduce our reliance on virgin and non-renewable materials. We follow the Preferred Fibers & Materials Matrix from Textile Exchange to determine which alternative fibers are better to replace conventional and virgin fibers in our collections. Nobis has been a member of Textile Exchange since 2022, joining over 800 brands, retailers, and suppliers in the textile industry to work towards the adoption of preferred fiber materials in textiles.

  • 67% of primary raw materials are developed with a minimum of 50% recycled content.

  • 83% of primary raw materials are developed with a minimum of 20% recycled content.

  • 92% of primary materials are certified according to Bluesign or Oeko-Tex standards.

  • 96% of primary materials are certified to at least one lower impact standard.

CULTURE

Create groundbreaking change through curiosity and a desire to reshape the world as we know it.

Behind every product are the people who were part of creating it – whether dreaming, drawing, constructing, marketing, selling, or delivering it. The intention behind the Culture pillar is to cultivate a culture and mindset of sustainable innovation, and to increase collaboration, creative thinking, and accountability. All departments involved work collaboratively to execute ideas into products that generate value from both sustainability and performance through continuous improvement.

PRODUCT

Turn ideas into practical and tangible offerings that allow innovation, blending marketing insights with technological capabilities.

Conscious Performance Design Principles are strategies that can be applied to product design, development, and production to help reduce the environmental impact of products and processes. These principles go beyond lower impact materials and consider the lifetime and end-of-life implications of products.

Simplicity and Versatility

Objective: Reduce complexity of products by choosing fewer materials and components, designing with fewer details and less intensive constructions that increase product cost and are detrimental to product repair and recycling, while preserving product appearance, performance, and durability. Design adaptable, multi-functional, and modular products that meet and adapt to various needs and reduce the need to own multiple items.

  1. Reduce product complexity by considering the number of materials used and simplifying constructions to enable easy disassembly, repair, and recycling of the product.
  2. Consider which design/assembly details are mandatory for product appearance and performance and which could be eliminated without measurable impact on final product.
  3. Eliminate unnecessary and redundant components and standardize similar components such as toggles, buckles, zippers, etc.
  4. Reduce the number of repetitive fabrications and styles.
  5. Design products with adaptability to different climates, such as layering systems that allow users to adjust to different weather conditions.

Emotional and Physical Durability

Objective: Create high-quality, robust products and select durable materials and strong constructions that withstand wear, tear, and care to extend product life. Ensure products are easy to maintain and care for. Consider not only physical durability but also emotional durability: design products that foster lasting emotional connections, encouraging long-term ownership. Emotional durability promotes sustainability by valuing products for their emotional significance rather than their novelty.

  1. Choose materials and fabric finishes that withstand wear and tear and ensure all materials and products, including lightweight ones, meet performance criteria for durability.
  2. Ensure garment constructions are durable, identify and avoid/remedy weak areas, and more rigorously test products to withstand wear, tear, and care.
  3. Use silhouettes and color choices that remain relevant for multiple seasons.
  4. Design for emotional durability by considering how the product can add value and meaning to the customer.
  5. Continue use of high quality materials to extend product longevity and performance.

Repairability

Objective: Design and construct products so that they are easy to repair, with accessible and replaceable components. Ensure that the product can be taken apart easily for repair or recycling, enhancing its circular potential. Prioritize designs that are easy to disassemble with minimal tools and technology, considering the impact of disassembly on durability.

  1. Reduce product complexity by considering the number of materials used and simplifying constructions to enable easy disassembly, repair, and recycling of the product.
  2. Consider components that are prone to break or wear out easily and replace them with long-lasting high-quality materials.
  3. Ensure areas/components most prone to breaking can be easily replaced and repaired.
  4. Consider the applicability of after-market fabric treatments to restore and extend the life of the garment.

Safe and Low Impact Materials

Objective: Use lower impact, non-toxic, and renewable materials, prioritizing pre- and post-consumer recycled feedstocks, especially textile-to-textile recycled materials. Consider natural or bio-based materials where possible. Consider recyclability of materials and trims to minimize their environmental impact.

  1. Make material and product choices that minimize the use of energy, water, and resources at different stages of the product life cycle, prioritizing recycled feedstocks.
  2. Eliminate the use of materials and finishes that use toxic chemicals and consider natural fabric treatments such as plant-based fabric finishes or dyes.
  3. Consider mono-materials for ease of recycling and avoid materials that are difficult to recycle, such as PU coatings and laminations.
  4. Consider natural and renewable materials that provide the same performance as synthetic alternatives with a lower impact (e.g., incorporating natural fibers into synthetic insulations).
  5. Consider materials’ tendency to release microfibres during different stages of the product life cycle and prioritize materials that shed less or less harmful microfibers.

Circular Packaging

Objective: Design packaging that can be reused, repurposed, or at a minimum be safely recycled with minimal effort. Prioritize materials from recycled feedstocks and eliminate use of plastic wherever possible. Optimize the size and weight of packaging to save resources and eliminate unnecessary components.

  1. Reduce packaging to the bare minimum while still protecting products during transportation.
  2. Minimize use of plastic and only use recycled plastic.
  3. Maximize use of recycled and responsibly sourced paper in all paper products.
  4. Design reusable packaging such as boxes, garment bags, shopping bags, and resealable shipping boxes.
  5. Design packaging with visual clues how to re-use, re-purpose, or recycle/dispose the items.

Safe and Low Impact Materials

Objective: Use lower impact, non-toxic, and renewable materials, prioritizing pre- and post-consumer recycled feedstocks, especially textile-to-textile recycled materials. Consider natural or bio-based materials where possible. Consider recyclability of materials and trims to minimize their environmental impact.

  1. Make material and product choices that minimize the use of energy, water, and resources at different stages of the product life cycle, prioritizing recycled feedstocks.
  2. Eliminate the use of materials and finishes that use toxic chemicals and consider natural fabric treatments such as plant-based fabric finishes or dyes.
  3. Consider mono-materials for ease of recycling and avoid materials that are difficult to recycle, such as PU coatings and laminations.
  4. Consider natural and renewable materials that provide the same performance as synthetic alternatives with a lower impact.
  5. Consider materials’ tendency to release microfibres during different stages of the product life cycle and prioritize materials that shed less or less harmful microfibers.

Waste Reduction

Objective: Minimize resource use and waste during design and production by considering material consumption and product complexity. Divert pre- and post-consumer waste and unsold inventories through (re)sale, donations, and recycling. Incorporate deadstock fabric inventories in new designs whenever possible or consider donating them to communities in need.

  1. During design and production stage, consider ways to minimize complexity and material consumption and maximize use of recycled materials in fabrics, insulations, trims, and packaging.
  2. Reduce the variety of fabrications and trims to maximize their use and to avoid excess inventories.
  3. Ensure that deadstock fabric inventories from past seasons are effectively incorporated into new collections and if deadstock fabrics cannot be incorporated in new collections, consider designing a capsule collection made entirely from deadstock fabrics.
  4. Reduce the need to make physical samples by using digital design tools and digital catalogues for sales and marketing purposes.

PROCESS SUSTAINABILITY

Focus on improving internal processes for efficiency and profitability from within.

The goal of process sustainability is to integrate economically viable sustainability principles into production and distribution processes to improve and maintain social and environmental integrity in the supply chain while improving efficiencies.

Reducing complexities and waste

Over the coming years, we will work towards finding opportunities to reduce complexity and waste by considering raw material selection and usage, product constructions, duplicate materials, and deadstock inventories. A collaborative approach is needed to identify the opportunities and to take action.

Consideration will given to minimize product complexity and promote efficient use of raw material inventories. Reducing complexity makes products easier to disassemble for repair or recycling, increasing the likelihood of the products to be recycled back into products.

As our commitment towards reducing waste, we will implement a 2030 Zero Landfill Policy to avoid landfilling products that can be sold, donated, or recycled. Recycling should prioritize textile-to-textile recycling opportunities.

Numerous legislative developments such as the EU Digital Product Passport introduce additional pressures, especially on the procurement and production processes. Our goal is to comply with all applicable regulations without introducing unnecessary complexities or hindering cost efficiency.

BUSINESS MODELS

Bring innovative ideas quickly to market and generate value from
sustainability and innovation.

The goal of integrating product sustainability and performance is to enhance the brand experience and customer satisfaction in relation to our sustainability efforts.

Over the coming years, we will focus more efforts on promoting circular business models such as extended repair service, resale, donations, events, and recycling of unusable inventories to help our commitment to reduce waste.

Communications will elevate awareness of product performance and sustainability, focusing on promoting Emotional Durability that strengthens brand values towards our products.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR CLIMATE AND NATURE

We have partnered with local and international organizations to help advance our sustainability efforts at different stages of the product lifecycle.

Textile Exchange

Textile Exchange is a global non-profit driving beneficial impacts on climate and nature across the fashion, textile, and apparel industry. We guide a growing community of brands, manufacturers, and farmers towards more purposeful production from the very start of the supply chain.

Our goal is to help the industry to achieve a 45% reduction in the emissions that come from producing fibers and raw materials by 2030, while keeping our focus holistic and interconnected and seeking to improve the state of our freshwater, soil health, and biodiversity too.

For real change to happen, everyone needs a clear path to beneficial impact. That’s why at Textile Exchange, we believe that approachable, step-by-step instruction paired with collective action can change the system to make preferred materials and fibers the accessible default, mobilizing leaders through attainable strategies, proven solutions and a driven community.

At Textile Exchange, materials matter. To learn more, visit Textileexchange.org.

Canopy

Canopy’s mission is to protect the world’s forests, species, and climate, and to help advance Indigenous communities’ rights. For nearly 25 years, Canopy has worked collaboratively to transform unsustainable supply chains, catalyze innovative solutions, and keep the world’s vital forests standing. Canopy works collectively with some of the world’s largest fashion, food and beverage, and beauty and care brands, as well as publishers and printers, to bring forest-saving solutions from the margins to the mainstream. Nobis has partnered with Canopy to join their mission to protect the world’s forests through our approach to procurement of paper, packaging, and fabrics.

Learn more about our commitment.

Recurate

Founded in 2020, Recurate, Inc. is a leading circular economy technology company that offers brands an ecommerce solution to capture their secondhand sales. In Fall 2022, Nobis launched a Peer-to-Peer resale platform NEXT by Nobis with Recurate, offering customers in Canada and the United States to resell their preloved Nobis products through an authenticated process. Every Nobis product available through NEXT by Nobis has been verified by our team members to ensure products traded through the platform are authentic Nobis products. Resale, an important part of Nobis sustainability journey, extends the lifespan of the products by keeping them in circulation and prevents them from becoming waste prematurely. Resale promotes a culture of responsible consumption, where customers consider the environmental impact of products through reuse, whether they are selling or buying.

To learn more about Recurate, please visit: recurate.com

Brands for Canada

We have partnered with Brands for Canada, a Canadian charity that helps brands donate their surplus inventories to people in need nationwide. Brands for Canada strives to ensure Canadians living below the poverty line have access to proper clothing and other basic essentials necessary for a dignified and prosperous life. The charity helps millions of Canadians in need through partnerships with charities, schools, and brands across Canada, and has distributed hundreds of millions worth of donated merchandise across the country to communities in need. Additionally, Brands For Canada works with communities to participate and engage in programs that unite people, brands, corporations and community organizations to work together and transform our neighbourhoods, our cities and our country. These donations help people who have limited access to essentials such as warm clothing and enables products to circulate longer, preventing usable products from being discarded as waste prematurely. Products unfit for donating are diverted through BFC’s recycling partner.

DHL

We have partnered with one of our primary service providers, DHL Express, to utilize sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) via the GoGreen Plus service to deliver part of our shipments. By investing in sustainable aviation fuel, we actively reduce the CO2e emissions associated with our shipments, minimizing our carbon footprint. SAF is currently the primary route to reducing carbon emissions in aviation, and embracing SAF is not only essential for meeting sustainability goals but also paves the way towards a greener future in the air transportation industry. To learn more about the GoGreen Plus service, visit: DHL