If you try to choose your clothing with the environment in mind, you now have a choice for green "unmentionables". Marks & Spencer, the largest clothing retailer in the U.K. has announced that it is now making carbon-neutral bras. The company has 750+ stores in more than 30 countries.

Marks & Spencer’s supplier, MAS, is opening an ‘eco-factory’ in Sri Lanka. The factory has not been certified as green, although the company has applied for LEED certification. And it looks likely that they’ll achieve it.

The factory will run at least partially on clean energy supplied by the national electric grid and augmented with solar panels. It is an energy-efficient building, constructed using materials with low embodied energy. Estimated energy for the new factory is approximately 40% less than other factories of the same size.

Water usage in the plant has been reduced by 50%, as the factory has systems that harvest rainwater, as well as low flow fixtures. Waste is also recycled, with biowaste going into an anaerobic digestion system to be processed into gas for kitchen use.

The overall working conditions at the plant include natural lighting and fresh airflows, as well as greenery. By 2010, MAS plans to employ 1,300 workers at the plant. The plant will also have a number of facilities on site, including a holistic medical center.

MAS’ new plant builds on Marks & Spencer’s green success stories with their eco-stores in Bournemouth and Pollok, England. The company works with an in-house team, Plan A (‘There is no Plan B’), to generate ideas to improve the company’s corporate responsibility. Plan A was launched in January 2007 as a set of 100 social and environmental commitments that Marks & Spencer planned to address in the next five years. In addition to Plan A’s focus on environmentalism, the new factory has provided a few opportunities to address their fair partnership goals.

Other Plan A projects have included the use green materials in building new stores, using sustainable fishing to supply the needs for the Marks & Spencer’s food lines, stocking fair trade products in their stores and increasing energy efficiency. They’ve had notable success with reducing the number of shopping bags that Marks & Spencer customers using by implementing a charge for each plastic bag. A large number of customers have switched over to using reusable bags from home to avoid the extra cost.

Photo courtesy of Marks & Spencer