By Eoin from our International office: Hats off to Puma, the third largest sportswear company in the world, for publicly committing today to eliminate all releases of hazardous chemicals from its entire product lifecycle and across its whole supply chain by 2020.
UPDATE AUGUST 18: Nike commit to champion a toxic-free future! >>
The move comes less than two weeks into our Detox campaign, and shows yet again what's possible when activists and consumers demand more from an industry. Round one of the Detox challenge belongs to Puma who has sent a clear message to its competitors that allowing suppliers to use and discharge hazardous chemicals is simply not acceptable.
Bearing witness works
Pressure on Nike and Adidas jumped up a bar today thanks to Puma,
following almost two
weeks of Greenpeace
actions at HQ
buildings and highstreet stores, including a massive synchronized
dance and striptease in 29 cities around the world.
The commitment made by Puma incorporates many of the elements
outlined by us in our Dirty Laundry report
as being crucial to bringing about systematic change in the textile
industry: namely a precautionary approach to chemicals management, a
clear timeline for zero discharges, and the elimination of all
discharges of hazardous chemicals throughout the supply chain and
product lifecycle -- including those coming from polluting production
activities such as wet processing.
Puma has committed to publishing an action plan detailing how they will deliver their commitment within the next eight weeks.Greenpeace's Detox campaigners will be keeping a close eye on developments, as Puma still has room to improve by disclosing the hazardous chemicals being released by all of its suppliers.
The challenge continues
Both Nike and Adidas have responded to our Dirty Laundry campaign
report, though they risk falling behind in the race to create a
toxic-free future if they can't convert their bold claims of leadership
into concrete commitments and credible actions.
They could
still steal the lead by matching Puma, and then going further by coming
clean about the hazardous chemicals released during the production of
their products.
Are you all in?
It took a year of careful
investigation to join
all the dots from the hazardous water pollution in rivers like
China's Yangtze River to the textile factories and the international
clothing brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma they have commercial
relationships with.
You can challenge Nike and Adidas to pick
up the pace now by sharing this blog, sharing the detox
challenge video or the detox striptease video above, and signing our
petition
to Nike and Adidas.
UPDATE AUGUST 18: Nike commit to champion a toxic-free future! >>
