Timberland: all footwear will contain recycled, renewable or organic material within 2 years
12/12/2017
The US-based apparel and footwear group has set strict targets for 2020 which state all cotton must be non-conventional, all supplier tanneries must be silver or gold rated by the Leather Working Group and all footwear must contain an element of recycled, organic or renewable materials (ROR).
"While some challenges currently exist in using ROR materials over conventional materials, we are confident that by 2020 every Timberland boot, shoe, and sandal will incorporate ROR materials," said the company.
Around 94% of leather came from silver or gold LWG tanneries in the third quarter – a dip from the 99% reported in mid-2016 – and 84% of shoes contained ROR content, which was the same level as last year but significantly above the 35% in 2011.
It is also working to reduce volatile organic compounds in footwear to 42 grams of VOCs per pair by 2020. During the third quarter, average use of VOCs per pair was 52, a 4% improvement the same period last year.
This was achieved through employee training, better containment of VOC adhesives to prevent evaporation, upgrading VOC application equipment, more targeted application and increased material pre-treatment processes at its owned Dominican Republic factory.
“While progress has been made over the years, there is still work to be done with our suppliers to improve their chemical management practices further and to identify new alternatives for lower VOC adhesion methods that maintain the necessary performance attributes for our product lines.”
During Q3, 17 new factories were selected to produce for Timberland. Of these, two were rated Accepted, 13 were rated Developmental and two were rated Pending Rejection. The factories rated Pending Rejection have six months to work on their corrective action plan and will then be re-audited. If sufficient improvements have been made, they will be approved to make Timberland products.
Image: Timberland Tree Lab concept store, near Philadelphia
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