Water
Read more about how we work to be a water responsible company in production.
Chemicals are used throughout the making of our products, for example to give a garment its colours and properties. Responsible chemicals management in our supply chain is part of our sustainability promise.
Chemicals management is often like a spider in its web – it is connected to many other types of impact in production. For example, a more sustainable dyeing process may often evolve around the choice of chemicals, and this choice in turn can reduce the consumption of water and energy, result in less and cleaner waste water and improve health and safety for workers. Chemicals are highly connected to water and being a water responsible company is an important part of our sustainability promise – to make a difference for future generations.
Read more about waterWe ensure that the products sold in our stores are safe, of good quality and do not contain any unwanted chemicals. We follow the chemical legislation REACH and our products meet its requirements. In some cases, our requirements are also stricter than REACH.
All our suppliers sign agreements that the products must meet our requirements. These requirements are based on legislation and recommendations in our sales countries and if they differ between countries, we always apply the strictest requirements for all our products. Our RSL (Restricted Substance List) lists the chemicals that are not permitted in our products because they present health or environmental hazards. To make sure our products meet our requirements, tests are carried out at external independent laboratories.
Not all chemicals used in the production ends up in the finished product. It is equally important to ensure a responsible chemicals management in production, for the environment and especially the health and safety of people that work in production and live in the communities where we operate. Our MRSL (Manufacturing Restricted Substance List), which is aligned with the common industry standard ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals), lists the chemicals that are not permitted in any stage in the making of our products. With our MRSL, we can eliminate harmful substances from the beginning, so they do not enter the production cycle at all.
For us to keep our sustainability promise, we must ensure that no harmful substances are being released into nature, polluting water resources and causing irreversible damage to the environment.
Transparency is a crucial part of accelerating the development of sustainable chemicals management. It is of great importance to have an understanding of what the supply chain looks like as well as insights in our suppliers’ chemicals management systems. With transparency, we can go beyond setting limitations on chemicals and be able to promote more sustainable chemistry and the substitution of unwanted chemistry in an even better way.