Timberland is committed to ensuring that factories we source from go beyond compliance. Our approach prioritizes workers’ voices to ensure they are heard and valued, and also promotes community engagement throughout our supply chain. We ensure that workers are afforded livelihoods that meet their basic needs, with opportunities for leisure and betterment (see Sustainable Living Environment page). While compliance is necessary for fair, safe and non-discriminatory workplaces to exist, Timberland’s efforts are differentiated from other companies due to our “beyond factory walls” approach.
Because compliance at VF is centralized (see Code of Conduct and Compliance pages for more details), the Timberland Supplier Sustainability Team is now able to dedicate more time to working with suppliers on training, development, and implementation of sustainable environmental and social/labor management systems. They accomplish this by focusing on the following areas:
Action Plan Development & Capacity Building:
Following the VF Audit, the Timberland Supplier Sustainability Team (SST) reviews the results of the audit with the factory and discusses necessary actions to address issues found. The SST will assist in understanding root causes and identifying any gaps in management systems that require correction to ensure ongoing sustainability of actions. The SST provides suppliers with necessary training and implementation assistance for achieving an Accepted rating by VF and for implementing best practice environmental and social/labor management systems, which would also prepare factories for ISO 14000, WRAP, or SA8000 certification.
Sustainability Measurement:
Timberland’s SST measures suppliers’ implementation of environmental and social/labor management systems using the tools/data outlined below. We have deliberately aligned with cross-brand, multi-stakeholder frameworks to support common metrics that will ultimately improve performance throughout our industry and across supply chains.
- GSCP Environmental Framework – Timberland has adopted Global Social Compliance Programme’s Environmental Module as a means to more holistically and comparatively evaluate and rate the environmental performance of our factories.
- SAI Social Fingerprint® – Timberland has also adopted a new measurement framework for social/labor management systems established by Social Accountability International.
Worker & Community Engagement:
The Timberland Supplier Sustainability Team (SST) strives to ensure every worker in every manufacturing facility that Timberland sources from has a voice. As part of our “beyond compliance” strategy, the team also works toward community engagement throughout our supply chain.
For example, the SST requires all Timberland suppliers implement an Internal Social Performance Team—a multi-departmental team of management and worker representatives to continually assess worker needs and the factory’s social/labor management system. The SST helps suppliers establish such teams by providing necessary training to ensure full understanding of roles and responsibilities to facilitate full and effective worker engagement.
We also believe in the power and impact of community engagement as a critical part of a sustainable business model. That’s why the SST works with suppliers to identify and provide assistance with local service projects relevant to workers and their surrounding communities. This engagement can afford improved worker loyalty and community relations, both of which create a healthy business.
See Worker Engagement & Empowerment and Sustainable Living Environments[/cwrlink] pages to learn more.
-- Download Supplier Sustainability as PDF --
