Sustainability: an ongoing journey, never an end point. With this as its philosophy, Calzedonia has far exceeded its goals for 2021. Those milestones now become new starting points for even more ambitious horizons wherever the brand’s sustainability is concerned.

The first date to mark on the calendar is 28 April, when the company will put a face to its commitment, or rather faces: more than 300 of its employees from all over Europe will spend a day volunteering in collaboration with WWF Italy.

At the Oasi Alberoni nature reserve on the Lido of Venice, several teams will challenge each other in a coastal clean-up, removing waste and microplastics from the beach.

It will be a day that demonstrates the company’s dedication to raising awareness and conveying the value of a sustainable approach to its staff, starting with simple actions. Indeed, it is crucial to make company employees aware of the values in which the brand believes.

The beach clean-up initiative will not be limited to Calzedonia employees alone.

After the success of 2021, the collaboration between the beachwear brand and the World Wide Fund for Nature has been renewed and even expanded, with the shared goal of putting an end to plastic pollution. Once again, this summer, all Calzedonia customers can become volunteers and help preserve the marine habitat and beauty of the Mediterranean Sea by taking part in the now-famous Plastic Free Tour. A pillar of its GenerAzione Mare campaign, this WWF event is aimed at protecting what the non-profit calls ‘Blue Capital’.

Thanks to a special portal on the WWF Italy website, anyone who is interested can sign up for more than 100 events organised by WWF Italy activists throughout the peninsula until August 2022. Each volunteer will be given a kit consisting of: a canvas bag made of recycled cotton, a pair of gloves and a T-shirt with the Calzedonia-WWF partnership logo, and a special thank-you discount coupon.

WWF’s 2022 goal is to remove waste from 3 million m² of Italian territory, mainly beaches, doubling last year’s target. To help reach that objective, Calzedonia has pledged to clean 1 m² of beach for every bikini produced and put on the market.

But the truly big news item for summer 2022 is the launch of a CITIZEN SCIENCE initiative, which allows everyone to become a scientist for a day. Through newsletters, in the Group’s shops and on the WWF Italy website, Calzedonia customers will be given guidelines on how to monitor microplastic pollution on Italian beaches and send the data they collect to WWF Italy via an online form.

Calzedonia’s collaboration with WWF expands beyond Italian borders to work with other European countries throughout 2022, which will help achieve the group’s objectives.

The alliance between Calzedonia and WWF Italy also includes a research project in collaboration with the University of Le Marche, with the triple objective of: an assessment of the release of microplastics during the dyeing phase of Calzedonia swimwear, while the swimwear is being worn and, lastly, the identification of environmentally friendly ways to stop or minimise the shedding of microplastics during machine washing. Calzedonia’s aim is to gauge the impact of its activities, with the end goal of reducing its footprint through improved manufacturing processes.

Another not-to-be-missed initiative is the RECYCLING PROJECT: starting 13 May, the brand’s shops will be equipped with a collection point for old swimsuits, not necessarily of the Calzedonia brand, which can thus find new life.

About 50% of the collected garments will be recycled to create regenerated synthetic yarn.

As a sustainable alternative to sending used clothing to landfills, this initiative will raise awareness among customers about how to more consciously dispose of their garments.

Finally, in another concrete example of the brand’s dedication to the environment, its window displays will be made mainly of FSC-certified paper, i.e., paper from sustainably managed forests. Every detail will therefore be reusable and easily recyclable.