Positive Pants: Our Impact in 2021

We might be coming towards the end of B Corp Month, but we’re as committed as ever to taking you #BehindTheB. From reducing our environmental impact to increasing our social one, we understand the need to share and report our wins, misses and targets. As a small (but growing!) business, we want to be as transparent and honest with our customers as possible - and impact reports help us do that.

We’re very excited to announce that - drumroll please - our 2021 Impact Report is now live! We’re proud to have not only made it through another tough financial year, but to have achieved many of our set goals too. It’s because of your continued support that we developed new products, launched sustainable initiatives and became the top-scoring B Corp in the UK! Today, we’re sharing a snapshot of what we achieved last year, and you can read the full report here.

Our Social Impact

Y.O.U Underwear’s founding mission remains the same today: to increase access to education and employment for vulnerable women and girls, by donating underwear to those facing period poverty. Our buy-one-give-two model means that every time you buy a pair of Y.O.U underwear from our core women's, men's and girls' ranges, we donate two pairs of underwear to Smalls for All! Our main goal as a business is to donate 23,000 pairs of underwear by 2023, and we are well on our way to achieving this.

In 2021, we…

Donated 9,110 pairs of underwear to Smalls for All, providing 3,036 women and girls with 3 pairs each. That takes our total donations to 20,744, meaning we’re likely to reach our 23,000 goal a year ahead of schedule!

Collected 320 nearly new bras which were distributed by Smalls for All. We also supported this charity by donating 10% from every mask sale made, with the option for customers to make an additional donation. In total, we raised £144.80, and our customers donated £452.58 to Smalls for All. 

Donated 1,547 pairs of underwear to the Maasai communities of Oloishobor and Olorgesailie, and donated £155 to the Ajuma Foundation in Kenya, through the proceeds of our Mara collection.

Supported a range of other women’s rights causes, donating £208 to breast cancer charity Future Dreams and £18 to Just A Drop’s Menstrual Hygiene Programme in Ugandan schools. For a complete overview of our donations, read our 2021 Impact Report in full!

Our Environmental Impact

As a sustainable underwear brand, we’re also mindful of our overall environmental impact, and are committed to being Net Zero by 2030. Our sustainability journey is a constant one, and whilst we're proud of our current initiatives, we know that we have a long way to go!

It’s important to us that our underwear is made from Fairtrade and GOTS certified organic cotton and is PETA-approved vegan. Organic cotton uses 71% less water and 62% less energy than traditional cotton. It’s also much safer for farmers and manufacturers to work with organic cotton as pesticides can be deadly.

In 2021, we…

Conserved 618,541 litres of water  - the equivalent of 6,185 bathtubs!. This is as much water as an average person living in the UK would consume in 4,123 days, or just over 11 years!

Avoided CO2 emissions equivalent to driving 644.2 miles in an average passenger car.

Saved enough energy to power a standard 60W lightbulb for as long as 568 days straight.

Planted 60 trees with Treedom across 4 projects in Kenya, Guatemala, Colombia and Haiti, and 114 trees with Ecologi across 2 projects in Mozambique and Madagascar. 

Our Achievements

This was a great year for us, as we grew our presence and reaffirmed our sustainability commitments. 

In 2021, we…

Certified as the top-scoring B Corp in the UK, and the highest ranked fashion B Corp globally! You can read more about our journey and what this means to use here.

We opened our first shop in Oxford’s Covered Market and, thanks to your continued support, extended our stay here. 

Won Blue Patch’s Global Impact Award, which recognised our efforts to ensure the highest standards across the entirety of our business operations. 

Looking Forward

We're very proud of everything we've achieved this year, but we're always looking to do more. As a small business it can be hard and take longer to implement the changes we want to see, but we are determined to continue to make improvements to the way we work and to make a bigger impact. We've got ambitious plans for 2022 and hope you'll join us on our journey to becoming an even better brand, together.

In 2022, we’re working towards…

Becoming a more circular brand, and are thrilled to have already introduced a take-back scheme, which you can read more about here.

Sourcing more sustainable alternatives to our plastic-based elastane, and exploring the use of natural dyes. 

Introducing a more supportive bralette suitable for larger cup sizes and colourful, affordable pyjamas that give back with every purchase.