For Db Function, Style, and Sustainability Are Never Mutually Exclusive

When sports and lifestyle collide, great things can happen.

Scandinavian brand Db was founded with a desire to design products that solved real problems for people in action sports, while still delivering great style. Alexandre Aubry, Db’s Chief Product Officer, describes the brand as “a love child between a fashion brand and a sports brand.” The company was established in Norway in 2009 and began selling its first products in 2012. It has found a loyal following among what it calls “creative outdoor practitioners.”

Durability for sustainability 

Like many Scandinavian brands, it’s not surprising that social and environmental sustainability was baked into Db’s founders’ vision from the start. The Norwegian and Swedish co-founders prioritized a love of nature and progressive climate action, sentiments also reflected in the region’s leading transition to renewable energy. Its founders had a desire to create products that were functional and durable, which usually equates to more sustainable products as well.

“The core focus from day one was on durability,” Aubry explained. “The idea was we should make products that don’t break. They might look a bit over-engineered to some but they’re something you can take with you on all your adventures for years and years, even when they’re getting tossed around by luggage handlers who aren’t known for being gentle.” 

Durable products are inherently more environmentally-friendly than those that break, wear out, or need to be replaced frequently. But, over the last five years, Aubry said, the brand’s focus has widened even further into a conscious effort towards more responsible sourcing and materials selection. 

Black is the new black

One of the most striking examples of Db’s practical approach to sustainability is visible in the brand’s very selective color palette. Every product Db makes comes in black, and more than half of its products only come in black. 

This design choice serves multiple purposes: It creates a sleek aesthetic that appeals to Db’s design-conscious customer base while simultaneously driving significant environmental benefits.

“By offering all of our products in black, we’re able to consolidate higher volumes of material, which helps us source a wider range of dope-dyed fabrics,” said Eva Ehrlicher, Db’s CSR & Material Specialist. “This design choice helps us directly reduce our environmental impact by using water and energy-saving dyeing methods. And with 99% of our fabrics already made from recycled materials, we’re well on track with our ongoing reduction goals.”

Financing sustainability: Impact and profits don’t have to compete 

Many brands question whether consumers will pay for more sustainable products, since changing the way they do business to reduce their environmental impact can come at a premium, especially at the beginning. But commercial success and sustainability aren’t mutually exclusive.

Ehrlicher further explained that premium quality brand consumers expect the products they buy to be durable and produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way; but they don’t want those practices to be insincere. Db has found a way to make socially and environmentally conscious decisions that serve multiple purposes without compromising its brand identity or product quality and risking greenwashing

Customers expect brands to be responsible 

One of Db’s biggest challenges isn’t implementing sustainability practices—it’s how to talk about them. The brand finds itself navigating a unique paradox in sustainability communication: Say too much and risk being perceived as greenwashing, say too little and risk missing out on the benefits of your sustainability efforts and achievements. “Finding the right balance and communicating it in a way that’s interesting to a wider audience is really hard,” Aubry said.

In Scandinavia, customers don’t necessarily buy because of a company’s credentials, they simply expect premium brands like Db to be responsible. Customer research revealed that while customers aren’t purchasing Db’s products specifically because of the company’s environmental credentials, they do care, and expect products to be created with sustainability in mind. 

“This is particularly true of younger generations,” Aubry explained. “They see sustainability-related matters as a hygiene factor for a brand. They may not even check into your practices because, as a premium brand, for the prices you charge and the brand equity you represent, they expect and assume that you’re doing things right.” 

Brands need social and environmental data to stay relevant

Like other brands, Db is experiencing increasing demands for transparency and standardization from retailers, particularly in Europe. Retailers are now requiring detailed sustainability data at the product level from brands, including information on everything from emissions to certifications, and beyond. 

These same retailers, especially online, have begun using social and environmental impact data in their search criteria to allow customers to sort products by topics that are important to them. “If we can’t provide data for everything they’re asking, our products aren’t going to come up on the first page or be recommended or highlighted in a search,” Ehrlicher said. “If we want to be successful as a brand, we have to be able to provide the data retailers want to see.” 

It was important to Db to be able to provide the data retailers need as well as to provide its customers more visibility into how its products are created. 

Db’s story shows how committed the brand is to improving its products’ environmental sustainability and social impact from design to production, and beyond. To learn more about how Worldly can help your brand meet retailer, consumer, and regulatory requirements, contact us today.