How CALIDA scaled product LCAs across ~4,000 styles.
From ERP exports and scattered supplier inputs to a shared impact-data foundation for product LCAs, French Environmental Cost, Digital Product Passports and group GHG accounting.
- Company
- CALIDA
- Industry
- Premium lingerie
- Region
- Switzerland
- Work
- Product + group impact
- 95%+
- less assessment time
- 90%+
- lower cost per product LCA
- 49%
- primary data share
“Our collaboration with Carbon Trail supports our decarbonisation journey by giving us access to advanced AI-supported impact measurement and enabling greater transparency on our products' environmental footprint.”
CALIDA needed one reliable data foundation for product and group decisions.
Scope 3 accounted for approximately 97% of CALIDA's total footprint in its 2024 base year. Product LCAs needed to become both portfolio-wide and useful inside the group's wider GHG inventory.
The underlying data arrived in ERP Excel exports and supplier files with inconsistent field names, formats, languages and levels of detail. Manual preparation would not scale across roughly 4,000 styles, let alone support multiple disclosure and accounting outputs.
AI turned operational exports into reusable impact records.
Carbon Trail combines automated extraction with reviewable mapping and human validation. The same governed product data can then move through different calculation and disclosure workflows without being rebuilt each time.
- ExtractRead ERP Excel exports at scale
AI extracts product, material, process, supplier, weight and origin fields from bulk operational files.
- ResolveStandardise and review the inputs
Mappings normalise inconsistent values, surface gaps and keep assumptions visible for review.
- CalculateRun product LCAs across ~4,000 styles
PEFCR, ADEME and ISO-aligned methods replace isolated assessments with repeatable portfolio coverage.
- ReuseCarry evidence into every required output
Product records support French scores, DPP publication, Scope 3 and the wider CALIDA Group GHG inventory.
One product-data layer. Four thousand styles.
Portfolio coverage changed the unit of work: CALIDA could use a repeatable data and calculation system across products, public disclosures and the wider group footprint.
| Measure | Before Carbon Trail | With Carbon Trail | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCA assessment time | 6–12 months per product | 1 week for the product lineup | 95%+ reduction |
| LCA cost per product | $15–20K per product | Less than $15 per product | 99%+ reduction |
| Primary data share | Less than 10% | 49% | 5× increase in data quality |
| Average impact per product | Industry benchmark: 12+ kg CO₂e | 6.88 kg CO₂e | 47% lower than benchmark |
| Product coverage | Fewer than 50 styles | Approximately 4,000 styles | Portfolio-wide visibility |
The same governed data now serves product, disclosure and group decisions.
Carbon Trail does not restart the data-collection process for each output. AI-assisted extraction creates structured product records once; reviewable workflows then reuse the relevant evidence.
- Product references and weights
- Materials and compositions
- Supplier and manufacturing data
- Origins, processes and logistics
AI extractionParse · map · validate · flag gaps
Portfolio-wide product footprints and hotspot analysis.
Calculated, reviewed and published for the French market.
Open CALIDA recordFootprint data moves into a consumer-facing product record.
Open CALIDA passportCorporate accounting spans the wider group, including subsidiaries such as AUBADE; product LCAs strengthen Scope 3.
A footprint teams can inspect, not just receive.
This CALIDA sleepshirt totals 7.4 kg CO₂e. Manufacturing contributes 4.19 kg CO₂e—the largest lifecycle stage—giving product and sourcing teams a clear place to investigate.
- Raw materials2.05 kg CO₂e27.7% of total
- Manufacturing4.19 kg CO₂e56.7% · largest contributor
- Distribution0.26 kg CO₂e3.5% of total
- Use phase0.63 kg CO₂e8.5% of total
- End of life0.26 kg CO₂e3.5% of total
Stage values use the supplied product result and sum to 7.39 kg CO₂e; the headline total is shown rounded to 7.4 kg CO₂e.
From internal evidence to public product information.
Two live outputs show how the same product record travels: a French Environmental Cost declaration and a Digital Product Passport.
