Aéropostale (2024)

Home Inspiration Aéropostale - Sustainability Facts, Rating, Goals | Panaprium

Jun 10, 2022

Aéropostale is one of the largest American retailers of casual apparel and accessories. It was founded in 1987 in Thousand Oaks, California, and creates fast fashion for young women and men.

Aéropostale makes clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, beauty, watches, eyewear, fragrances, and jewelry. It owns other brands such as Junie & Jade, Lorimer, Map to Mars, Free State, Hobie, Invite Only, The Bikini Lab, and United XXVI.

Aéropostale has over 350 clothing stores operated internationally in many countries such as the Philippines, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, India, Panama, Guatemala, and Chile.

The American clothing retailer offers a sustainable collection made from organic or recycled fabrics called Aero Impact. It uses recycled materials reducing waste in landfills and conserving water and energy in the process.

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Sustainability Rating: 2/10

Rating FAQ

Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men

Type: Basics, denim, activewear, underwear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear, sandals, boots

Style: Casual

Quality: Low

Price: $

Sizes: XS-2XL, 0-14 (US), 2-16 (UK), 32-44 (EU), 4-18 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, linen, hemp, lyocell, modal, viscose, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, polyethylene, acrylic, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, leather, wool, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: not transparent enough

Certifications: no certification

Sustainability Practices

Aéropostale is committed to promoting water and air quality, energy
conservation, agricultural biodiversity, and healthy soil through the use of organic fabrics.

It aims to decrease its carbon emissions and reduce the contribution of toxic chemicals to the environment by making a conscious collection from recycled fabrics.

Aéropostale only uses a small proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp or recycled materials such as recycled polyester and recycled cotton.

Aéropostale dedicates very few of its collections to sustainable fashion. "Aero Impact" is its collection of sustainable clothing pieces made from organic fabrics and a mix of pre and post-consumer waste.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

Aéropostale also uses a small amount of semi-synthetic fibers or regenerated cellulosic fabrics such as Tencel lyocell, modal, acetate, and viscose.

Tencel is an eco-friendly fiber made with wood pulp from certified sustainable forests. But only a tiny proportion of the materials used by Aéropostale are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Aéropostale doesn't publish a list of its manufacturers on its corporate website. It doesn't disclose any information regarding how it chooses its network of suppliers.

Aéropostale is known to use sweatshops for the fabrication of its clothing items. It has been involved in child labor scandals as well.

The majority of their production factories are in Asia and Central America, in countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Even if they claim to defend human rights, they still send children to work in their cotton farms in Uzbekistan.

The 2021 Fashion Transparency Index gave Aéropostale a score of only 3% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

The clothing retailer doesn't show any labor certification standard that ensures good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other crucial rights for workers in its supply chain.

Aéropostale has a Code of Conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors, with approximately over 375 manufacturing facilities in 20 different countries around the world.

Aéropostale assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct through annual Social Compliance audits conducted by an independent third-party auditor.

Aéropostale doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.