ELC is proud to launch the Responsible Store Design program to advance progress toward our environmental targets while engaging our consumers in the journey.
ELC has long recognized that our retail footprint creates a unique opportunity to advance progress toward our environmental targets while engaging our consumers in the journey. In support of these environmental commitments, ELC is proud to launch the Responsible Store Design program and engage our consumers in our retail sustainability journey. This program provides a framework for the assessment of new and existing retail stores, and for the design of our visual merchandising, across a variety of sustainability-related areas including waste reduction, water and energy conservation, and responsible material sourcing.
Prior to the launch of this program, ELC has been working with our brands and global retail design teams to incorporate sustainability into their store design and visual merchandising. In fiscal year 2020, ELC finalized its internal Green Building Standards for all of our spaces including retail locations. These standards serve as a road map to help new construction and major renovations incorporate sustainability principles into their design, setting a baseline for practices covering energy, water, waste, and indoor air quality. The Responsible Store Design program, grounded in these standards, was developed with the assistance of a sustainability consulting firm with expertise in green building design and reviewed by a third-party to assure its credibility and accuracy.
“Sustainability has long been part of our corporate strategy and company culture, and our new Responsible Store Design program is a creative and impactful way to showcase ELC’s sustainability commitments to both our employees and our consumers,” said Al Iannuzzi, Vice President, Sustainability. “We’re excited to launch our branded retail sustainability program and look forward to scaling this work beyond our pilot stores to impact retail operations globally in the future.”
To participate in the program, brands must meet all relevant program prerequisites, which vary based on the retail space and store type. For new stores, a scoring system is used based on points, where each individual location is evaluated based on various sustainability efforts across retail design and operations. For existing stores and visual merchandising, a checklist of pre-requisites is used to ensure each location meets our core sustainability requirements. For both new stores and existing stores, these requirements include store build out, energy and water, responsible sourcing of materials, visual merchandising, store operations, and innovation. To date, 6 stores have successfully aligned with the framework as part of the fiscal year 2023 pilot program. Among these is the Origins store in Nanjing Deji Plaza, opened in July 2022, which met all prerequisites and achieved 26 points.
