PUMA

• In 2016, PUMA launched a first-of-its-kind financing structure in the apparel industry by teaming up with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) "to incentivize improvements to suppliers’ social, environmental and health and safety standards."
• The financing program requires the IFC to adopt a short-term working capital financial structure to offer lower costs for suppliers with a high PUMA Supplier Rating.
• The PUMA supplier rating is a ranking score awarded to suppliers through an audit process to determine how well the suppliers are adhering to the company's social and environmental standards. 
• This financing program also allows PUMA suppliers to ride on PUMA's reputation and strong financial position to get funding.
• According to PUMA's chief operating officer, the program serves as a bonus or malus to reward suppliers' sustainability investments and incentivize them to improve their environmental and social standards.

• Puma has always sought out suppliers with innovative textile processing technology that improves sustainability.
• In 2017, with the help of "Covestro, a high-tech polymer materials supplier; and Trans Textil, a specialist in functional textile lamination, coating, transfer printing and special finishing," Puma developed the Accufoam technology to make football boots and bringing the water and energy consumption down by 95% and 50%, respectively. The process also reduced the carbon footprint by 44%. 

• In 2018, China's NRDC, in a joint venture with the country's Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), launched the IPE Green Supply Chain Map to link global apparel brands to their suppliers' environmental and sustainability performance.
• The IPE database provides " real-time data and historical trends in air pollution emissions and wastewater discharge for nearly 15,000 major industrial facilities in China and access to environmental supervision records for over half a million more."
• PUMA was among the first six companies to feature on the new map and share lists of their suppliers so that the public and the brand's customers can assess the sustainability of PUMA's suppliers.
• According to Linda Greer, a senior health scientist at NRDC, the companies' willingness to feature on the inaugural IPE map demonstrates new levels of transparency and real leadership in supply chain responsibility.

• According to the PUMA CEO, sustainability is the brand's key value and it is deeply integrated into their business to guide the company towards a more just and sustainable future.
• PUMA has ten sustainability targets they plan to hit in 2020, namely human rights, social compliance, stakeholder engagement, corporate governance, environmental P & L, Water & air, materials, chemicals, climate, and health & safety.
• These targets apply to PUMA and within the company's supply chain. 
• PUMA enhances supply chain transparency by providing a list of their tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers on their website. 

Nike

• Nike uses a supplier assessment scorecard to assess the performance of suppliers in terms of quality, delivery, cost, and sustainability. 
• The company also has tools that measure suppliers' "growth and potential in leadership, operations, innovation, product creation, and sustainability."
• Nike then uses the assessment information to inform its supplier strategy in the long-term and increase business with the best performing and most sustainable suppliers.

• Nike assists their its suppliers to be more sustainable by providing them with multi-year sourcing forecasts and other resources to help them be more transparent and predictable.  

• Nike also uses an anonymous rating initiative called Better Buying to collect feedback from suppliers on purchasing practices to help inform system and process improvements.  

•  Through programs such as Worker Engagement, Culture of Safety, and Environmental Minimum Programs, Nike builds supplier capabilities in environmental management, worker engagement, and human resources management to improve supplier sustainability.
• According to Nike, they only work with suppliers who share their commitment to making products responsibly and sustainable. 

• Nike has in place stringent sustainability policies for its manufacturing suppliers to adhere to.
• The sustainable manufacturing policies include:
• the Code of Conduct where suppliers have to meet some compliance requirements and minimum standards including "hiring practices, wages, freedom of association and health and safety."
• the Code Leadership Standards show how suppliers should implement the code of conduct and also how to measure compliance with the code of conduct.
• the Manufacturing Restricted Substances List which is an industry tool that assists brands and their suppliers to control hazardous substances in the manufacturing process.
• The chemistry sustainable policies include:
• the Restricted Substances List (RSL) which contains the chemical standards materials that "meet or exceed regulatory or legislative requirements from around the world."
•  ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines that "set out a unified expectation on wastewater quality for the entire textile and footwear industry."

Stanwell

• According to Stanwell, the company shifted its policy from Environment Policy to Environmental Sustainability Policy when they provided a public statement on their environmental position and values, intentions, performance and direction. Stanwell gives due consideration to environmental opportunities and consequences, in conjunction with their commercial and social imperatives.
• One example of their beyond-compliance approach is their recent $2.2 million investment made on a continuous emissions monitoring system at Tarong Power Station to allow them to monitor emissions in present time. Based on that real-time data, they were able to minimize their environmental impact.
• Another example of Stanwell's beyond-compliance approach is their recent Flame Engine technology that was established at Stanwell Power Station, which has reduced their emissions and brought important safety benefits for the site.
•  Stanwell also has newly implemented a real-time environmental monitoring network that measures noise, air, and vibration at several locations around their Meandu Mine site. That monitoring enabled them to ensure they are practicing good neighborliness and operating within their Environmental Authority.

Bemis

• According to Bemis, the company does not use any solvents for cleaning operations. They research all products they use for health risks to both the personnel and environment. Any products that are suspect are substituted with a safer and healthier alternative.
•  Bemis also works with the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction lab at UMASS Lowell in to find green and safe cleaning products. They have previously worked with the TUR lab and the EPA Green Cleaning program to find safe janitorial products for cleaning of their print lab and for daily maintenance.
•  Bemis has a chemical inventory process with their lab and with the production floor to make sure all of their processes follow their chemical safety.

Finotex

• According to Finotex, the company’s yarns are 100 percent organic cotton. They are comfortable and soft, chemical free, pesticide free, and environmentally friendly. They also offer 100 percent recycled polyester labels. Just as regular polyester, they are soft customizable and comfortable.
•  Finotex also offers a wide range of recycled stocks and colors which include, classic laid, linen stock, classic columns, Astroparch, Speckltone, Royal fiber, Dur-O-Tone, Environment Cover, and many others.
• Most of Finotex heat transfers techniques are free of dangerous substances as heavy metals, phthalates, formaldehyde and lead.

R-pac

• According to R-pac, their sustainable packaging solutions bring important benefits to the environment. The secret to accomplishment in sustainability initiatives include a strict focus on a product’s life cycle and the effect of each decision on all areas of the organization.
• Their commitment to remain the leaders of packaging innovation spreads beyond the factory floor. They work with clients to bring compelling solutions that promote a sustainable future and protect the environment.
•  R-pac recycled contents ranges from 10% to 100% of their finished paper stocks, providing a solution for every application and budget. Partnering with Solegear Bioplastics, R-pac provides green chemistry performance in a nontoxic bioplastics that competes and exceed traditional petroleum plastics.

1) Digital Printing

• Digital printing is the process "of digitally printing an image onto cotton textiles." It produces a comparable output of that of traditional methods, however, it utilizes more sustainable products.
• The process utilizes digital inkjet printing technology to present colorful schemes to various types of fabric.
• Digital printing produces color fastness via heat fixation instead of the heat fixation, along with washing off, that is involved in traditional processes. This process removes water consumption as well as the emission of unhealthy effluent, leading to a positive impact on the environment.

Why is it a Trend

• As consumers and purchasers establish a better understanding/awareness of the impact their decisions have on the environment, digital print technologies, along with applications, will advance in an effort to substitute manufacturing procedures that are unsustainable.
• By the year 2024, the global production reach of digital printing on textiles is expected to be around 36.8 billion square meters. The trend is progressed by advancements in technology such as enhancements in print efficiency, speed, and design.
• It is also driven by its ability to minimize the energy and water consumption, making the process more eco-friendly.
• This trend was chosen due to its capacity to reduce the cost in supply chain logistics as well as its projected global reach. Digital print fashion is a trend because of the improvements in terms of productivity, on the environment, creativity, supply chain optimization, just in time manufacturing, and waste reduction.

Examples

• The Miroglio Group (Italy) administers single-pass inkjet printing and has spearheaded environmental preservation, as well as design innovation.
• Spoonflower operates within Europe and the United States. It utilizes digital print technology for both man-made and cotton materials.

2) Embroidered Clothing

• This trend usually refers to the recycling of clothing by adding embroidery to old clothing items. The fundamental idea of this trend is upcycling, which provides brand-new life to old items.
• This process is as simple as taking recycled apparel and placing hand-embroidered designs on them.
• This practice may also be referred to as "preservation through innovation."
• For example, an old denim jacket can be recreated by adding designs such as sewn floral details to the back or pockets, thus giving it a new look.

Why is it a Trend

• It is a trend because the fashion industry has located ways to utilize extra available fabrics to reduce wastage.
• Due to the fashion industry's significant contributions toward waste and climate change, the use of embroidery to recreate old pieces is a resourceful way to limit wastage.
• The use of this approach is becoming more frequent because recycling existing materials helps to preserve resources, such as chemicals, water, and energy, that are necessary to create brand-new products.
• Upcycling, such as adding embroidery, has become rather popular due to the ability to redesign clothing into various styles.

Examples

• Bethany Williams, a menswear designer in the United Kingdom, produced a hand-printer, hand-embroidered jacket using previously owned pants, shirts, and coats for Vogue Italia’s Next Green Talents collaboration with a company called Yoox.
• Indian fashion designer Purvi Doshi crafts dazzling garments that contain elaborate embroideries. The fashion designer is influenced by environmental sustainability, as well as responsible and cruelty-free fashion practices.

Research Strategy:

1. Patagonia Inc.

• Patagonia, Inc. has a sustainability initiative known as the Footprint Chronicles Program, which is geared towards improving supply chain transparency and reducing social and environmental impacts related to its products.

• Patagonia also uses Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, which entails an analysis technique assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life, from raw material extraction to processing, manufacture, distribution, and use.

• They also commit 1% of their total sales to environmental groups, through an initiative known as One Percent for the Planet, which encourages businesses to commit 1% of their annual net revenue to charity organizations focused on conservation and sustainability.

• As part of Patagonia’s sustainability initiative, they have a mission statement that focuses on build ing the best products, while striving to avoid unnecessary harm. Patagonia also uses business to inspire and implement solutions to environmental crisis.

• Patagonia openly acknowledges that product supply chains cause harm. Thus, they have initiated programs that show commitment to minimizing their impacts, in what is a refreshingly honest admission from a highly profitable company.
• Patagonia also has an initiative that is committed to contributing 100% of their sales from Black Friday to environmental organizations.
• In 2018, they launched a program known as Patagonia Action Works, which connects people with grassroots activists that are working to find solutions to the environmental crisis.
• Patagonia also launched an initiative called Worn Wear, a service that keeps extends gears' life and provides an easy way to recycle Patagonia garments when they are beyond repair.
• In line with this sustainability initiative, Reno-Nevada Patagonia started the largest repair facility in North America, which completes about 40,000 repairs per year.
• They also initiated a Worn Wear Mobile Tour, which brought its repair technicians to cities across the country to fix gear and sell used Patagonia garments. The movement also focuses on consumer education by teaching people how to extend the life of their clothes.

2. Levi Strauss & Co.

• Levi Strauss' initiatives include a restricted substances list, water quality standards for suppliers, and financial incentives for suppliers who improve their environmental, health, safety, and labor standards.
• They have also implemented water-saving technologies, an industry-leading climate strategy, Worker Well-being initiatives, and new fiber and fabric programs, as part of their sustainability efforts.

• Levi Strauss, along with Patagonia and Walmart, also have a multi-stakeholder initiative with the goal of creating an index for social and environmental performance to develop an industry-wide standard for simplified apparel LCAs.

• The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is tasked with defining, measuring, and implementing practical sustainability standards that support the interests of all its stakeholders.

• The coalition also released the Higg Index, which can help organizations standardize how they evaluate the environmental performance of apparel products across the supply chain at the brand, product, and facility levels.

• Levi Strauss also has a sustainability team that crafts the company’s sustainability strategies in partnership with leaders from various internal divisions in defining global targets, measuring progress, and implementing strategies for responsible sustainable progress.
• They have also created a first product tag, Care Tag for Our Planet, which offers tips to clients on how to best preserve their clothing. Levi Strauss is also increasingly designing products that are suitable for true circularity with 100 percent recyclable materials.
• Additionally, they have formed an initiative whereby they work with Blue Jeans Go Green in the U.S. and Canada, and other organizations in different countries to collect used clothing.