David Luke awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development

Here at David Luke we are beyond thrilled to have been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development. We are one of 220 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Announced on Tuesday 21 April, David Luke joins just 19 businesses in the UK to have been given the royal seal of approval for excellence in Sustainable Development in this year’s awards roll-call.

A bit of background on David Luke

Employing 54 people, David Luke Schoolwear was set up in 1982 by David Burgess and Adrian Luke, specialising in the manufacture and supply of specialist school uniform to independent retailers. Over the years, the business has demonstrated a progressive and highly respected reputation for innovation in sustainability, becoming the first school uniform brand to develop Eco-Uniform; blazers and other garments, made from recycled plastic bottles. To date, our popular Eco-uniform range has prevented 34 million plastic bottles from going into landfill and makes up a substantial proportion of sales for the Ardwick-based business. In 2014 David Burgess handed the business reins over to daughter Kathryn marking a period of dynamic change in the way sustainability was embraced as a company-wide strategic vision not just a product specific benefit.

“Sustainability is part of the DNA of our business so to have our efforts recognised with a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise is a pivotal moment in our company’s history.” “We have always been intently focused on the evolution of our Eco-uniform range. In this moment of global pause owing to the Coronavirus pandemic, our vision for sustainable development is being re-imagined and accelerated at a pace we never dreamt would be possible. Now is the time to put into practice measures such as closing the loop on our consumption of uniform and encouraging families to make more conscious decisions about how they purchase uniform as a result of the wider issues surrounding supply. Sustainability and the way in which it impacts our lives has never been more relevant,” Kathryn Shuttleworth, Managing Director.

Queen's Award for Enterprise - A Royal seal of approval for Sustainable Development

Queen’s Awards for Enterprise recognise and encourage the outstanding achievements of UK businesses in the fields of Innovation, International Trade, Sustainable Development and Promoting Opportunity. The Queen’s Award panel noted “David Luke was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development because it had demonstrated a long-term commitment to sustainable improvements specifically through the development of an eco-product (school uniforms), using recycled plastic to create the polyester content.” Now in its 54th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country, with winning businesses able to use the esteemed Queen’s Awards emblem for the next five years. We will celebrate our award during a royal reception for Queen’s Awards winners later this year.