Corporate Responsibility (CR)

Corporate Responsibility strategy for Just Brands

The Just Brands CR strategy consists of six main themes. The work group of every theme researches the impact of the current working method and the possibilities of reducing the risks.

Just Brands signs the Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile

The Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile is a set of agreements made between companies, branch organizations, the government, civil society organizations and unions. The goal is to make the textile sector more sustainable.

What does this mean for Just Brands?

Just Brands is required to carry out a risk analysis for the supply chain and create a plan of action to reduce the impact of these risks.

Social Responsibility

Just Brands is affiliated with BSCI

This management system controls and improves social conditions within the supply chain. BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) has drawn up a code of conduct consisting of 11 basic principles that the supply chain must comply with. This code of conduct is made up of international labor standards such as the ILO Core Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations (UN) and the guidelines for multinational companies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As a member of BSCI, Just Brands has implemented the code of conduct as a standard. To check this code of conduct, so-called audits are carried out in the factories by third parties. For these audits, Just Brands is currently focusing on the garment factories because they represent the most labor-intensive part of the entire supply chain.

Enviromental Responsibility

Just Brands is affiliated with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)

BCI is a not-for-profit organization engaged in ensuring global cotton production. The organization works every day on mapping and improving the conditions for people and the environment. In addition, they focus on the future of the sector by making their ‘Better Cotton’ accessible to everyone. In 2018, Just Brands purchased 26% of the total cotton it purchased against the BCI standard. This represented 21% of the total material purchased. Our aim is to attain our materials in a sustainable manner reaching 50% by 2020 and 80% by 2025.

Just Brands is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative because cotton is our most used raw material and we can achieve scalable impact on the supply chain with BCI. BCI is a non-profit organisation that helps cotton growers to embrace environmentally friendlier, and socially and economically sustainable farming methods. By the end of 2020, BCI aims to support five million cotton growers in switching to smarter growing techniques — that’s 30% of global cotton production. Since the approach is scalable and holistic, BCI is one of the biggest contributors to better cotton farming.   BCI relies on a mass-balance chain of custody system, where Better Cotton is mixed with other types of cotton on its journey from the field to the final product. Mass balance is an acknowledged way to boost sustainability and is like the system used for renewable electricity available from the power grid. When you buy renewable you are contributing to the growth in cleaner energy production rather than ensuring that a specific kind of electricity comes from your power sockets.   From a sustainability perspective it is important that improvements take place in the cotton fields, for the sake of the farmers and the local environment. The mass-balance system encourages suppliers to use more Better Cotton because it does not require costly physical separation along the supply chain. Better Cotton cannot be physically traced back to the product level. Visit bettercotton.org/learnmore for more information.

Just Brands works with recycled polyester

Polyester is the most used material after cotton. To make this raw material more sustainable, we focus on recycled polyester that is certified according to the Global Recycled Standard. In 2018, 6% of the polyester used in our collection was recycled polyester.

Just Brands makes use of the BEPI platform

BEPI (Business Environmental Performance Initiative) offers a practical framework for the reduction of our environmental impact, company risks and costs by focusing on water, chemicals, energy and waste. Within BEPI we focus on 11 environmental issues, varying from energy consumption and greenhouse gases to chemicals management. The BEPI approach consists of four steps and enables companies to encourage continuous improvement via supply chain mapping and analysis, improvement work and progress monitoring. To reduce our environmental impact, we focus on the laundries and dye and print houses of our top 15 manufacturers.

Operational responsibility

Packaging & Transport: everything we use to move our goods from manufacturers to shops.

In the design of today's supply chain, we know that transport plays an important and essential role. That is why we focus on consolidating shipments, so that the filling level of every container is as high as possible. We also want to reduce our CO2 emissions by using the most sustainable means of transport available.

With regards to packaging materials, we are currently looking at how we can reduce this as much as possible. In addition, we are conducting research into how we can use the most sustainable alternatives possible for the packaging materials we require.

Own Operations: all operations that have anything to do with the headquarter and our own stores.

It goes without saying that, beyond the impact we have on our supply chain, it is also important to look at our own operations. Applying sustainability to our own activities is something we do daily through various methods.

Did you know that?

- we work with a sustainable heating system;

- producing energy via solar panels;

- separating waste in all departments;

- digitalizing as many processes as possible;

- stimulate paper printing efficiency;

- using movement sensors + LED lighting

Transparency: all external communication regarding Corporate Responsibility

Corporate Responsibility is a standard part of business operations for Just Brands. With our external communication on this subject we aim to make our customers aware of our activities. We are currently working on a plan for reporting on our activities concerning CR and will also be adding visual materials. To increase transparency in the chain, we will publish our manufacturer list on the Open Apparel Registry. The OAR is an open source tool that maps garment facilities worldwide.