Stay in the know
Water Footprint Implementation is happy to announce the results of a first-of-its-kind collaboration with sustainable jewelry brand, Ana Luisa.
Ana Luisa is a direct-to-consumer jewelry company based out of Brooklyn, NY, that was founded on the conviction that high quality jewelry shouldn’t cost the planet. By working with certified partners, unveiling their manufacturing standards, and using recycled materials whenever possible, the brand is paving the way towards a more conscious, transparent and inclusive jewelry industry.
In February 2021, Ana Luisa partnered with Water Footprint Implementation to deliver a first Water Footprint Assessment based on the current supply chain insight. The assessment thus included water use for raw material extraction and processing and water use at the jewelry manufacturing stage.
The exercise is one of its kind. Water footprints for the jewelry sector are missing, mainly due to the lack of transparency and data available on the water consumption at mining and refining stages of base metals.
In this assessment, water use and pollution data was retrieved from scientific literature and case studies, but Ana Luisa has set very daring targets for the future. Their long term aim is to obtain insight into the own supply chain down to Tier 3, mining and refining suppliers. The requests for disclosure and pressure exerted by frontrunner brands such as Ana Luisa are setting the trend and pushing opaque sectors, such as mining, towards transparency and accountability in sustainable water use.
The assessment has also helped Ana Luisa to understand where to focus when setting water footprint reduction targets:
“Assessing our impact is the first step of taking action and reducing our water footprint. Knowing that our water footprint is mainly dependent on the base metals we use, we’d like to dig deeper into low-impact materials to expand our inventory. We are currently looking into developing more styles using stainless steel and are curious to know the footprint associated with that metal.” – Camille Foulché, Senior Brand Manager, Ana Luisa
Curious how the water footprint applies to your products or organization?
Contact us: info@waterfootprintimplementation.com