Sustainability

TOTEME is a Swedish fashion house founded on the principles of minimalism, long-standing style, meticulous craftsmanship and methodic repetition. We craft modern classics with purpose, occasion and longevity in mind – each piece is made to last and be cherished, each collection seen as an opportunity to build on our existing offering and perfect our styles.

We are committed to establishing TOTEME as a brand that inspires customers and brands to make decisions that benefit, as opposed to harm, people, animals and the environment. That is why we look to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our collaborations with leading industry organizations to inform our environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework and our sustainability pillars: design, planet and community. 

As part of our ESG framework, we have set ambitious sustainability goals and plan to meet them by staying up-to-date with industry developments, creating targeted key performance indicators (KPIs), policies, audits, training and workshops, improving our accountability and transparency, and partnering with the right suppliers to craft high-quality, lasting pieces in safe and fair conditions.

Read our 2024/25 Sustainability Report to learn more about our approach to sustainability.

Design

TOTEME stands for style, purpose and quality. We take a curated approach to creating long-lasting, trans-seasonal pieces considering function and occasion, attention to detail and materials, and social and environmental impact. We believe in offering a streamlined wardrobe that is upgraded and complemented as opposed to reinvented, and present our collections through styling that expresses their full potential to encourage our customers to buy better and less, and wear more.

Our longstanding Signatures are unmistakably TOTEME: they have a classic expression and a clear purpose in our wardrobe. Whether it is a tank, trench or flip-flop, we strive to make the best wardrobe archetypes by tweaking and perfecting them over time through improved materials and manufacturing techniques.

Planet

Collaboration is at the core of our work towards sustainability, including our focus on creating products with consideration for the environment and animals. We strive to partner with organizations that provide the knowledge, tools, and connections we need to continue improving our practices and achieve our ambitious goals. Reflecting this approach, we have partnered with impact firm Milkywire to support regenerative farming projects that protect ecosystems and communities.

Our suppliers are also important collaborators in our sustainability journey. We expect them to follow our Sustainability Commitment, policies and guidelines, and we regularly involve them in our initiatives.

Environment

To address our impact on the environment, we are currently working on a few initiatives, including running our premises on renewable energy, using more sea transportation, consuming less water, creating less waste, and eliminating harmful chemicals from our production.

In 2024, we began a partnership with the impact firm Milkywire to help transition our material value chain towards regenerative farming. Using a science-based, high-integrity approach, Milkywire connects companies with impactful climate and nature projects around the world. Together, we currently support two initiatives — Materra in India and the Wildlife Conservation Society in Argentina — selected through Milkywire’s rigorous screening process for their scalability, traceability and commitment to biodiversity preservation, soil regeneration and community resilience. Over time, we hope to integrate materials from these projects into our collections as part of our goal to source 30% of our wool and cotton from regenerative sources by 2030.

As part of our Climate Transition Plan, one of our most important aims is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in line with the Paris Agreement, striving to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 using 2022 as a base year (the reference year against which progress is measured).

To help us get there, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recently assessed and approved near-term, long-term and Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) targets for us to work towards. These targets reinforce our commitment to taking action on climate change, joining a growing community of like-minded fashion brands. Through this process we revised how we measure our emissions to improve accuracy and transparency, gaining more visibility on our business’ impact and where to direct our efforts. For instance, by setting a FLAG target we commit to reducing land-related emissions through actions such as sourcing materials from regenerative agriculture, which helps strengthen the resiliency of ecosystems.

Our current targets:

Near term: reducing scope 1 and 2* GHG emissions by 42% and scope 3* GHG emissions by 51.6% (per MSEK value added) by 2030, using 2022 as the base year.
Long term: reducing scope 1 and 2* GHG emissions by 90% and scope 3* GHG emissions by 97% (per MSEK value added) by 2050, using 2022 as the base year.
FLAG: reducing scope 3* FLAG GHG emissions by 30.3% by 2030 and by 72% by 2050, using 2022 as the base year.

*Scope 1: direct emissions from our company; scope 2: indirect emissions from our company; scope 3: indirect emissions from our value chain.

Animals

As stated in our Animal Welfare Policy, we forbid the mistreatment of animals at any stage of our supply chain and ask our suppliers to follow the United Kingdom’s 2006 Animal Welfare Act. We additionally follow the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to ensure that we do not use materials from exotic or endangered species. As members of Fur Free Retailer, we follow their guidelines and recommendations on the use of fur.

Materials

The materials we choose have a big influence on our footprint. That is why we focus on sourcing options with a lower impact on people, animals, and the environment, and build on our work through continuous research and alignment with global standards and industry best practices.

In line with our Responsible Design Ethos, we prioritize materials that support better environmental and social conditions. To improve transparency, we recently reclassified our materials into four groups — certified, recycled, regenerative, and innovative — and updated our Material Tool to help our teams plan their sourcing based on materials’ sustainability credentials. This tool has helped us raise the share of these materials from 15% to 86% in just a few years — we currently aim to reach 100% by the end of 2025.

Like all our sustainability efforts, much of our work on materials is possible thanks to our association with leading industry organizations. For example, we have been members of Leather Working Group since 2021 to reinforce our commitment to responsible leather manufacturing — currently, we purchase 98% of our leather from manufacturers certified against the LWG Standard and aim to increase this to 100% by 2030.

Jewelry is another category where we are committed to progress. Here, we use recycled and responsibly sourced materials backed by leading certifications, including the Kimberley Process, the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the Chain of Custody (COC) standard, and the RJC's Code of Practices (COP) standard.

Policies

Memberships

Certifications

Community

In our community we foster a culture of positivity and collaboration where everyone feels seen and welcome. Our community is made up of our customers and employees, our partners and suppliers, the organizations we are members of, and the foundations we support. We pay close attention to our relationships with these parties, as well as our manufacturing and working conditions, diversity and inclusion, philanthropy, transparency and sustainability engagement.

Working & manufacturing conditions

As Fair Wear members, we strive to ensure that workers across our supply chain work in fair and safe conditions. Fair Wear carries out regular factory audits on our behalf and also performs a Brand Performance Check to evaluate our practices. We are working with them and our suppliers toward paying a living wage to all workers across our supply chain by 2030.

We work closely with a select group of suppliers in Europe and China, some of whom have collaborated with us for many years. Our fabric and manufacturing suppliers go through strict screening processes and must comply with our policies. To learn who our suppliers are, visit Open Supply Hub.

Diversity & inclusion

TOTEME stands against any form of discrimination and strives to be an inclusive brand and workplace. This mindset is applied to all aspects of our business: we are inspired by our community’s diverse identities, experiences and ways of thinking and encourage empathy, understanding, connection and collaboration.

We also promote a kind and respectful spirit within our community, creating spaces where everyone can thrive and learn from each other. Some of our ongoing actions are the expansion of our sizing range and featuring diverse models on our website and campaigns.

Reflecting the wider fashion industry, our workforce is mostly made up of women. Women hold most of our leadership and management positions.

Philanthropy

Transparency

Sustainability engagement

We are committed to educating and involving our entire community with the work we do to minimize our impact. All of our employees receive training and support on sustainability topics and must also deliver on specific targets. Some examples include our Supply Chain team’s ongoing efforts to reduce emissions from freight transportation; updating and building on our care tips to educate our customers on how to best care for our products; and offering training to our suppliers on human and workers’ rights.

Policies