Footwear Industry

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Adidas

Products: Footwear; outdoor apparel; clothing for men, women, and children; bags
Unique Programs:
Adidas has supplier guidelines to help increase resource efficiency and environmental performance.
VOC emissions from each pair of shoes have been reduced for 140 grams per pair to 20.5..
They are using a facility-specific Environmental Management System and trying to achieve ISO 14001 certification in facilities outside of the United States, such as China and Germany.
The subsidiaries of Adidas are in charge of their own social building programs. There are various examples of volunteering and donations given by the subsidiaries to a variety of organizations.
Adidas is involved in a cotton farmer education program, Better Cotton, which teaches sustainable techniques. Their aim is to reform the industry of cotton suppliers to adopt new sustainability standards.
Adidas’ Social and Environmental Affairs (SEA) team is offsetting the CO2 from 2005’s air travel by financially supporting the development of community-based bio-gas stations in Nepal. The SEA team is a decentralized organization.

Nike

Products: Footwear; clothing for men, women and children; travel accessories; sport and fitness equipment
Unique Programs:
Through its program formerly known as Reuse-A-Shoe (now called Places), Nike creates surfaces for athletics using worn sneakers, as well as other materials branded as Nike Grind: rubber, upper, and foam. Any brand of shoe can be donated to this program.
Nike designs its products with Places in mind, making them to be more easily transformed from shoe to material. Outsoles are constructed so that they don’t need chemical glues or primers, thus parts are more easily disassembled. Nike is also looking at eliminating adhesives all together.
When sports surfaces are constructed, Nike often donates them to poor communities in order to promote physical exercise among the community members. The company also offers grants to organizations promoting active children and to communities upgrading sports equipment and facilities.
Nike has provided micro-loans and offered technical assistance to small businesses in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Nike is in the process of developing a system to incorporate environmental issues into supplier contracts, called the Strategic Sourcing Initiative. Nike tries to use relatively local suppliers.
The 100% certified organic cotton Nike Organics women’s line debuted in the United States in 2002. Since then a US men’s line and European women’s and children’s lines have been added.
By 2010, Nike wants all of its cotton clothing to be at least 5% organic.
A representative from Nike belongs to the steering committee of the Organic Fiber Council.
Nike is a member of the Organic Exchange, a nonprofit organization working to build the organic cotton industry by supporting farmers.
Nike matches employee contributions to nonprofit organizations.
The company matches employee volunteer time at $10 an hour for up to $5,000 a year per employee.
It is Nike’s goal to eliminate all PVC from all footwear bearing its name.
The majority of Nike shoeboxes are 100% recycled from 80% post-consumer material. Additionally, the company reduced the cardboard content of the boxes by 16%.
Nike believes that the empowerment of young females is essential to economic advancement. The Nike Foundation is committed to seeking out underprivileged women in developing countries and providing them the means and encouragement to reach their goals.
Nike uses water-based adhesives, which has led to 95% less chemical solvent usage.
Some of the biggest names in athletic surface manufacturing: Rebound Ace, Field Turf, Atlas Track and Tennis, Play Top and Connor Sport Court are using Nike Grind in their products.
A new rubber conceived by Nike with 96% less toxins, can be perfectly substituted for the rubber it uses most frequently.
Nike utilizes a sustainability index on the five most popular styles in each footwear type. The index is reviewed three times throughout the year as the company takes part in seasonal planning.
Around 60% of the company’s waste from production processes avoids the landfill thanks to innovative waste management programs. These involve reprocessing of the waste to make it usable. Nike is also getting rid of on-site waste incinerators in its factories.
The Air Woven and Air SuperFly shoes are much lighter than other shoes, with two-fold benefits. Runners have less weight on their feet, and fewer materials are needed to manufacture the footwear.
"Nike Considered" is a team made up of already standing sustainability teams which were combined to form "a learning lab for the future," sharing ideas for decreasing Nike’s environmental footprint while increasing company stability.
Considered has its own product line, which uses material and waste-minimizing techniques, including injection molding, and incorporating smart design. Nike Grind, from waste rubber, is found in the shoes’ outsoles. Considered shoes use 80% less solvents than traditional Nike shoes. The manufacturing processes are condensed into fewer steps with a reduction in demand for energy.
An educational curriculum for children in grades 4-9 is the result of a joint venture involving Nike, The Natural Step, Eco Educators, and The National Recycling coalition. Titled "Air to Earth," the program aims to connect everyday "stuff" to the natural cycles it comes from.

Reebok

Products: Footwear; clothing for men, women, and children; bags/packs; sports and fitness equipment
Unique Programs:
Reebok restricts the use of potentially harmful chemicals as identified by the European Union Eco-label program, which includes the elimination of PVC and the reduction of VOC’s from their products.
Reebok uses Injection-Molded EVA which cuts the waste stream from midsole production by over 300% (compared to compression-molded EVA).
Reebok helped develop Eco-Grip technology, which adds recycled rubber waste to compounds to make outsoles.
The Human Rights Foundation started by the company gives money to human rights initiatives around the globe.
Water-based, less toxic inks are used in labeling. In Canada and many places in Europe, Reebok participates in Green Dot recycling, which is a program to reduce point-of-sale packaging, meaning customers have less to pitch when they unpack their product at home.
By using a "hot melt" technique of adhesion, Reebok factories avoid the use of hazardous chemical solvents.
Reebok works with its suppliers to eliminate unnecessary and wasteful processes such as excess cleaning.

Timberland

Products:Footwear; outdoor apparel; clothing for men, women, and children; travel accessories
Unique Programs:
Timberland's "Path of Service Program" offers employees 40 hours of paid-time each year for volunteering at local nonprofit organizations.
Timberland uses Forward Green Tags, which are a "tradable commodity that represents a fixed-quantity reduction in emissions", to help decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
The company’s suppliers use water-based adhesives to replace harmful solvents.
The company offers a line of products made from 100% organic cotton.
Timberland has many community initiatives in countries like the Dominican Republic, China, and Vietnam to educate the workforce on basic skills and health related issues.
The company has been joining forces with Clean Air-Cool Planet and the Organic Exchange.
In 2005, a 10KW wind turbine was constructed at Timberland’s factory in the Dominican Republic, where electricity is very expensive. Timberland hopes that this structure, which provides 30,000 kilowatt hours per year, will serve as a model for others to follow.
A solar heating panel on the roof provides all necessary heated water for the boat shoe hand-stitching line.
Also in 2005, the outsole manufacturing switched to water-based adhesives instead of cements made from chemical solvents.
A $3,000 bonus, plus preferential parking privileges, are given to employees who invest in a hybrid vehicle.
By 2010, Timberland wants to be carbon-neutral. They will do this by increased efficiency, investing in renewable energy, producing their own renewable energy when possible, and as a last option, purchasing renewable energy credits.
The company’s plant in Ontario, CA has a 400KW solar array which will provide 60% of the plant’s electricity needs for 30 to 40 years.
Timberland has reduced its weekly shipments by putting more boxes on each ship.
Timberland stores use low-VOC paints and finishes, repurposed materials, and reclaimed wood boards.
The Earthkeepers line tans its leather with a vegetable base. The company is hoping to get the energy for this process from a source that is less polluting. Timberland is also considering the probability of reusing the water baths in the tanning process.
Leather board, which can be used to make midsoles and welts, is made of scrap leather.
Timberland’s distribution center in the Netherlands uses renewable energy (hydroelectric and wind) resources to generate all of its electricity. The building is heated by waste steam given off by a neighboring power plant.
Timberland is making an attempt to educate customers on the sources of products and the effects of its manufacturing on the environment and communities by putting "nutritional labels" on shoeboxes.
The liners of some shoe boxes double as biodegradable bags which may be reused.
The company prints its labels using inks made from soy.
Timberland hopes to incorporate hemp, bamboo, and organic cotton fabrics into their clothing. They are also starting-up an environmental-impact rating system for raw materials and sharing the information with their designers.

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