Company News: Nike, Men's Wearhouse …

Men’s Wearhouse, a national leader in men’s clothing, and the largest seller of men’s suits in the U.S. will be offering a new environmental product line in partnership with Chi Wear. Pants, shirts, jackets, underwear and socks made from hemp/ cotton blends, organic cotton, and color-grown organic cotton (the cotton is grown in color, eliminating dyes), will be available on-line and in all 500 stores as early as Spring, 2002. [sorry this link is no longer available]

Several activewear producers are switching to all organic materials. They are the largest purchasers of organic cotton, driving the increase in acreage worldwide. Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), Nike, Patagonia, and Gaiam/Ecosport are some of the manufacturers involved. Nike plans to use 1.2 million pounds of certified organic or transitional cotton this year. The company used 900,000 pounds last year, two thirds of which came from the U.S. Nike plans to incorporate three percent organic cotton into all its cotton apparel worldwide by 2010.

Nike signed a landmark agreement committing the company to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and to begin measuring emissions from contracted manufacturing and shipping operations. The company, which employs some 500,000 people at 750 factories worldwide, is working with the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program to achieve the following results:

* Reduce CO2 emissions from business travel and operations to 13 percent below 1998 levels by the end of 2005 (1998 was the first year benchmark data was gathered).

* Create baseline data for subcontractors by the end of 2003 and an emissions reductions strategy for them by 2005.
* Analyze its supply chain from transport to packaging to find ways to improve life cycle efficiency and reduce emissions.

Some of the other Fortune 500 companies that have made similar commitments are health care products giant Johnson & Johnson ( 7% below 1990 levels by 2010) and computer giant IBM Corporation (4% reduction overall on top of its achievement of reducing emissions by 20% between 1990-1997).

WWF Climate Savers Program: [sorry this link is no longer available]