Puma’s S-Index will cover 50% of footwear by 2015
15/04/2010
On April 13, Puma announced that it would make at least 50% of its footwear and apparel collections under the S-Index criteria by 2015. The index includes commitments to use more natural fibres, sustainable wool, organic cotton, African cotton and recycled polyester, as well as pledges to reduce its consumption of water and energy and its carbon and waste emissions.
Mr Zeitz said later that he believed the work Puma had done could be of benefit to other companies in the sports industry and that he would be happy to share the information.
He said: “How do you define a sustainable product? There is no standard. There is just this free-floating measurement so that brands can apply a ‘sustainable product’ label without having to make any improvements. If anybody would like to use the S-Index, we are happy to share. The industry has been unable to come up with a standard so far. Others have them, but have not made their criteria public. We are making ours public and, in doing so, we hope to open up the dialogue.”
Speaking later to footwearbiz.com, he added: “We can’t speak for the industry, but as no real industry-wide initiative has developed on standards, this [Puma’s criteria] may lead to an index. This is a very competitive industry, but brands do not need to compete on sustainability; it’s one area in which we should all be co-operating. You see car-makers co-operating to create joint platforms, so why shouldn’t we co-operate too, even if not to that extent? Only time will tell if our competitors want to use the S-Index to measure their own sustainability efforts, but we are willing to share.”
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