Sustainability commitment
At Hem, we keep a broad mindset when approaching our environmental ambitions. Though there are hundreds of small procedures we follow to ensure a positive environmental and social impact, our goals can largely be broken down into four key areas.
Local production
Hem manufactures 90 percent of our collection in Europe, with the remaining 10 percent made up of our rug, lighting and ceramic tableware collections. All our rugs are produced by a GoodWeave-certified manufacturer in India, our lighting is manufactured in China and our tableware in Sri Lanka, each with a carefully selected partner providing both local expertise and high ethical standards. All our products strictly adhere to EU environmental standards and industry certifications, which are some of the most robust in the world.
We work with local manufacturers and craftspeople to ensure that both the highest environmental and social standards are adhered to throughout our supply chain. This also enables us to partner with suppliers that embody our values and employ certified processes targeted at environmentally and socially responsible practices. We endeavor to control and reduce the geographic dispersion of our supply chain, limiting unnecessary freight between our production facilities and reducing the hidden carbon footprint of the production process.
Logistics
Where possible, all Hem pieces are designed for compact shipping and easy assembly. This allows us to reduce carbon emissions caused by inefficient shipping practices and ensures that “shipping air” is kept to an absolute minimum. As a stock-based business, we’re able to optimize our inbound transports effectively:
We plan our production to enable us to ship full truckloads from factories to our European warehouse.
Our target is to only ship full ocean containers from our European Warehouse to restock our US warehouse. We are currently achieving a 99% average fill rate.
Our European warehouse is located in Poland, strategically placed near our highest volume production partners, further ensuring we keep freight miles to an absolute minimum. As a direct-to-consumer brand, we’re also able to ensure that product is not needlessly shipped into a separate warehouse before then being shipped on to its final destination, as is the case with many retail brands.
Build quality
Our mantra is to “Design for the auction houses of tomorrow”, and so we must ensure our products make it to “antique” status. 100% of Hem’s portfolio is designed and constructed to meet the needs of commercial environments. We only work with high-quality, durable fabrics with high Martindale and Light Fastness ratings, and the majority of our products are certified with BIFMA, EN or both standards for use in heavy usage settings. Everything we make is built to be as durable, serviceable and repairable as possible, maximizing the useful life of our products.
Currently, on average we have a 1% claim rate (as a percentage of sales), which is one of the lowest rates across our industry - we’re proud of that, but we are always working to improve and lower it further.
Materials
Quality is the driving factor when selecting materials to make our products, and never price. We will constantly strive to ensure that all materials used are as sustainably and ethically sourced as possible and stand the test of time. We take pride in the materials we choose and believe it’s essential to maintain responsible material usage - all materials are sourced in the EU unless otherwise stated, and we actively seek opportunities to re-use our material offcuts, reducing waste wherever possible. To break it down across each segment:
All steel we use contains at least 20% recycled content
All fabrics are Oeko-Tex or Ecolabel certified, and we always offer an option with >70,000 Martindale
Leathers are chrome-free and produced in accordance with international standards for animal well-being, have full traceability back to the farm, and are produced by partners who achieve and surpass ambitious emission standards
All upholstery foam is REACH-certified
All timber is responsibly sourced within the EU