Sustainability / Responsible Manufacturing page

Making Better Products, More Responsibly

Last updated: 15 September 2026

At Sub Zero, we have been manufacturing technical clothing in the UK for decades. Our approach to sustainability isn't about claiming that manufacturing has no environmental impact. It is about making practical improvements, reducing unnecessary waste and producing high-quality clothing designed to perform and last.

Much of our own-brand technical clothing is still manufactured at our factory in Fleckney, Leicestershire. Having manufacturing under our own roof gives us direct control over production, quality, working conditions and many of the environmental decisions involved in making our garments.

We believe responsible manufacturing is a process of continuous improvement. Some changes are large, others relatively small, but together they can make a meaningful difference.

Made in Britain

Keeping manufacturing in Britain is an important part of the Sub Zero story.

Rather than simply designing products in the UK and outsourcing all production overseas, we continue to cut, sew and manufacture many Sub Zero garments at our own Leicestershire factory.

This gives us greater visibility over how our clothing is produced and enables us to retain valuable textile manufacturing skills in the UK.

It also means we can manufacture according to demand rather than always committing to very large production runs. This can help us manage stock more effectively and reduce the risk of unnecessary overproduction.

Not every product we sell is made by us in Britain. Our website also includes products from specialist outdoor brands and some Sub Zero products or components may be sourced from external manufacturers. We aim to be clear about product origin rather than suggesting that everything we sell is UK manufactured.

Designed to Last

For us, sustainability starts with making products that have a useful life.

Technical outdoor clothing should not be disposable fashion.

Our own garments are designed around performance, durability and functionality. Fabrics and components are selected for the job they need to perform, and our manufacturing team has direct oversight of how garments are constructed.

A product that continues doing its job season after season reduces the need for frequent replacement.

That's why we also encourage customers to look after their clothing and outdoor equipment properly. Washing garments correctly, drying equipment appropriately and repairing products where practical can all help extend their useful life.

Reducing Manufacturing Waste

Textile manufacturing inevitably creates offcuts and other waste, so reducing what we throw away is an important part of our approach.

We continually look at how materials are used within our factory and where waste can be avoided, reused or diverted from landfill.

Changes to the way we manage waste have helped us significantly reduce the amount of material our business sends to landfill, including diverting several tonnes of waste through improved waste management and recycling.

We will continue looking for practical ways to reduce waste throughout our manufacturing, warehousing and ecommerce operations.

Reducing Plastic and Packaging

Packaging has an environmental cost, but it also has an important job to do. A product damaged because it wasn't adequately protected creates additional waste, transport and replacement costs.

Our approach is therefore to use enough packaging to protect the product without using more than necessary.

We have worked to reduce unnecessary plastic packaging and increasingly use recycled, recyclable or reusable materials where suitable.

We also reuse appropriate packaging within the business where practical rather than automatically treating it as waste.

There is still more we can do, and packaging will remain an area we continue to review.

Improving the Efficiency of Our Factory

Our Fleckney factory is an established industrial building rather than a purpose-built modern low-energy facility. Improving its environmental performance therefore requires practical upgrades over time.

One of the significant improvements we have made has been upgrading the insulation across approximately 5,000 sq ft of factory roof.

Better insulation helps reduce unnecessary heat loss and consequently the energy required to maintain suitable working conditions within the building.

We continue to investigate other opportunities to improve the efficiency of the factory and reduce our reliance on externally supplied energy where they are practical for our site.

Energy and Renewable Technology

Reducing energy consumption comes before making claims about being “green”.

Our approach is to improve efficiency first and then investigate technologies that could further reduce the environmental impact of the energy we use.

We continue to assess renewable energy and other energy-saving opportunities for our premises, including technologies such as solar generation, where these can be practically and effectively incorporated into our manufacturing operation.

We distinguish between improvements we have already made and projects we are still considering. We don't believe future intentions should be presented as achievements.

Wildlife Around Our Factory

Sustainability isn't limited to energy, packaging and carbon emissions.

Where practical, we also try to make space for nature around our factory premises.

We have introduced measures intended to provide refuges and habitats for local wildlife, including areas that can support insects and other species.

These are relatively small interventions, but industrial and commercial sites can still provide useful spaces for biodiversity when they are managed thoughtfully.

Our People and Manufacturing Skills

Responsible manufacturing is also about people.

Producing garments in our own UK factory supports local employment and helps retain textile manufacturing knowledge and skills that have increasingly disappeared from Britain.

Our manufacturing employees work directly with the products they make, and that experience is an important part of maintaining quality.

We aim to provide a safe, fair and respectful workplace and comply with applicable UK employment, equality and health and safety requirements.

Choosing Our Suppliers

Although we manufacture many Sub Zero garments ourselves, no modern manufacturer operates entirely independently.

We purchase fabrics, components, packaging and other materials from external suppliers, and we also retail products manufactured by specialist outdoor brands.

We aim to work with reputable suppliers and consider factors including quality, product safety, reliability and responsible business practices.

Supply chains can be complex and we don't pretend to control every stage of an independent supplier's operation. Where credible concerns arise, however, we will investigate them and take appropriate action.

Our expectations concerning employment standards, modern slavery, ethical sourcing and other responsible business practices are explained further in our Social Responsibility & Ethical Policy.

Honest Environmental Claims

We think businesses need to be careful with words such as “sustainable”, “green” and “eco-friendly”.

Virtually every manufactured product consumes materials and energy and has some environmental impact.

Rather than suggesting otherwise, we prefer to explain the specific actions we are taking.

That means distinguishing between something we have already achieved, something we are currently doing, and something we hope to do in the future.

Where we make specific environmental claims about our own products or operations, we aim to have a reasonable basis for making them.

For products manufactured by other brands, environmental claims may be based on information supplied by the manufacturer.

Small Improvements Add Up

There isn't a single change that makes a manufacturing business sustainable.

For Sub Zero, responsible manufacturing means continually looking at the individual things we can influence: how long our products last, how efficiently we use fabric, how much waste we produce, what packaging we use, how efficiently we heat and operate our factory, where we manufacture and who we work with.

We have already made progress, but we don't consider the job finished.

As new materials, technologies and opportunities become available, we'll continue looking for practical ways to improve how we manufacture and operate.

Find Out More

Our wider commitments to employees, customers, suppliers, ethical sourcing, modern slavery, responsible marketing and the environment are set out in our Social Responsibility & Ethical Policy.

If you have a question about Sub Zero manufacturing or our environmental practices, please contact us:

Sub Zero Technology Limited
35 Churchill Way
Fleckney
Leicestershire
LE8 8UD
United Kingdom

Email: sales@subzero.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)116 240 2634