We expect the brands we choose in our collection to meet our sustainability criteria. Our criteria consists of actions that take the environment, social conditions and climate into consideration. Here’s how Devold meets our criteria:

Environment:

Brand uses environmentally preferred raw materials for more than 70% of its volume.

• 84% of Devold’s materials is wool, and they only use a few synthetic materials to increase the durability of the garments.

Brand reports what percentage of its consumer packaging materials are renewable or made from recycled materials, and the brand implements concrete policies which have reduced the environmental impact of their packaging materials

• Devold reports to the GrøntPunkt Norge

Brand encourages the longevity of products by offering a lifetime guarantee, repair services or supporting the return or re-use of garments

• Devold doesn’t offer a lifetime guarantee or repair services, but they have a detailed guide for repairing the woolen garment, if it wears out.

Brand supports environmental NGO's or other organizations to promote environmental sustainability

• Devold reports about their supporting to the World Economic Forum

Devold doesn’t use harmful chemicals in their production and complies to the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® and EU Reach standards, but they aren’t sure if their sub-suppliers use some chemicals in their production. The finished products are always free of harmful chemicals. Every one of Devold’s farmers must abide by the Five Freedoms for Animal Welfare and none of the sheep may be subjected to mulesing.

Social conditions:

Manufacturing of more than 70% of product volumes happens in low-risk countries and the origin of the materials, design and the manufacturing is shared openly

• Devold has its own factory in Lithuania, where they make the yarn, fabrics and the final garments. The merino wool comes from their long-term partner farms in Argentina and New Zealand, and they use also Norwegian pure wool.

Brand is following buying practices that enable living wages and good labour conditions, such as long-term relations with factories, and concentrating production at a limited number of factories

• Devold has its own factory and they make sure people get paid what the deserve. They have also own healthcare and daycare for employee’s children.

Brand supports social NGO's or other organizations to promote social sustainability

• Devold reports about their supporting to the World Economic Forum

Devold doesn’t have an open list of their farmers, but 60% of the garments can be traced to the origin of the wool it’s made from. They don’t commit to a living wage benchmark with defined wages per production region or factory, but they comply with the EU legislation and offer more benefits than required.

Climate:

Devold hasn’t disclosed the annual absolute climate footprint of its own operations, and accomplished an overall absolute climate footprint reduction compared to the result of the previous reporting year, but they report on Scope 1 and 2 to the World Economic Forum.

Devold’s history, values and sustainability

Devold was founded in 1853 by Ole Andreas Devold, who returned to Ålesund after his studies in Germany with a state-of-the-art mechanical knitting equipment and high hopes of selling his products – knitted woollen underwear and mittens – to the local fishermen. It didn’t take long for Devold to establish a reputation as a quality brand and Ole Andreas knew that a combination of quality and innovation was key for any successful company. Since Devold has made multiple ground-breaking innovations and has been awarded for those.

Success for himself was never Ole Andrea’s goal, and he did not only create jobs. Devold established hospitals, churches, kindergartens, and grocers’ shops, and built 20 decent houses for his employees. For almost 200 years, Devold has been nurturing a reputation as an employer that believes that everyone working for them should feel good in the workplace. That and the quality are reasons they still want to have their own factory instead of outsourcing the production.

At Devold, we design clothes based on the following concept: Clothes should be created to last. Designs should be timeless so they don’t go out of fashion. We work tirelessly on going the extra mile to create the most environmentally friendly production process possible: we seek to manufacture garments that are not only good to wear outdoors but also gentle on nature.