Timberland progresses towards 2020 sustainability goals

Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland is progressing steadily towards its sustainability goals for 2020, which fall into three core pillars: make products responsibly; protect and enhance the outdoors; and serve communities, says its corporate social responsibility report.

Timberland set aims to have 100 per cent organic cotton apparel of US origin or Better Cotton Initiative certified sources by 2020. In 2017, Timberland raised the bar and changed its method of reporting the use of material containing recycled, organic or renewable (ROR) content. The company remains confident it will reach its 2020 goal for 100 percent of footwear to include at least one significant component containing ROR content, even with these more stringent requirements, and believes this change in reporting will lead to increased overall usage of ROR content across the business.

Timberland also continued to increase its use of recycled PET, incorporating over 890,232 pounds of recycled PET into its footwear in 2017, or the equivalent of 40 million plastic bottles. This reflects an increase of 3 million plastic bottles over 2016.

"We’re proud to celebrate the progress we’ve made in the past year, especially our efforts to incorporate more sustainable cotton in our apparel. But at Timberland, we have a commitment to sustainability and responsibility that goes well beyond the products we make. That’s what makes us Earthkeepers. In our view, responsibility also means protecting and enhancing the outdoors, and the communities around the world where we live, work and explore," said Colleen Vien, director of sustainability for Timberland.