HAKRO is Fair Wear Leader
We have some great news that makes us really, really proud. After just three years, we have raised our Fair Wear status from ‘Good’ to ‘Leader’. This shows us that we are on the right track to offer the people behind our products good, safe and fair working and living conditions. Since 2021, HAKRO has been a member of Fair Wear, an internationally recognised multi-stakeholder initiative that audits textile companies and their production facilities for compliance with social standards. Our commitment to fair working conditions is scrutinised in an annual Brand Performance Check and our progress in implementing the Fair Wear Code of Conduct is documented. Fair Wear sets high standards for labour rights and social responsibility in the industry. As a member of this global initiative, we are committed to strictly adhering to these standards and working continuously with our production partners to improve them even further. The ‘Leader’ status that we achieved in 2024 confirms that we are on the right path and motivates us to further strengthen our commitment to fair working conditions and sustainable practices.
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HELLO AGAIN: HAKRO closes the textile loop
HAKRO is one of the first German textile companies to implement a genuine circular economy together with customers and partners. The workwear supplier takes back worn-out products and uses their recycled fibres for its new circular label HELLO AGAIN. Around 5.8 million tonnes of used textiles are produced every year in Europe alone. The majority of this is thermally utilised in waste incineration. This means that huge quantities of valuable resources are lost. Recycling is the order of the day, yet today less than 1 per cent of used textile fibres are processed into new clothing. Up to now, there has been a lack of logistical structures and technical possibilities to process the fibres of used clothing in a closed cycle and use them for the production of new textiles.HAKRO is known for its particularly durable workwear. As part of the resource-intensive textile industry, the company is aware of its responsibility towards the environment, climate and society. HAKRO clothing is developed for the heavy demands of everyday working life and is produced under fair conditions. It lasts much longer than average clothing, but at some point even a long-lasting HAKRO garment is worn out. That is why HAKRO is actively looking for solutions that will enable the fibres used in its products to be reused several times in the future. There are already examples in other sectors. The principle of material cycles has proven itself in paper, glass and PET recycling. Together with the fibre recycling start-up TURNS®, HAKRO has now been able to establish its own closed material cycle for cotton fibres. In the long term, the circular recycling of all HAKRO material blends and products is planned. HAKRO Managing Director Carmen Kroll comments: ‘As a manufacturer of high-quality workwear, we are committed to a sustainable value chain. This goes beyond the last working day of the textiles. Until now, we have unfortunately had little influence on the disposal of our products. We are therefore very pleased to now be able to offer our customers a sustainable end-of-life solution.We have found the best partner for this in the start-up TURNS®. The recycling experts offer an innovative all-round carefree solution, they handle the entire logistics and control the quality of the recycling process. I was impressed by the concept of the two founders right from the start. That's why I'm delighted to be able to support them as a business angel.’The TURNS® fibre cycle starts with AI-based material recognition. The used textiles are first sorted according to colour and fibre properties, then the fibres are removed from the material using fine needles and processed with fresh, sustainable cotton to create new yarns and cotton knitwear. Some work steps currently still have to be carried out by hand, which is labour-intensive, but the entire recycling process should be automated by the end of 2024. In contrast to chemical recycling, in which the material is synthetically broken down into its basic building blocks using a great deal of energy and cotton is downcycled into cellulose, the fibre structure is retained in fibre-to-fibre recycling. However, the fibres are shortened slightly during each recycling process and are therefore not yet suitable for the production of the particularly robust and durable HAKRO workwear. However, textiles for everyday use can be produced from the recycled fibres without any problems. So HAKRO came up with the idea of adding a modern casual line to its workwear.The new brand is called HELLO AGAIN. It consists of casually cut T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants and hoodies in a comfortable oversized style in natural and pastel colours. The colours are partly derived from the recycled fibres used. This allows the origin of the textile to be experienced in a subtle way, giving the styles a special authenticity. The proportion of recycled fibres is already 30 percent and is set to increase further as the possibilities of textile technology grow. The first HELLO AGAIN textiles are expected to be available at the beginning of next year. The new, sustainable label is aimed at a broader target group than classic HAKRO workwear. The marketing and sales strategy will therefore also differ significantly from HAKRO's strategy. Jürgen Pruy, Head of Sales & Partnerships, is particularly proud that HAKRO is already setting the course for the goals of the EU Green Deal guidelines to be achieved by 2030 and explains: ‘The circular economy can only really get off the ground together with specialist retail partners, consumers and the entire industry. There is an urgent need for catalysts. In line with the motto test, learn, build bigger, we have simply set off on our journey. The positive feedback from many customers and stakeholders gives us a real boost. We hope that this will perhaps also inspire others to actively implement a circular textile economy.’ www.turns.dewww.helloagain-loop.com
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INGB - The first Integrated Sustainable Annual Report 2022
We are breaking new ground with our first Integrated Sustainable Annual Report 2022. We are combining what belongs together. In a time that calls for prudence and foresight, we are making sustainable entrepreneurial action our HAKRO corporate core. With the Integrated Sustainable Annual Report, we are continuing our previous sustainability reporting. We have big plans, because we want to be the leading integrated sustainable provider of corporate wear by 2030. If you want to achieve this, you have to lead the way. And those who do so will not be able to avoid ‘firsts’. Because it takes courage to try something new without a manual. The name ‘First’ of the Integrated Sustainable Annual Report therefore says it all: For the first time, we have integrated the most important stakeholder groups into a comprehensive strategy development process. First and foremost our employees, but also many retailers and production partners have given free rein to their creativity. For the first time, we had our programme for enforcing human and labour rights in global supply chains audited according to the demanding criteria of the Fair Wear Foundation (Fair Wear). We have been a Fair Wear member since January 2021 and achieved ‘Good’ status in the first Brand Performance Check in April 2022. For the first time, we are making our entire collection climate-neutral. The previous and planned measures to avoid and reduce production-related greenhouse gas emissions encourage us to offset the remaining emissions via an ambitious climate protection project, starting with the 2022 collection. Why ‘integrated sustainable’? ‘Sustainability doesn't belong big and fancy on the flags, but right at the top of the agenda. For all of us, not as an appendix to routine and certainly not as a green fig leaf, but as a natural part of our collective actions. Because sustainability is not a trend. It is an integral part of the clothing industry. We cannot and must not do anything other than take care of it,’ explain our HAKRO Managing Directors Carmen Kroll, Thomas Müller and Danny Jüngling. Since 2015, we at HAKRO have provided annual transparency on our sustainability performance. The last sustainability report entitled ‘Holds’ was published in 2019 for the 2018 reporting year. The Integrated Sustainable Annual Report 2022 contains information for the 2019 - 2021 financial years, takes stock of the five-year sustainability strategy cycle ‘Active Ingredient 2017 - 2022’ and explains the future path of HAKRO GmbH: How the framework conditions and the context of the wide range of business activities will develop. What the understanding of responsible business is in view of all this. What roadmap the company has set itself with its vision, mission and goals. How the HAKRO Corporate Compass sets out binding rules, values and responsibility. And the important role that partners play in this, as well as appreciative dialogue, cooperation, trust and co-creation. The report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards (2021 version) and fulfils the transparency requirements for a social report in accordance with Fair Wear (FWF) for the first time. It is also a progress report for the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the WIN Charter of the state of Baden-Württemberg.View the INGB in PDF format now.
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iMPACT PROGRAM - a jointly developed audit system
Sustainability is always a top priority at HAKRO. That is why we are continuously working to further develop our entire supply chain and make it even more sustainable. Together with the clothing company OLYMP Bezner KG, we have developed a comprehensive audit programme as part of our corporate duty of care, which will serve as the basis for our sustainability management along the entire supply chain. ‘The growing challenges within global supply chains can be solved much better together, which is why it is worth leaving familiar thought patterns behind and joining forces in co-operations. Especially if you want to achieve a big impact,’ says Carmen Kroll, Managing Director of HAKRO. How can apparel brands improve the sustainable development of their global production facilities in future and use audits as part of their corporate duty of care less as a monitoring tool and more as a basis for sustainability management? ‘Our teams first defined the requirements that an audit must fulfil for us. Together with ELEVATE Ltd. in Hong Kong, one of the world's leading providers of sustainability and supply chain services, we then developed our audit programme in a nine-month process,’ says Jochen Schmidt, Head of Quality, Values & Sustainability at HAKRO. As two of the approximately 140 members of the multi-stakeholder initiative Fair Wear Foundation, both HAKRO and OLYMP are among the clothing brands that have committed themselves to ensuring fair working conditions in the textile industry. ‘That's why it was important to us right from the start to involve the experts from the Fair Wear Foundation in the development process and incorporate their valuable suggestions into the audit programme,’ reports Jochen Schmidt. The result: a joint audit programme called the ‘iMPACT Programme’. The acronym iMPACT is formed from the English terms ‘Insight’, ‘Motivation’, ‘Partnership’, ‘Action’, ‘Capacity Building’ and ‘Transparancy’, which characterise the principles of the programme. The iMPACT Programme focuses primarily on the people within the supply chain, provides honest and in-depth insights into production conditions and is intended to motivate partner companies and clients alike to act together and in partnership, develop expertise in safeguarding social standards and ensure the highest possible level of transparency. In this way, the iMPACT programme creates the basis for continuous further development in a spirit of partnership with the aim of actively improving the situation of people in the supply chain. To this end, employees within the production facility are also involved in evaluation processes so that any problems can be identified directly and effective improvements can be made. Our aim for the future is to make our jointly developed iMPACT PROGRAMME available to other companies in the textile and clothing industry.
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FAIR WEAR BRAND PERFORMANCE CHECK 2022
We have been a member of Fair Wear since January 2021. As an internationally recognised multi-stakeholder initiative, Fair Wear audits textile companies and the working conditions in production facilities in accordance with the Fair Wear Code of Conduct. By joining Fair Wear, we have now taken the essential next step and are committed to the highest social standards - a stringent further development of our previous measures for fair and safe working conditions in the factories of our production partners. As a multi-stakeholder initiative, Fair Wear offers us unique support through its broad expertise on social standards in the textile sector, not least through its extensive network of different stakeholders and players. As part of our Fair Wear membership, we formulate an annual work plan with measures for the coming year. In an annual Brand Performance Check, we are reviewed with regard to our supplier management, our sustainability management, our supply chain monitoring and the measures derived from this to ensure social justice in production and our purchasing behaviour. We successfully completed our first Brand Performance Check at the beginning of April 2022. We achieved ‘Good’ status straight away, which makes us very happy. With 60 points, our performance is well above the score required for membership in the first year. In total, we audited 73% of our production volume - this also exceeds the threshold for first-year members. We had to postpone the auditing of our production partners in Laos until 2022 due to the pandemic. ‘HAKRO has performed well in its first year and laid a strong foundation. We are pleased to see that HAKRO works so closely with Olymp, another Fair Wear member, and maintains strong partnerships with its production partners. We are excited to see the progress and developments towards living wages,’ says Wilco van Bokhorst, our Fair Wear Foundation Brand Performance Checker. ‘For two days, Wilco van Bokhorst, our performance checker/auditor, scrutinised us from top to bottom,’ says Anna Rüchardt, responsible for Fair Wear membership in the Quality, Values & Sustainability department, ’The two days were exciting, instructive, intensive and exhausting, especially as the entire audit was conducted in English. But we came through with flying colours - big thanks to everyone who supported us with the preparations and answered Wilco's questions’.You can find the link to our first social report here.
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COLLABORATION INSTEAD OF COMPETITION
When it comes to sustainability, the players in the textile industry often face the same challenges, and yet every company and every brand often goes it alone and tries to master the challenges themselves. ‘However, we can achieve a much greater impact through dialogue, collaboration and co-creation,’ says Jochen Schmidt, Head of Quality, Values & Sustainability at HAKRO. In order to increase its clout, the Quality, Values & Sustainability division has organised a unique event concept - the IMPACT Barcamp. The innovative event took place for the first time on 20 and 21 October in the new showroom at HAKRO in Schrozberg, which is also the company's communication centre. Among the guests: around 40 sustainability managers from textile companies in the fashion and outdoor sectors as well as standard setters and solution providers such as Fair Wear, Cotton made in Africa and GoBlu. Under the motto ‘Action through Co-Creation’, the IMPACT Barcamp called for active participation. In contrast to traditional, pre-structured events, the agenda was jointly designed by all participants based on their current topics and interests. The only thing that was fixed at the beginning was the overarching theme of ‘sustainability in the textile industry’ - and the desire to make a difference together. ‘Learning from each other, sharing challenges, being inspired by new perspectives, discovering different and new paths together, thinking creatively and creating success together - all of this was at the centre of our first HAKRO IMPACT Barcamp,’ says a delighted Anna Rüchardt from the Quality, Values & Sustainability department at HAKRO. The first day was dedicated entirely to getting to know each other. After a welcome in the showroom and a brief introduction to the barcamp idea, a joint dinner and an exchange at the cocktail bar invited participants to deepen their contacts. The next morning, there was a call for active participation and the joint agenda was planned. The result: 16 sessions spread throughout the day on various challenges and issues. For example, one session was dedicated to traceability and transparency in supply chains, while another session focussed on the topic of seals and standards, while the parallel sessions dealt with greenwashing in sustainability communication and the search for the right way to deal with interfaces between the sustainability department, sales and marketing. After an exciting day of brainstorming, discussions and constructive exchange, the IMPACT Barcamp came to an end with dinner and a cosy get-together at the in-house Harry's Bar. ‘Admittedly, we were very nervous at the beginning about whether a barcamp was the right event format and how it would be received by our sustainability colleagues,’ recalls Jochen Schmidt. But the consistently positive feedback from the participants (‘Inspiring format, mind-blowing, mega!’) wiped away any concerns. ‘The IMPACT Barcamp was a real enrichment for all of us! We are delighted with the cheerful atmosphere and the new impulses that we were able to develop together. After the positive response, we can well imagine continuing the barcamp next year,’ adds Anna Rüchardt.
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