In our continuing commitment to create consciously, we’ve introduced Anya Hindmarch Rental - a capsule collection of our favourite styles, both new season and archive, available for customers to rent by the day. Supporting a circular economy is integral to long term sustainability and something we’re proud to champion with this service. Plus, we offer the option to purchase after renting, at a lower price than purchasing a new bag.

In nature, if an apple drops from a tree, it breaks down and composts, nourishing the soil to support new plant growth. Inspired by the fact that there is no waste in nature, in October 2019 we set out to make a bag that would do the same, and could therefore never end up in landfill. After two years of research and development we launched Return to Nature, a collection of bags that biodegrade (audited ISO 20136), compost (audited ISO 20200) and deliver 20% stronger plant growth. For this project we used pioneering new tanning and finishing methods developed with Nera Tanning and Richard Hoffmans (est. 1899), resulting in a product that is chrome-free, heavy-metal-free and aldehyde-free. The skins are sourced from Scan-Hide Swedish farms that offer full traceability to the field, and have some of the highest standards of animal welfare. The hides are tanned with zeology, an innovation that replaces chrome (which hinders biodegradability) with zeolite. There is no PU coating, so common in leather - it’s finished instead with Activated Silk™ Technology. This project was in part inspired by the words of Arizona Muse on the podcast Wardrobe Crisis and each bag sold donates £5 or £10 to Dirt, Arizona’s foundation for the regeneration of the earth.

The I’m Not A Plastic Bag tote was a reusable canvas tote designed by Anya as part of a collaborative project with Antidote and global social change movement We Are What We Do (now known as Shift) to highlight the huge problem with single use plastic shopping bags. After thousands of people queued to purchase the tote from Sainsburys (80,000 on launch day), the project garnered huge press coverage globally, ignited the debate around the use of plastic bags and contributed to the eventual decision to charge for plastic bags in the UK. Following the launch of I Am Not A Plastic Bag, the British Retail Consortium estimated that the number of single use plastic bags fell from 10 billion in 2006 to 6.1 billion in 2010.

As well as the pioneering coated recycled plastic canvas with IAAPB, we have made changes to our supply chain for other materials. Where we have stock of materials, we are using those up first (as that feels like the right thing to do), and we are transitioning to textiles that are certified by Oeko-Tex, Better Cotton Initiative, Global Organic Textile Standard and Global Recycle Standard, including regenerated nylon (ECONYL®), recycled canvas and recycled satin. We have replaced PU with TPU, a recyclable and biodegradable alternative, and all our leathers are certified by the Leather Working Group – a global initiative governing the use of sustainable leather in the supply chain. Our Waste Not Want not collection is released biannually, a limited edition collection using up leather off-cuts that would have otherwise gone to waste.

We’re proud to have been awarded the Butterfly Mark from Positive Luxury. This is a symbol of trust earned by brands that have adopted sustainability as a business strategy. You can find out more about the butterfly mark and what we’ve been awarded it for on our product pages.