Outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland continues to move towards its 2020 sustainability goals – with 99.6% of the cotton used in its apparel now either organic or BCI-certified and 100% of its vendors meeting or exceeding its expectations when audited for social and labour compliance.
The company’s latest quarterly corporate social responsibility update shows progress on its five-year performance targets across three core CSR pillars – product, outdoors and community.
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In the first quarter, Timberland apparel and accessories used 550 metric tonnes of cotton, 79% of which (434 metric tonnes) was either organic (27%), BCI-certified (51%) or US-origin (1%). Of the 411 metric tonnes sourced by its global apparel production team specifically, 99.6% (410 metric tonnes) was responsibly sourced.
Timberland says it is working with its accessories licensees who historically have struggled to find ways to incorporate responsible cotton into their products. While this will take time, the company says they are committed to making products that support its values and meet its guidelines.
The brand is also working towards achieving 100% responsible cotton use by 2020.
Materials
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By GlobalDataIn 2017, Timberland – owned by US apparel giant VF Corp – changed its method of reporting the use of material containing recycled, organic or renewable (ROR) content, switching the focus to more significant footwear components such as uppers, linings and soles and no longer including minor components such as webbings, trims and labels.
During the first quarter, 98.1% of the overall leather volume used for Timberland footwear, apparel, accessories and licensed products was produced at tanneries that have a Gold or Silver rating from the cross-brand Leather Working Group (LWG). LWG certification is awarded to tanneries that demonstrate environmental best practices and performance in all areas of leather production, from chemical, water and waste management to energy use and hide traceability.
When looking at leather used during the fourth quarter for Timberland footwear only, 99.65% came from tanneries rated gold or silver.
Timberland says it remains committed to its goal to limit production at non-certified tanneries until they achieve gold or silver status.
Manufacturing
At the end of the first quarter, there were 442 factories actively producing for Timberland. Broken down by business unit, this equates to 67 footwear factories, 170 apparel factories, 105 factories producing licensed goods and accessories, 30 tanneries, 55 fabric mills and component suppliers, and 15 independent distributor factories.
Of these, 182 (41%) were rated accepted, meaning there are no serious safety, health, or labour issues and the facility is certified to produce VF products for 12 months, while 260 (59%) were rated developmental, meaning there are some minor safety, health, or labour issues.
These factories are authorised to produce for VF while the issues identified are corrected in a timely manner and a follow-up audit is scheduled within 6-9 months. If the problems are corrected as required, then the status of the factory will be elevated to ‘accepted.’ If not, the factory is downgraded to ‘pending rejection-180 days’, at which time they have a final six months to satisfactorily resolve the outstanding issues or be downgraded.
VF Compliance audited 123 Timberland factories during the first quarter. Of these 123 factories, 45 (37%) were rated accepted, 62 (50%) were rated developmental, while 11 (9%) were rated pending rejection, and five (4%) were rated rejected. The factories rated pending rejection are working on their corrective action plans and will be re-audited within six months. Purchase orders with the rejected factories are on hold until the factories are re-audited and favourable ratings are attained, or production is relocated to other factories.
“Timberland believes, along with others in our industry, that factory disclosure and collaboration can create common standards and shared solutions – helping to advance global human rights in all our factories,” the brand says in its report. “For this reason, we disclose our factories on a quarterly basis. Although our supply chain sources may change from time to time, our quarterly factory disclosure represents our best attempt to disclose all of Timberland’s active factories as of that date.”
