Founded in New Zealand in 2006 by Gosia Piatek, Kowtow designs modern essentials made exclusively from 100% Fairtrade and GOTS-certified cotton, backed by transparent and plastic-free practices.
1. Environmental
Sustainability
This rating evaluates the brand’s impact across key environmental risk categories, including raw materials and resource use, climate change, water use and pollution, chemicals and toxicity, land use, biodiversity, waste management, and circularity. Overview: Kowtow focuses on mono-material design (100% Fairtrade organic cotton), plastic-free components from January 2024. Their reported year-over-year emissions fell sharply. They are outstanding for product and supply-chain transparency.
IMPACT AREA 01
Materials
& Sourcing
- All garments are made from a single fibre: 100% Fairtrade organic cotton. Their trims were transitioned to natural, biodegradable alternatives.
- Kowtow uses a single fiber cotton - that’s GOTS - and Fairtrade-certified and also certified under the U.S. National Organic Program (NOP). This means non-GMO seed and organic farming practices that protect soil health.
- Suppliers have chemical-management policies and work to an Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL). Where organic rules don’t apply (e.g., some trims), Kowtow indicates testing to recognized safety standards such as OEKO-TEX® Standard 100.
- Kowtow´s orders arrive in FSC-certified, recycled cardboard (no plastic). Their swing tags got an upgrade too: they’re made from upcycled factory-floor cotton offcuts, keeping 387.45 kg of cotton out of landfill in 2024.
- Kowtow maps its whole journey from cotton farms to spinning, dyeing, trims, and final stitching, and keeps it Fairtrade-certified and openly listed by location so you can see who made what.
IMPACT AREA 02
Climate
& Emissions
- Kowtow cut its overall carbon footprint by 72.5% from the base year.
- In Fiscal Year 2024, emissions mainly came from freight (58.9%), business travel (24.8%), fuel/energy use (13%), electricity (3.1%), and waste (0.2%). Freight consolidation (switching to more full container load (FCL) shipments) and stronger waste policies helped drive the drop - waste-related emissions fell 89% year over year.
IMPACT AREA 03
Water
& Chemicals
- Kowtow mapped water risks across its supply chain and ran a supplier water assessment. All Tier-1 manufacturers use closed-loop water systems (one site, Kothari, is the exception due to space limits). They shared actual factory figures (e.g., water recycled/reused and treated before discharge) and confirmed that most water use happens at dyeing/printing.
- As all cotton is GOTS-certified and Fairtrade-certified, suppliers must treat wastewater, limit water use, and avoid hazardous chemicals.
- On-farm stewardship: Cotton is grown in India (a high water-stress region), where partners use measures like drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting.
- Producer cooperatives in Kowtow’s Fairtrade cotton supply chain reported using Fairtrade Premiums to install 8 water tanks across 6 primary schools in 2023.
IMPACT AREA 04
Circularity
& Waste
- From January 2024, every Kowtow garment is 100% plastic-free.
- The Reimagine capsules put 1,837.8 metres of surplus fabric back to work.
- The repair programme kept 424 garments in use this period (NZ + AU) - 1,747 repairs since 2018.
- Kowtow´s repair program extended the life of 424 garments in the period (New Zealand and Australia), 1,747 total since 2018.
- The Take-Back programme has collected 925 kg of end-of-life Kowtow pieces (cumulative), with trims salvaged for reuse/recycling.
- Office/store waste to landfill reduced 94% (October 2023 to March 2024 vs. prior six months).
- Kowtow joined Seamless, Australia’s clothing stewardship scheme, as an early member to help scale repair, reuse, and recycling toward the 2030 goals.
This rating evaluates the brand's impact across key social and ethical risk areas, including animal welfare, workplace practices, and supply chain oversight. It assesses human rights both within its workforce and among its external suppliers. Overview: Kowtow manufactures in Fairtrade-certified supply chains, publishes detailed facility maps, and reports internal policies, training, and benefits. It became Living Wage NZ accredited for its New Zealand employees during the period (2023-2024 Impact Report).