At Subset, we believe that working smarter isn’t just a mindset—it’s a mandate. In 2024, our commitment to sustainability was driven by a simple but powerful principle: be more efficient, more effective, and less wasteful. That means doing the hard work behind the scenes [so our people don’t have to] and never taking shortcuts, especially when it comes to impact. We’re here to set the standard for the fashion industry, proving that it’s possible to move fast enough and stay responsible.
From refining our processes to strengthening our partnerships, we focused on creating innerwear people actually want—thoughtfully designed, intentionally made, and built to last. This report reflects the steps we’ve taken to reduce our footprint and build a more thoughtful future—one smart, intentional decision at a time.
Make organic cotton your daily default.
Better clothing for this planet.
Our approach to sustainability is simple: focus on improving what we do best. We recognize there is not one silver bullet solution to climate change, so we solve for something simply, backing all of our decisions with scientific research and the highest quality certifications.
Beyond our mission, vision, and sustainability stance, we set pillars that guide our business decisions. Always in mind, these guideposts represent Subset’s core values.
Each year, we take a moment to look back on the sustainability goals we set, and the progress we made in achieving them. Here's a look at what we accomplished, and what we are still working on:
Donate products to people who need them:
We have made significant strides in the completion of in-kind donations early in 2025 that have more than exceeded our goals for 2024.
Reduce our shipping emissions:
While we weren't able to migrate away from air freight in 2024, we are excited to be shipping our first purchase order via ocean carrier in early 2025, significantly reducing our carbon emissions to import these goods.
We are working behind the scenes to develop new and innovative materials to further improve our portfolio, but have been challenged in the search for producers that meet our high sustainability standards.
With so much material innovation in the fashion industry today, we felt that we needed to set clear and ambitious targets for where we want our materials to be in the future. These are aspirational goals - they represent absolute ideals, and may not be possible today, or even in the future. As material innovation furthers, we will continue to work to get as close as possible to our North Stars each year.
Organic Cotton represents the majority of our material portfolio. Here's a look at our fiber consumption from 2024, reflective of the products we sold across Underwear, Bras, Lounge and Socks.
95.2% of Our Fiber Portfolio
0.4% of Our Fiber Portfolio
4.4% of Our Fiber Portfolio
There are many reasons as to why we have made organic cotton our #1 preferred material - and why it remains over 95% of our material portfolio. Organic cotton is grown without the use of synthetic and toxic pesticides or fertilizers, making it better for the planet and its surrounding communities. Additionally, our GOTS-certified supply chain ensures that no harmful chemicals are used throughout the entire manufacturing process, and that everyone involved in the production of Subset goods is paid fairly and treated ethically.
Not only do we commit to using organic cotton in all of our products, we go a step further by ensuring our entire supply chain is certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard [GOTS]. As a GOTS certified company, organic standards for chemical use are upheld at each node of our supply chain, including weaving, dyeing, cut and sew and even distribution. This means that our products are certified-free from harmful compounds, including PFAS chemicals that have been known to cause cancer. Plus, GOTS certification includes a social component that matches Fair Trade standards, ensuring ethical production from farm to factory.
In our mission to make organic the daily default for everybody, we expanded our distribution channels beyond our own website and introduced Subset products to major retailers including Nordstrom and Amazon in 2024.
We worked with Green Story to calculate the carbon footprint, water savings, and land area saved from pesticides of our products. This not only helps our customers to understand the impact of choosing more sustainable materials, but it also pushes other brands to begin measuring the impact of what they produce. Here's a look at how the production of just one pair of Subset Underwear compares to other alternatives in the market:
When we changed our name to Subset back in 2023, we were left with a lot of inventory that still said Knickey in our warehouse. Rather than destroy these items through incineration or ship them to the global south [like many brands might] we decided to work through them. Sustainability is all about making use of what we already have, and that’s why we’ll continue to sell these perfectly good units until we run out.
Each year, we measure the Greenhouse Gas Emissions [planet-warming gasses] related to making our products and running the business; in order to keep an eye on the areas we can work to reduce. In 2024, our biggest impact came from producing and shipping our products.
387.5
metric tonnes
To account for a large portion of our carbon impact, we offset the emissions that arise from shipping from our factory to our warehouse, along with shipping orders to our customers. We work with our import shipping partner, Flexport, to invest in verified offset projects that protect tropical peat swamp forests in Indonesia from development. Additionally, any customer that checks out with Shop Pay helps to fund carbon removal projects through Shopify’s Carbon Removal initiatives.
We know that offsetting is not the solution to curbing carbon emissions. The most important way to do that is to actually reduce emissions in the first place! However, as much as we push to reduce our carbon footprint throughout our entire supply chain, there are some areas where we have little to no control over the total energy use or fuel source - like the gasoline that USPS uses to power their delivery trucks. We will continue to work to reduce energy use and emissions in areas that we can control, and use offsets to make an impact in the areas of our supply chain where we can’t.
Solar Powered Manufacturing
Our primary supplier in India uses rooftop solar panels, which provide 40% of the factory’s energy needs. This reduces reliance on the national electricity grid, which is still primarily powered by coal.
Localized Sourcing
The organic cotton used in all of our products is grown and processed in India, and we source all of our our elastics in India as well. By sourcing our materials and most of our trims locally, the impact of shipping goods to and from our factory is greatly reduced.
As a company founded on the principles of circularity, we take responsibility for every product we put into the world. Which is why we started the world's first Recycling Program for intimate apparel back in 2018. Through strategic partnerships with Green Tree Textiles, Texaid, SuperCircle and Trashie over the years, we've recycled over 1.8 million items - and we're just getting started.
of undies, bras, socks & tights
recycling packages processed
garments diverted from landfill
In 2024, we diverted 362,000 pairs of underwear, bras, socks and tights from landfill – recycling them into secondary products such as home insulation, furniture batting and rug pads.
As part of our warehouse and fulfillment team, Isaiah makes sure that your orders get to you on-time and in one piece.
Our manufacturing facility in India is a Fair Trade certified factory. This means that the workers who make Subset products are paid a living wage, provided a safe and healthy working environment, assigned reasonable hours, and allowed to organize and collectively bargain.
To celebrate the indispensable people behind the scenes, we participate in Fashion Revolution Week each year, sharing the individuals that make Subset clothes. This includes our manufacturing team in India, our design team, and our distribution team in New York.
As a company, we have always prioritized community engagement and support in order to provide new, clean underwear to individuals and communities in need. In 2024, we organized our stock and laid the groundwork to make meaningful donations for the months to come - and are thrilled share that we've donated over $300,000 worth of goods so far in 2025.
Over 2,400 Bras & Underwear donated to their Menstrual Oasis event held in the Baltimore area.
I Support the Girls, is an organization working to provide menstrual care and undergarments to women and folx in need.
+ Over 5,000 units donated to the Global Empowerment Mission's LA & Chico, CA headquarters
+ Over 700 units to the LA Clothing Drive
+ Over 2,500 units to a group of stylists working to gather donations of extended sized garments
+ Over $8,000 worth of product mailed directly to Subset customers impacted
Over 400 pairs of Maternity Briefs donated for their Mother’s Wellness event.
The Children's Institute offers high-qualityearly education and youth programs, counseling services, parenting supports, workforce and community leadership development and advocacy.
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