US based apparel and footwear marketer –VF Corp’s latest sustainability report marks the public debut of its innovative chemical management program, CHEM-IQ.
“CHEM-IQ provides a proactive, cost-effective and scalable method for identifying and eliminating potentially harmful chemicals before they enter the manufacturing process and VF Corp will expand CHEM-IQ globally in 2015,” VF said.
VF has also been instrumental in the development of the Higg Index, an indicator-based assessment tool that helps companies gauge the environmental sustainability performance of apparel and footwear products.
VF said companies around the world now use the index to drive improvements in their facilities, brands and products.
As per a VF Corp press release, it is also on track to meet its 2015 goal of reducing carbon emissions by 5 percent, and the company is now powering 31 of its facilities in part with renewable energy.
VF Corp brands now produce more than 1,500 eco-friendly styles, which make up 10 percent of total product sales.
Alongside, VF has also committed to using sustainable cotton for 3 percent of its total annual cotton sourced by 2015.
“In case of supporting communities, in 2013, more than 14,000 VF associates volunteered their time, and VF brands donated more than $10 million to charitable causes world-wide,” VF Corp added.
During the past two years, VF built an internal sustainability infrastructure optimized to serve the company's global scale and diverse portfolio of more than 30 brands.
A large part of this architecture has been focused on data collection and the development of sustainability scorecards to help benchmark the environmental footprints and social actions of its nearly 2,000 individual facilities.
This data driven approach enables the company to measure current goals, including targets for its carbon and waste management programs, as well as set additional goals in the future.
"At VF, sustainability is a key business platform that contributes to our global growth and helps us manage our operations responsibly," said Eric Wiseman, VF Corp’s CEO.
“Our brands are working as ‘One VF' to foster meaningful innovation around sustainability - from product design, to how we choose and manage our resources and materials, to the ways we support our associates and the communities in which we operate."
VF Corp which reported sales of $11 billion in 2013, has several world renowned apparel brands in its portfolio like The North Face, Wrangler, Timberland, Lee, etc. (AR)
