Sustainability doesn’t stand still. Expectations change, challenges evolve and what good looks like keeps moving.
That’s why, as we begin developing our next Sustainability Strategy, we went back to the people who are part of our journey: our customers, suppliers, team, industry partners and wider stakeholders.
During August and September 2026, we asked where they think we’re making progress, what they expect from us today and where they believe we should focus next. It was a chance to listen, understand how expectations have changed over the past three years, and make sure our FY27–FY30 Sustainability Strategy is informed by the people it affects.
Expectations have changed
When we first undertook stakeholder engagement in 2023, the conversation centred on identifying key sustainability issues, risks and opportunities.
Three years on, the conversation has moved forward.
Our 2026 engagement showed growing confidence in Deane’s sustainability performance and maturity. Stakeholders recognised improvements in governance, transparency, reporting and supply-chain visibility, alongside a more structured approach to sustainability.
Importantly, sustainability itself is increasingly becoming a baseline expectation. Customers are placing greater importance on sustainability claims and want evidence behind environmental and social performance.
The good news? The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
One stakeholder summed it up simply:
“Deane's approach feels genuine. Sustainability is embedded in how the business operates rather than being treated as a marketing exercise.”
For us, that's important. Because progress only means something if there’s genuine work behind it.
From risk to recognised strength
One of the clearest signs of progress was the change in how stakeholders talked about ethical sourcing and modern slavery.
In 2023, ethical sourcing was viewed largely through the lens of risk. In 2026, it has become one of the areas stakeholders most strongly associate with Deane. Ethical sourcing, modern slavery due diligence, supplier engagement and supply-chain transparency were identified as our strongest sustainability attributes, with 90% of stakeholders mentioning them in relation to Deane’s efforts.
There is substantial work sitting behind that shift.
Our latest Sustainability Progress Report highlights stronger ethical and social compliance, deeper supply-chain insight and continued refinement of our modern slavery processes. It also details our collaboration with Commonwealth Bank, including a modern slavery risk assessment across 45 factories in 12 countries. In 2025, Deane was featured in Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement in recognition of progress made through a collaborative supplier improvement partnership.
That doesn’t mean the risk has disappeared. Modern slavery and supply-chain transparency remain among the challenges identified by stakeholders, and our Progress Report identifies cotton sourcing as an area requiring continued focus because of modern slavery risk.
For us, that distinction matters. Being recognised for progress doesn't mean declaring the job done.
We’ve been doing more than we’ve been talking about
Responsible materials is a good example.
There has been considerable work happening behind the scenes that we haven't always shared widely enough with customers and suppliers.
During 2025, we trialled a cotton and recycled polyester blend garment, wearer-trialled Sorona, a bio-based synthetic fabric and conducted microfibre testing on some of our most popular garments. We also created an innovative fabric library for our team that can be shared with customers.
We’ve also been developing a fabric durability scale. It's around 90% complete, with the next phase focused on turning technical information into something easier for customers and stakeholders to understand and use when making product decisions.
Not every trial becomes a finished product, and not every sustainability ambition can happen immediately.
Our Progress Report makes that reality clear. Sustainable materials need to balance environmental objectives with durability, performance, cost and customer expectations. For example, the Sorona trial performed well, but the customer ultimately chose not to proceed because of the higher cost.
That's part of sustainability too: testing, learning and finding solutions that work in the real world.
The next opportunity? Bringing more people with us
One of the clearest lessons from the stakeholder engagement is that we need to get better at sharing this work.
As one stakeholder put it:
“Customers need to understand the sustainability journey so they can better engage end users and build pride in the products they wear.”
Stakeholders want better visibility of our achievements and more engagement with customers and suppliers. Suppliers also identified an opportunity for clearer communication about Deane’s sustainability goals, priorities and achievements.
We've already taken steps in that direction. During 2025, we shared our previous Progress Report with customers, suppliers and staff, distributed it to a database of 30,000 customers, continued sustainability updates through customer newsletters, and held internal learning sessions covering emissions and modern slavery.
But our stakeholders are telling us to go further.
That means involving suppliers and customers more closely, sharing what we're learning as well as what we're achieving, and celebrating progress together.
Turning progress into action
The engagement also gave us a clearer picture of what people expect next.
Circularity came through strongly, with approximately 80% of stakeholders raising garment take-back schemes, recycling programmes, repair services or other circular solutions as future opportunities. Responsible materials were another significant theme, raised as an opportunity by 70% of stakeholders.
The conversation around circularity has evolved considerably since 2023. Stakeholders are now talking about practical solutions including repair, product life extension, take-back programmes, reuse models, end-of-life responsibility and customer-facing solutions.
So, what did we learn?
We learnt that stakeholders recognise how far we've come.
We learnt that ethical sourcing has moved from being viewed primarily as a risk to becoming a recognised strength.
We learnt that substantial work is happening around responsible materials, but we need to make more of that work visible.
We learnt that circularity, end-of-life solutions and responsible-material innovation need continued focus.
And importantly, we learnt that doing the work isn't enough if we don't bring people along with us.
The next phase is about building on the foundations we've established and turning them into practical, measurable outcomes. As our stakeholder report puts it:
“The next phase is about translating ambition into action.”
More collaboration. More transparency. More practical action. And more opportunities to share and celebrate progress with the customers, suppliers and people helping us make it happen.
Because creating a better working world is something we do together.