PVH Corp. is taking its Corporate Responsibility (CR) strategy, Forward Fashion, to new levels of ambition and transparency, while reinforcing the company’s long-standing commitment to sustainable business.
Forward Fashion outlines three focus areas that aim to reduce the company’s negative environmental impacts to zero, increase positive social and worker impacts to 100 percent, and improve more than 1 million lives throughout its value chain.
These areas include combatting climate change, addressing waste and hazardous chemicals, ensuring worker safety and providing development programs to women. The strategy creates a platform for each of PVH’s branded businesses–Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Heritage Brands–to accelerate their consumer and product-centric sustainability efforts.
“Corporate responsibility has always been fundamental to how we conduct business,” Emanuel Chirico, chairman and CEO of PVH Corp., said. “Forward Fashion represents a renewed sense of urgency to use the collective power of PVH to achieve transformative change at scale. The challenges and opportunities we face are bigger than PVH, but we are confident Forward Fashion will position us for success over the long-term, leading to more engaged associates, more loyal consumers and, ultimately, a more sustainable and responsible future for the fashion industry.”
Within the strategy’s three focus areas, PVH selected 15 priorities that can make the greatest impact. For each priority, key targets have been set to ensure accountability, transparency and authenticity in how progress is tracked and reported.
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Among these priorities is for PVH products and business operations to generate zero waste, zero carbon emissions and zero hazardous chemicals, and for its products to be truly circular.
PVH offices, warehouses and stores will be powered by 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 and the company will drive a 30 percent reduction in its supply chain emissions by 2030. All PVH offices, distribution centers and stores will achieve zero waste and eliminate single-use plastics by 2030, while water leaving wet processors will have zero hazardous chemicals and be filtered for harmful microfibers by 2025.
To achieve circularity, PVH plans to “foster and harness innovation to design and manufacture products that eliminate product waste” and include full traceability of key raw materials by 2025. Specifically, PVH has targeted 100 percent of its cotton and viscose be sustainably sourced by 2025, and all polyester by 2030.
“We are committed to moving our industry from a linear to a circular model. Circularity looks beyond the current take-make-dispose model and aims to redefine growth, focusing on positive societal benefits. Designing systems for waste elimination, keeping products in use and recovering materials at the end of each life cycle, optimizes both value and utility,” PVH said in its 2018 CR Report, also released on Monday.
The company’s ambition is for its business to improve the more than 1 million lives across its value chain, focusing on education and opportunities for women and children, ensuring access to clean water for all, and continuing to champion inclusion and diversity so everyone can achieve their full potential.
PVH also wants 100 percent of its products and packaging to be ethically and sustainably sourced, and for all suppliers to respect human rights and be good employers. The company plans to improve working environments through worker engagement and representation through democratically elected representatives by 2025. PVH will also transition key product and packaging materials to sustainable alternatives, and support regenerative agriculture practices, while protecting animal welfare.