Kathmandu

Dec 23, 2022

Kathmandu is a leading outdoor retailer from New Zealand founded in 1987 in Christchurch by Jan Cameron and John Pawson. The multinational clothing-retail company creates apparel and equipment for men, women, and children.

Kathmandu makes outdoor clothing, accessories, and shoes. The global outdoor, lifestyle, and sports company KMD Brands owns Kathmandu along with other brands Rip Curl and Oboz.

Kathmandu creates a wide range of affordable, ethical, and sustainable products for the whole family. It operates more than 160 stores, including 45 in New Zealand and 115 in Australia.

Kathmandu is on a mission to improve the world's well-being by getting more people out there. Outside is where we live our best lives. And the clothing company shows its passion for the outdoors.

Kathmandu wants to use business to have positive effects on the environment. It has an aspirational goal to have zero environmental harm from its business operations.

Kathmandu is working to improve its environmental footprint, from its clothing and gear right through to its buildings. It uses more sustainable materials to reduce its impact on the planet.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

Rating FAQ

Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, knitwear, activewear, loungewear, outerwear, underwear, sneakers, boots, sandals

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Prices: $$

Sizes: 2XS-2XL, 2-14 (US), 4-16 (UK), 34-44 (EU), 6-18 (AU)

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

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, France, Haiti, Italy, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Vietnam

Certifications: BCI, RWS, RDS, FSC, B Corp

Sustainability Practices

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

A lot 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.

Kathmandu 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. But not all materials used by Kathmandu are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Kathmandu publishes a list of all its manufacturers and processing facilities on the supply chain mapping platform Open Supply Hub. It aims to consistently consider the impact of its decisions on the workers in its global supply chain.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave Kathmandu a score of only 23% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

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

The 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.

Kathmandu has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors that aim to achieve decent and humane working conditions.

Kathmandu assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct by informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice. But many of its audits remain not fully transparent.

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

Sustainability Goals

Kathmandu has committed to doing business better. It aims for net zero environmental harm and 100% of its product designed, developed, and manufactured using circularity principles by 2025.

Kathmandu prioritizes sourcing responsibly sourced materials for 50% of its range by 2025. And 100% of its apparel and accessories will be in preferred fiber materials by 2030.

Kathmandu plans to reduce its GHG emissions by 47% in Scope 1 and 2 and 28% in scope 3 by 2030. It aims for 100% responsibly sourced cotton by 2026. And all polyester will be recycled or recyclable by 2030.

Kathmandu aims to have 90% of waste to landfill diversion from its direct operations by 2030. It will make all packaging recyclable or made with recycled materials by 2030.

Buy Here

Discover Kathmandu's sustainable collections at Kathmandu.com.au.

Reviews And Experiences With Kathmandu

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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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