We are proud to have joined the FDRA Waste Management Program in 2022, a program that aims to minimise waste during the footwear production and manufacturing process.
Our main factories in China who produce more than 85% of our shoes have undertaken their first year of this program between April 2022 and May 2023.
This program is overseen by a partnership between the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA), the only business and trade association solely dedicated to the footwear industry, and ELEVATE, a global leader in sustainability and supply chain services. The Waste Management Program equips our factories with the tools to recycle and dispose of waste in ways that don’t harm the environment.
Waste is diverted from landfills and incineration through
- waste reuse
- waste recycling
- energy recovery (use of controlled burning processes and dioxin-controlling facilities to generate electricity)
In our first year of the program, our factories’ grades have improved from D to B. 78% of all waste produced over the program year was diverted. Our factories were able to improve this rate early in the program, so 100% of waste produced in the 2023 calendar year has been diverted, a rate we intend to maintain.
We have successfully diverted 70.26 metric tons of carbon emissions through waste reuse and recycling. We are capturing and recycling over seven types of waste and our reuse and recycling rates have increased every quarter.
After seeing the success of this first year, we are looking to have all our manufacturers begin this program. We are excited to see how we can continue to improve our waste management over the next year of the program.
