Greenpeace celebrates Nike response in Barcelona
18/08/2011
Its announcement follows a similar commitment from Puma last month. Both sports brands, along with Li Ning, Bauer Hockey, Calvin Klein, Converse, adidas and Lacoste, have featured prominently in a new campaign from non-governmental organisation (NGO) Greenpeace to address the problem of toxicity in rivers in China. Greenpeace issued a report in July blaming the companies for unusually high levels of alkylphenols, and perfluorinated chemicals, in particular perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), in water samples from two rivers. It traced the toxicity to two Chinese textile companies, but laid all the blame at their consumer-facing western customers.
At the time of the Puma announcement (July 26) , Greenpeace issued a press release taking adidas and Nike (although none of the other companies on the original list) to task for allowing a big rival to steal a march on them, as though the idea of asking outsource manufacturing partners to reduce and eliminate hazardous substances had never occurred to any of the three companies until hearing about the Greenpeace initiative.
Now that Nike has reiterated its commitment, the NGO has turned all its ire on adidas (still ignoring the rest of the companies it named at the start of the exercise). It issued a new press release chastising adidas for failing to follow its rivals and even gloating over the victory of FC Barcelona (wearing Nike kit) over Real Madrid (adidas) in the Spanish Super Cup on August 17. “Greenpeace activists and local artists projected messages, including ‘water pollution is not fair play’ for the
100,000 fans at the Camp Nou stadium, before kick-off and after the final whistle,” the organisation said.
In the same press release, its co-ordinator of the toxic water campaign, Martin Hojsik, said: “Not only has Nike triumphed over adidas’s team in Barcelona, it’s giving adidas a good thrashing in the Greenpeace ‘Detox’ challenge, by committing to cut hazardous chemicals discharges from its global supply chain. But losers shouldn’t throw in the towel. Adidas must kick-off its comeback by not only committing to zero discharge but by also showing initiative and developing a new culture of
transparency throughout the clothing industry about the hazardous chemicals currently released during manufacture.”
Adidas has had a comprehensive restrictive substances policy in place for product materials since 1998. It has said it is committed to sustainable business practices in its own operations and those of its global supply base, and that it supports in principle Greenpeace’s aspiration for a world that is free of hazardous chemicals. In a statement in July, the company added: “However, while we are committed to being part of the solution, we have to acknowledge that the management of chemicals in multi-tiered supply chains is a complex challenge, requiring many actors to play a role in achieving this goal.”
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