David Luke

David Luke is a designer and manufacturer of school uniforms, sportswear and outdoor garments. The company started their sustainability journey in 2009, with a desire to improve the environmental impact of operations in the UK through energy and water savings and a number of David Luke’s clothing lines are manufactured from a polyester fabric, which is certified to contain 30-100% recycled post-consumer waste.

David Luke were looking to reduce the consumption of plastics within their operations, without compromising on service provisions. The immediate focus was on packaging, with an appetite to discuss how to transition to a more circular business model in the future.

SMI Hub research collaborator, Dr Claudia Henninger, and Industry Liaison Officer, Adam Peirce, held a Circular Business Model workshop with David Luke to uncover current materials challenges and explore their sustainability journey to date. The SMI Hub offered an array of suggestions and advice to support the transition to a more circular business model, including where to reduce plastic packaging and what would happen to products within current and future waste management systems.

We have some very tangible things we can start to do in relation to packaging and so we are proceeding with a couple of projects relating to end of life for clothing hangers and protective plastic packaging. It was really helpful to be able to network with other passionate people, but who could also give insights into how science and technology could be applied.

Samantha Leigh, Sustainability & Trade Marketing Lead, David Luke

Next steps

David Luke are taking forward the SMI Hub’s free sustainability advice and conducting further research into the end of life of clothing hangers and protective plastic packaging. They hope to redesign their products by using materials that support a circular business model and reduce plastic leakage into the environment.