Fjällräven Responsibility Report Review
Fjallraven is an outdoor apparel brand. It’s part of the Fenix Outdoor group which includes other brands Tierra, Devold, Hanwag, Royal Robbins and a retail group called Frilufts. Perhaps because the group reports in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), its sustainability report is detailed and fairly unapproachable for most people. It’s a 2 column affair, written in a small font with very few visuals or stories to bring their approach to life. Fjallraven has therefore (very sensibly in my mind) produced a much more accessible 15 page report. I was interested to see how this would land.
Three things I like:
1 – Clear messaging about their values
Fjallraven sets its stall out really well in this report. The brand says no to lots of things like short-term trends, harmful chemicals, social and economic injustices and more. They use this platform educate the reader where possible, for example, when they break down why product longevity is important in carbon terms. It could be a bit dry, but it really isn’t.
2 – Willingness to share when things don’t go according to plan
Phasing out harmful chemicals and keeping its “Wool Promise” have been harder than expected. Fjallraven demonstrates transparency throughout this report, going as far as to include a whole page on what it can do better. This serves to hold themselves accountable and educate the reader.
3 – The way they trust their audience with nuance
In their section on resource intense (intensive?) materials, they explain that their organic cotton use went down by 1% because one of their products contains a non-organic lining and sales of this particular product increased. In sharing this example, they demonstrate that achieving sustainability targets is not always straightforward and that there are a variety of factors at play. Audiences that feel trusted are more likely to trust in return so this is a great move from Fjallraven.
Three things I’d like to see in their next report:
1 – Removal of the term ‘climate neutral’
I was surprised to see the term ‘climate neutral’ in this report without any explanation of what it means in concrete terms. While they explain some jargon, this term wasn’t defined and is arguably the one that needs the most explanation!
For anyone wanting to get familiar with some carbon related jargon, ecollective has a great jargon buster (although unfortunately it doesn’t include climate neutral).
2 – More explanation of their carbon footprint
Fjallraven has only dedicated one page to their carbon emissions, which didn’t provide enough context for me. I always go by the mantra that sustainability reports should answer more questions than they raise. This page raised quite a few questions for me including:
- What is their transport emissions target and by what date are they aiming to achieve it?
- What do they mean by total net emissions? Are they absolute emissions? Do they include Scope 3? Are they on target? Do they have a Net Zero target date? If so, what is it?
- What is their Scope 1 & 2 emissions reduction target?
3 – Some ways for their readers to get involved
Fjallraven is committed to ensuring the durability of its clothing and has a page dedicated to loving your gear for longer. It struck me that this presents an obvious opportunity for them to encourage their customers in this regard and get them involved by sharing stories, tips and ideas for how they can care for, repair and pass on the items of clothing they own.
A few other notes
I loved that Fjallraven’s took an accessible approach to reporting their impact. This 15 page report was friendly, understandable, attractively laid out, highly legible with great visuals, and still managed to pack in a huge amount of information. Overall, I felt it was a very worthwhile approach. I’d be interested to find out what the response has been from their team and customers.
If you’d like to read the report you can access it here.