Target partners with the Apparel Impact Institute’s (Aii) Clean by Design (CbD) program, which identifies practical, cost-saving opportunities so that our suppliers can increase operational efficiencies in their factories, while simultaneously reducing resource usage, waste and emissions.  

In 2011, in collaboration with our suppliers, we piloted the 10 best practices of Clean by Design in three Chinese textile mills, and saw significant savings in water and energy use. Encouraged by those results, and in continued collaboration with additional suppliers, we expanded the program in 2012, onboarding an additional 60 mills into the CbD program. 

The facility improvements adopted by our suppliers’ participating mills have yielded strong results. Through the CbD program in 2016, seven participating mills reduced water use by more than 940,000 tons – on average, water usage was down 8 percent. In addition, all 10 participating mills in 2016 saved more than 10,000,000 kWh of energy. 

Then through Cohort 1 of our 2018 CbD program, the 20 participating mills reduced water use by an average rate of 20 percent, saving 3,560,000 tons. They also lowered energy consumption by an average rate of 12 percent. As a result, Cohort 1 reduced more than 111,000 tCO2e in greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.

To date, together with our suppliers, we have engaged 63 Chinese mills in the Clean by Design program, which is just one of the ways we partner with our supply chain to use resources responsibly. It’s a key element of reducing carbon emissions throughout our business to meet our ambitious climate goals, which were approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative.

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