Impact Report

How Sustainable Is Subset?

Founded in 2018 in New York by Cayla O'Connell Davis and Lauren Sagadore, Subset (previously Knickey) is an organic cotton underwear and basics brand.

Subset centers sustainability in its operations through near‑exclusive use of GOTS‑certified organic cotton, annual impact reporting, and pioneering take‑back recycling, while upholding strong labor rights within a small, carefully selected supply chain in India.

1. Environmental
Sustainability

Subset publishes an annual impact report outlining its environmental progress and future targets. More than 95% of its fiber portfolio consists of the environmentally sound GOTS-certified organic cotton, and the brand is a leader in underwear recycling via strategic partnerships with recycling companies.
IMPACT AREA 01

Materials
& Sourcing

  1. Subset uses a very significant share (over 95 %) of preferred materials, with GOTS‑certified organic cotton as its primary fiber. GOTS‑certified organic cotton comprises 95.2% of its fiber portfolio, alongside a small share of synthetics, such as elastane, nylon, and polyester.
  2. The item‑level raw material composition for all Subset products is fully transparent and available online.
  3. Subset is committed to transitioning to 100% preferred fibers by an undisclosed date. Its definition of preferred materials includes 100% natural, 100% organic, and 100% recycled fibers produced under Fair Trade conditions. Between 2023 and 2024, Subset’s share of preferred materials increased by 0.2 percentage points.
  4. In 2023, Subset redesigned its packaging to plastic‑free, 100% recycled paper mailers and boxes, while also working to reduce overall paper use.
IMPACT AREA 02

Climate
& Emissions

  1. Subset’s annual emissions totaled 387.5 tCO2e in 2024, a 0.9% decrease from 2023.
  2. No publicly available science‑based or net‑zero emissions targets are identified for Subset.
  3. Subset reported certification by The Climate Label (formerly Climate Neutral) in its 2022 impact report. However, it no longer appears on The Climate Label’s certified‑brands list or in later reports, suggesting a loss of certification.
  4. The brand purchases carbon offsets for factory‑to‑warehouse freight and customer deliveries via Flexport and Shopify programmes, acknowledging that offsets are a stop‑gap, not a solution.
  5. Its primary supplier in India generated 40% of its power from solar energy in 2024, down 20 percentage points from 2023.
IMPACT AREA 03

Water
& Chemicals

  1. Its knitting and dyeing facility in India uses only OEKO‑TEX‑certified chemicals for dyeing and finishing.

  2. Subset’s near‑exclusive use of GOTS‑certified organic cotton ensures its products are free from synthetic pesticides, PFAS, heavy metals, formaldehyde, and VOCs across all processing stages.

IMPACT AREA 04

Circularity
& Waste

  1. Subset operates an underwear recycling program in partnership with Trashie, Green Tree Textiles, Texaid, and SuperCircle. This program collected 362,000 underwear items in 2024, and 1.8 million items in total since its launch in 2018. One of its 2025 goals is to expand the recycling program to accept all clothing, home textiles, and shoes.
  2. Its collected items are recycled into new yarn for non‑clothing uses, such as insulation, helping to close the textile recycling loop.
  3. Because Subset currently focuses on underwear, it does not, and is not expected to, offer clothing repair or resale services.
  4. Some product components (bra straps, metal hardware, bra bands, and boxer‑brief waistbands) use recycled materials, including recycled polyester, nylon, zinc, and alloy.

2. Social
Sustainability

Subset is fully vegan and manufactures in Fair Trade and GOTS‑certified Indian facilities that ensure supply‑chain worker rights, living wages, and safe conditions. It shares the cities where its supply‑chain facilities are located, without identifiable names and addresses. In 2025, it has donated over $300,000.
IMPACT AREA 05

Animal
Welfare

  1. Subset is a fully vegan brand, and no evidence of using animal-based materials was found in its collections.
IMPACT AREA 06

Workplace
Practices

  1. Subset is a privately held, women‑led company with its headquarters located in New York, USA.
  2. Public information on employee benefits, living‑wage commitment for own staff, or diversity statistics could not be found.

  3. No information is available regarding third-party certifications or external audits of its internal workplace practices.

IMPACT AREA 07

Supply Chain
Workers’ Rights

  1. Subset discloses the countries and cities of its cotton farm, ginning, spinning, knitting, dyeing, and finishing facilities, omitting facility names, exact addresses, worker salaries, and headcounts. All of its supply chain is located in India.

  2. It requires all Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers to sign a Supplier Code of Conduct, but the code itself is not publicly available.

  3. Its near‑exclusive use of GOTS‑certified organic cotton in Fair Trade facilities ensures workers enjoy robust rights standards, including living wages and safe conditions.

  4. Subset participates in Fashion Revolution Week annually, spotlighting individual workers and suppliers in its supply chain.

  5. Subset donated items worth more than $300,000 in early 2025 to support relief for the January 2025 Southern California wildfires, menstrual‑health initiatives, and other community organisations.
•••

Sources

  1. Subset - 2024 Impact Report
  2. Subset - 2023 Impact Report
  3. Subset - 2022 Impact Report
  4. Subset - 2021 Impact Report
  5. Subset - Recycle Earn Shop Repeat (Recycling Program)
  6. Subset - Behind the Seams (Supply Chain Transparency)
  7. Subset - Committed to Organic Cotton Excellence