Following the opening of Country Road’s first green flagship store in Chadstone shopping centre in Melbourne last week, the fashion brand has confirmed its next green store will be located in Westfield Newmarket in Auckland.

“We’ve put a lot of work into the [green store design], so it’s something we want to roll out more broadly,” Alicia Buffington, store design and development manager at Country Road Group, told Inside Retail.

The Newmarket store, opening later this month, will feature many of the same sustainable design elements as the Chadstone store, such as tables made from recycled yoghurt containers, fitting room hooks made from old fishing nets, energy-efficient lighting and FSC-certified timber.

The Chadstone store, designed by Country Road and London-based agency HMKM, has received a five-star “Green Star” rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, a first for an Australian fashion retailer.

Country Road is hoping to receive a similar rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council for its Newmarket store.

“The two Green Building Councils are affiliated,” Buffington explained, “so we’re looking to get the rating there. We’re also looking to attain the rating [for stores] in South Africa.”

Country Road eventually plans to refit every store in its portfolio to the new environmentally-friendly design as they come up for refurbishment. This is in keeping with its broader sustainability targets, which include ensuring that every product has a sustainable attribute by 2020.

So far, the brand has launched traceable merino, jeans made from recycled denim and swimwear made from recycled nylon.

On Friday last week it also launched a new page on its website called “Our World”, where it has posted a list of its suppliers and factories, its commitment to ethical trade, information about its materials and other aspects of its supply chain. 

“Country Road is a big brand and a well-known brand,” Buffington said. “That comes with a responsibility to do the right thing.”