Picture Organic Clothing has become a model in terms of actively fighting climate change. The Clermont-Ferrand clothing brand has chosen to play the card of transparency, eco-responsibility but also innovation to minimize its impact on the environment. Its biggest goal in the years to come is to move towards an infinite recyclability of products.
Picture: an unconventional and unfiltered brand
Originally created by three friends united by common passions that drive them, the Picture Organic brand is making a big splash in the fashion world. It has become one of the first brands to represent skiers and snowboarders, a community that is committed to the environment. Julien Durant, CEO of Picture Organic Clothing looks back on the beginnings of the brand:
“WE NEVER TOOK OURSELVES FOR SOMETHING WEREN’T. WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE IT WITH A SENSE OF FUN”
“Today, we are not looking to be super competitive or make high performance goods, even though we are making very technical and efficient products. The design of the brand, thanks to Jérémy’s architectural sensibility, has brought about a break with conventional design”.
Actively fight against climate change
“To fight climate change”. These few words have been the key concept of the Picture Organic Clothing brand from the start. “When we created the brand, we wanted to create a brand that inspires an eco-responsible lifestyle whose products actively contribute to the fight against climate change. I know this sentence by heart, because it was the first sentence we said when we created the brand. We remember it very often when we question ourselves
and when we have to make the right decisions”, explains Julien Durant.
Towards an infinite recyclability of products
Who has never dreamed of minimizing their impact on the environment and achieving Zero waste, even with clothes? It seems that we are on the verge of being able to completely and indefinitely recycle our next ski jacket.
The Picture Organic Clothing brand is currently working with a Clermont-Ferand company to set up this process. “In a ski jacket, there are about ten materials, and to separate them, to recycle them independently, is very complicated and very expensive. Until now, the manufacturers did not want to embark on this project because it was not profitable”, explains Julien Durant.
“Engineers from the IFMA (French Institute for Advanced Mechanics) in Clermont Ferrand have developed processes for separating and recycling polymers to recreate chips, in the form of polyester or nylon balls”.
“TODAY, WE ARE WORKING ON THIS SUCCESSFUL SCALABLE PROTOTYPE PROCESS”
The aim of the Picture Organic brand is to stimulate the entire textile industry so that these processes can be adopted and applied in factories in Asia, and the entire industry as a whole, with the end goal being to reduce its environmental impact.
The Picture brand wants to be transparent not only about the product but also about the process
In his interview, Julien Durant explains to us that the Picture company comes out of a carbon footprint for the brand and a full product review. “We see that talking about the raw material of the product is very ‘marketing friendly’ because that’s what you touch, what you see. But that is only 11% of the actual impact of the product. The remaining 89% concerns the transformation of the material and the energy consumption that it takes to do this.
Dyeing a product requires heating tubs of water with bulk dye. This heater is powered by electricity that comes from combustion. For example, in Taiwan, combustion is mainly from coal. If we were talking about a French model, it would be the nuclear model with a zero carbon cost. So, the cost of transformation would have a much lower impact with the complications involved in nuclear power. In general, you have to know how to strike the right balance between plague and cholera”.
In recent years, the Picture brand has mainly focused its sustainable actions on the Materials. The next step involves the entire production chain. “This transparency will give us a real head start over our competitors. We want to explain our value chain, how it is broken down and how to achieve a real impact on the whole. We don’t want to do greenwashing or marketing washing”, explains Julien Durant.
Towards an education policy
The Picture Organic brand clearly shows its desire to reduce the real impact of its products on the environment. And not just the impact of raw materials!
“THIS IS AN ENTIRE EDUCATION POLICY THAT WE MUST PURSUE THESE COMING YEARS. THIS IS A REAL CHALLENGE AND WE HAVE TO PARTNER WITH GIANTS TO GET THERE “
Recently, the brand successfully changed the energy supply of a cotton-to-cotton yarn processing plant. “This is a factory located in Turkey (Izmir) that we have in common with Decathlon. We have partnered with Decathlon to ensure that this plant is powered by solar or renewable energy. Today, 80% of this plant is powered by renewable energy. The cost of processing our product (from cotton to yarn), which represents almost 40% of the product cost, is under control. We reduced it by changing the plants coal power to solar power, ”explains Julien Durant.
Humbly, the CEO of Picture Organic Clothing explains to us that this example in cotton can only be done by partnering with other giants:
“IT IS A GLOBAL APPROACH, THAT TOGETHER WE CAN CHANGE THE ATTITUDES OF THESE FACTORIES, WHERE AS ALONE WE HAVE NO IMPACT”
Towards business clusters
Through these initiatives, the Picture Organic brand is positioning itself as a driving force in the establishment of business clusters. A pro-active attitude to ensure that things change. “It’s not making us much money right now, financially. On the other hand, in terms of credibility in relation to the message that we have conveyed from the start, it is very strong. Our customers who consume the Picture brand are consuming a business that is on the move and has a real impact. We are in a greenwashing society. Giants like H&M or Zara have started to communicate with environmental policies that are more or less shaky but very well polished from a marketing point of view”, concludes Julien Durant.
“TODAY, WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE THANKS TO OUR TRANSPARENCY”.
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