PRIMARK TEAMS UP WITH LEGENDARY FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER RANKIN TO SHOOT SEPTEMBER 2020 CAMPAIGN, TIME FOR CHANGE. A BETTER FUTURE.

September 2020: Primark Cares’ latest campaign, ‘TIME FOR CHANGE. A BETTER FUTURE’, has been shot by acclaimed British portrait and fashion photographer Rankin.

The campaign features a new, sustainable, everyday essentials range across Primark’s Kids, Men’s, Womenswear and Home departments. Arriving in stores this month, products featured include timeless, classic pieces such as an on-trend, oversized puffer jacket, made using at least 35% recycled polyester and denim jeans made from sustainable cotton.

All of the products featured in the campaign have been made using either sustainable cotton, and/or recycled materials that have been sourced from recycled plastic bottles and other waste plastic.

The new range will more than double our current offering of items made from recycled materials to 40 million. The number of sustainable cotton products made with cotton grown specifically through our Primark Sustainable Cotton Programme, will increase to 60 million items.

‘A Better Future’ is Primark’s next step in making it easier than ever for style-conscious shoppers to make a more sustainable choice, at amazing prices. The campaign, shot by Rankin, will feature in windows and in-store across all 384 of Primark’s stores across 13 countries, and will reveal some of the progress the brand has made in three areas of sustainability: single-use plastics, recycled materials, and sustainable cotton.

The involvement of Rankin – a world renowned photographer who has shot the likes of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Kate Moss, and Her Majesty the Queen – demonstrates the powerful message that quality, sustainable products can be accessible to all.

Like Primark, Rankin is passionate about sustainability and the future of fashion, understanding that big brands such as Primark have the responsibility, scale, and reach to deliver sustainable fashion to a wide audience.

Commenting on his involvement in the campaign, Rankin said, “I am so proud to have worked with Primark on their Better Future Campaign. Primark’s commitment to change is something that is truly in line with my personal beliefs. To work with such a big brand focusing on sustainability in such a public way felt like a natural partnership to me.”

About ‘A Better Future’ campaign

Primark’s ‘A Better Future Campaign reveals the following commitments and progress to date:

• Single-Use Plastic: We will eliminate all single-use plastic from our business. To date we have reduced our plastic hangers and packaging – removing more than 175 million units during this past year along. We’ve also removed 86 million single-use stickers and labels from our products and will eliminate another 300 million this coming year.

• Recycled materials: We will significantly increase the use of recycled materials across all our product ranges. This Autumn we are introducing a range of new everyday essentials across kidswear, womenswear and menswear that will feature products made from recycled materials, using plastic bottles, nylon and cotton. This more than doubles our available items made from recycled materials to 40 million. Sustainable cotton: We will train and educate 160,000 cotton farmers on more environmentally friendly farming practices by 2022. And this Autumn we will increase the number of sustainable cotton products from our own programme to 60 million items.

Wider Sustainability Programme

As an international retailer we recognise our responsibility to the environment and strive to minimise our impact wherever we can. We have a wide-ranging environmental sustainability programme that works across our supply chain from the sourcing of raw materials, right through production to in-store efficiencies.

For example, in our day-to-day operations last financial year 96% of all the waste generated by our stores and warehouses was recycled, recovered, or beneficially used. The vast majority of our products are shipped by sea rather than air freight and our famous brown paper bags are made from 100% recycled material and are also 100% recyclable.

• We also collaborate with the industry and others to drive change in the following ways:

• We are a member of WRAP’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, which has so far led to more than a 10% reduction in the three major target areas of carbon, water and waste to landfill.

• We are a member of Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Make Fashion Circular initiative, working alongside industry experts and retailers to find new ways to improve the sustainability of the garment industry.

• We are working with agricultural experts CottonConnect and local implementing partners to train farmers in more sustainable farming methods, reducing the use of water and chemical pesticides and fertilisers.

• Our Sustainable Cotton Programme first launched in 2013, and by 2022, we will have trained more than 160,000 farmers through the programme. Primark’s programme is, to our knowledge, the largest programme of its kind managed by any fashion retailer.

• We are removing certain chemicals from our supply chain, as part of our Greenpeace Detox commitment and through our ZDHC (Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals Group) membership. We report regularly on our progress.

• In Europe, we have worked with the charity Newlife, since 2010, donating our unsold goods and buying samples. Newlife recycles these clothes to raise funds for the important work that the charity does for disabled and terminally ill children and their families. In the US we work with the not-for-profit organisation Delivering Good. Our US stores donate unsold clothing to the organisation, which then redistributes the items to those in need around the world.