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Riopele has set new environmental and sustainability goals: by 2025, it wants 80% of its products to be fully sustainable – having already reached, in this segment, a share of 45%. The company’s decision, led by CEO José Alexandre Oliveira, follows Riopele’s long-established commitment to sustainability: “When I started working at the company in 1979, we already had projects to save water and to become energy efficient”.
In the last five years, the company has reduced its energy consumption by around 16%, not only through the installation of a photovoltaic solar plant, but also through the purchase of industrial equipment with greater energy efficiency. Over the past five years, Riopele has cut CO2 emissions by 13% for every meter of fabric it produced.
Currently, 48% of the energy that Riopele uses comes from renewable sources, but José Alexandre Oliveira believes that, “given the evolution that is being registered in the energy sector, namely with strong business investments, it will be perfectly possible for Riopele to consume only green electricity in 2027”.
The company also recycles around 55% of the water it uses, while a central rainwater collector installed on the roofs of its industrial building supplies 2% of the water consumed in the manufacturing processes.
Present in more than 30 markets, to which it exports 95% of its production, Riopele has around 700 customers, including major brands such as Massimo Dutti, El Corte Inglès or Zara.