Coats commits to Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals Program

Coats, an international leader in the manufacture of industry sewing threads and in the textile crafts industry in the Americas, has joined the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Program, aimed at joining forces to eliminate hazardous chemical products from the global footwear and textile products supply chain. With a presence in over 60 countries and 19,000 employees on six continents, Coats has been a member for five years of Texbrasil, the Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit in partnership with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).

Launched in 2011 for six leading textile and footwear brands, the ZDHC Program has grown and currently has 22 participating brands, four value chain affiliates and three contributing members. Coats joined the program as an affiliate. “We are excited to see the industry’s growing support for more environmentally-friendly chemical practices and also to encourage other people within the textile and footwear industries to follow the example of the ZDHC brands, now with the partnership of Coats,” says Frank Michel, Executive Director of the ZDHC Foundation.

This announcement coincides with the publication of the brand’s Corporate Responsibility report, which reflects 2015 performance across its global operations. This is the report’s fifth year providing a wide-ranging view of activities and progress at Coats in the area of corporate responsibility. In addition to updated information, the report also includes data on performance and detailed studies of various cases from the entire group. Just as in previous years, the report follows Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) requirements. Highlights for the period include:

• A 7% year-over-year drop in global carbon emissions – through a combination of investments in energy efficiency measures and new technologies;
• Continued reduction in water used – over 12% since 2013 – as well as 22% less waste produced by production unit compared to four years ago;
• Continued high levels of employee engagement – scoring 83%, which puts Coats among the top 10% of multinational companies surveyed.

David Manns, the Head of Corporate Responsibility at Coats, said he is excited about Coats’ performance, which shows improvement in its manufacturing operations and in impacts on the world in which we live, adding that: “in 2015, we revised our material assessment analysis and increased the scope of our report to cover a wide range of issues important to us and to our supporters, including more details on how we engage stakeholders, our fiscal strategy and our economic contribution to communities in general.”

All news