Background

Forests serve as important reservoirs of carbon, and the clearance of primary forest cover causes serious increases in green house gas emissions. Forests also provide a habitat for half of known plant and animal species, regulate local rainfall patterns and provide livelihoods for millions of people in rural communities.

Growing demand for paper-based products in contributing to increases in illegal logging, and natural forest is being converted into plantations to feed pulp mills. Pulp- and paper- based materials are widely recognized as posing a high deforestation risk. Packaging accounts for around 80 percent of all pulp and paper used by our global business and is the focus of our policy. Our goal is to have a sustainable supply chain for all pulp and paper- based packaging materials sourced by our global print partners. In our commitment to maintain integrity of the forests in the world we are in the process of changing the supply of paper for footwear brands and are insisting they use FSC® Certified or Mix paper for their packaging and paper advertising materials.

Our Commitment

  • 100 percent of virgin pulp and paper-based packaging traceable to at least country of origin by the end of 2020.
  • 100 percent of pulp and paper-based packaging from FSC® certified, managed or recycled sources by the end of 2020.
  • We will develop further targets, prioritizing high deforestation risk areas once we have full supply chain traceability by the end of 2020.

Our Road Map

Between now and 2020, Euro Brand Management and SUBENCO Asia Ltd. will qualify its suppliers in order to ensure they are working toward our commitments using three main strategies:

Supply Chain Traceability

For FCS® virgin or mix fibers and recycled paper that our printers’ source we have a fully traceable supply chain at least back to the country of source materials.  We have partnered with FSC® since July 2018’ to map our supply chain to ensure this work is guided by an experienced, credible organization.

Preference for Recycled Content

Forests serve as important reservoirs of carbon, and the clearance of primary forest cover causes serious increases in green house gas emissions. Forests also provide a habitat for half of known plant and animal species, regulate local rainfall patterns and provide livelihoods for millions of people in rural communities.

Growing demand for paper-based products in contributing to increases in illegal logging, and natural forest is being converted into plantations to feed pulp mills. Pulp- and paper- based materials are widely recognized as posing a high deforestation risk. Packaging accounts for around 80 percent of all pulp and paper used by our global business and is the focus of our policy. Our goal is to have a sustainable supply chain for all pulp and paper- based packaging materials sourced by our global print partners. In our commitment to maintain integrity of the forests in the world we are in the process of changing the supply of paper for footwear brands and are insisting they use FSC® Certified or Mix paper for their packaging and paper advertising materials.

Supply Chain Verification:

Based on the risk assessments carried out with support from our suppliers, we will where necessary seek additional evidence of traceability in our supply chain. Given the global nature of our supply chain, we will assure compliance using more than one approach:

  • Certification to a credible, independent standard that demonstrates compliance. Our strong preference is for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management and Chain of Custody certification. We will also accept product certified under national systems approved by, where there is not enough FSC®-certified product available to meet our needs.
  • Verification of supplier compliance with our Sustainable Sourcing Charter by a third party, in geographies where certification is not widely available. This will include one or more of the following options:
  • Third-party audit by a qualified and experienced specialist from Intertek or TUV.
  • Second-party assessment by our chosen sustainable sourcing partner.
  • Legality verification, for use only in countries identified during risk assessment as having sufficiently vigorous legal structures.
  • Determining low-risk countries of fiber origin by assessing the risk. The risk will be regularly reviewed and addressed.