Billabong

Apr 01, 2023

Billabong is an Australian fashion retailer founded in 1973 in Gold Coast, Australia, by Gordon Stanley and Rena Merchant. The multinational clothing-retail company creates surf clothing and swimwear for women, men, and children.

Billabong makes snow clothing, accessories, and shoes. One of the world's largest surfwear brands, Boardriders, owns Billabong along with other brands like Quiksilver, Roxy, DC Shoes, RVCA, Element, and VonZipper.

Boardriders operates more than 570 retail stores and has 7,500 employees in stores, factories, logistics, brands, and subsidiaries across 56 countries where it does business.

Billabong is helping create a better tomorrow and more sustainable practices and products. It focuses on style, quality, innovation, and responsibility to positively impact lives and protect the planet.

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Sustainability Rating: 5/10

Rating FAQ

Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, denim, dresses, knitwear, activewear, loungewear, swimwear, outerwear, sneakers, boots, sandals

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: XS-XL, 2-12 (US), 4-14 (UK), 34-42 (EU), 6-16 (AU)

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

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: not transparent enough

Certifications: GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS, FSC, Oeko-tex, Bluesign

Sustainability Practices

Billabong takes wide-ranging measures to protect biodiversity, reduce its consumption of water, energy, and other resources, avoid waste, and combat climate change.

It wants to be better and more efficient by looking at every aspect of its value chain to ensure the healthy functioning of our planet. However, the majority of its business remains detrimental to the environment.

Billabong uses a medium proportion of organic materials such as organic cotton and hemp or recycled materials such as recycled cotton, recycled polyester, and regenerated nylon.

It also uses natural fabrics without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton or linen, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and more.

Billabong also uses a small proportion 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.

Billabong doesn't publish a list of all its manufacturers and processing facilities on its corporate website. It doesn't disclose how it chooses its network of suppliers.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave Billabong a score of only 7% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

Billabong manufactures its clothes in many East Asian countries, where human rights and labor law violations happen every day.

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

Billabong has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors and a global ethical program titled "BEST" (Boardriders Ethical Standards of Trade).

Billabong assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. It stands against abusive, exploitative, illegal, or unsafe conditions in the workplace and utilizes
BEST as a guide to managing labor and safety issues in its supply chain.

Billabong doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather and wool 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.

Sustainability Goals

By the end of 2023, 100% of its swimwear and wetsuit ranges will be made with certified recycled, organic, or other responsibly sourced materials.

By the end of 2025, 50% of its apparel and accessories will be made with certified recycled, organic, regenerative, or other responsibly sourced materials.

By the end of 2023, 100% of polybags used to protect its products will be made from 100% consumer waste.

Buy Here

Discover Billabong's sustainable collections at Billabong.com.

Reviews And Experiences With Billabong

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What We're Up Against

Multinational corporations overproducing cheap products in the poorest countries.
Huge factories with sweatshop-like conditions underpaying workers.
Media conglomerates promoting unethical, unsustainable products.
Bad actors encouraging overconsumption through oblivious behavior.
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