Climate risk may not be the first thing shoppers think about when they walk into the Princess Polly store located in the heart of SoHo in New York City. But behind the neat racks of clothing, weather events like extreme heat, heavy rain, and winter storms are already affecting store operations.
On July 16, our seven-person Columbia Climate School capstone team visited Princess Polly’s SoHo flagship to explore how climate risks, waste, inventory, and sustainability initiatives play out at the store level. Over the course of our M.A. in Climate and Society capstone, we worked closely with the company to assess climate risks and identify opportunities to strengthen its sustainability and resilience. Our visit to the SoHo store allowed us to see some of these challenges firsthand.
Founded in Australia in 2010, Princess Polly is a primarily an e-commerce, trend-driven fashion retailer with 15 U.S. stores. Its SoHo flagship opened on Broadway in March 2025. Store manager Savannah Connor guided us through the front- and back-of-house areas, giving us an inside look at how the store operates and the challenges it faces.
Climate Risk at the Store Level
Some of those challenges are already climate-related. Store closures can occur with little advance notice during severe weather. This past winter, storms forced the SoHo location to temporarily close for several days, while heavy rain and extreme heat reduced foot traffic, productivity, and, consequently, sales during the summer. These experiences demonstrate how climate hazards can become real operational and financial disruptions. Other popular storefronts nearby, including Edikted, Abercrombie, Brandy Melville, Zara, and PacSun, face similar climate risks.
To assess the store’s exposure, we examined past weather-related disruptions, FEMA’s National Risk Index, and climate projections for heat, storms, and other hazards under different emissions scenarios. We then estimated how those hazards could affect the SoHo location through closures and lost sales.
Across all 15 U.S. stores, we found no single climate-risk profile: Western locations face heat and fire-related power shutoffs; Southeastern stores face hurricanes; and Northeastern stores face winter storms. We provided Princess Polly with a baseline showing where each store stands today and how its risks may change by mid-century, helping the company make informed decisions before disruptions occur.
For SoHo, we also built a stress test that translates heat waves and blizzards into potential closed days and lost sales. The tool allows Princess Polly to test its own assumptions and plan for different scenarios.
Waste, Packaging and Inventory
Our visit also revealed how daily retail operations generate waste. Physical space also shapes inventory management. The SoHo store carries a wider variety of merchandise but fewer units of each item than other locations. Planned renovations will add fitting rooms downstairs, further reducing stockroom space.
We modeled two upstream changes: packaging two identical items together in one larger polybag, which could reduce plastic in that segment by about one-third, and transporting steady-selling styles by ocean freight while reserving air freight for trend-driven releases. The latter offers much greater emissions-reduction potential.
Sustainability Beyond the Store
Princess Polly became a certified B Corporation in May 2025, marking a milestone in the company’s sustainability efforts, and offers a “Lower Impact” collection, which includes products made with at least 50% of materials the company classifies as lower impact. Initially more prominent online, the collection now has a larger in-store presence.
Our visit showed that sustainability in fashion extends beyond materials and emissions targets. It also involves preparing stores for extreme weather, reducing waste, managing inventory efficiently, and understanding how hazards affect employees and revenue.
As Princess Polly continues to grow, it can integrate climate resilience into its broader sustainability strategy. We also developed a tool to compare investments such as LED lighting, HVAC upgrades, and rooftop solar based on cost, payback period, and avoided emissions. For our Climate School capstone team, seeing these challenges firsthand reinforced a central lesson of our work: climate risk is not just a future concern. It’s already shaping everyday business decisions.