SATRA members boost CSR efforts

Reporting on a number of companies working to reduce environmental impact or protect natural resources.

Outdoor sector producer Timberland has announced the latest results of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. In the second quarter of 2016, 95.5 per cent of the leather it used was produced by tanneries that had received a 'silver' or 'gold' rating from the Leather Working Group. Timberland has also reported plans to reduce total energy use by 10 per cent by 2020.

Some 99.5 per cent of the factories from which the New Hampshire-based company sources were found to have met or exceeded its expectations during social and labour compliance auditing. Suppliers that failed to meet the required standards had orders withheld until the issues were addressed. Timberland has also rebuilt a community garden in New York, constructing homes for a non-profit organisation and planted trees in China and Vietnam.

Another outdoor product supplier – Helly Hansen – is also enthusiastic about CSR. The Norwegian company has joined a campaign group called 'The Conservation Alliance', which aims to support grassroots efforts to preserve wild spaces. According to Helly Hansen’s marketing manager, Damien Etchaubard, the outdoors is not only part of the daily lives of the people who work there, but also part of the
heritage of the company.

A third example of CSR in action is leather producer ISA TanTec recently joining forces with KEEN Footwear to hold a 'green volunteer' event called 'Protecting Drinking Water Sources and Planting Tree'. Fifty members of staff from the two companies cleared the refuse along a stretch of the Xijiang River in Southern China, and planted 50 trees. The aim of this project – part of ISA TanTec’s 'LITE' (Low Impact To the Environment) concept – is to protect drinking water sources and maintain environmental balance in the local area.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 52 of the November 2016 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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