Message from Trimco CEO
2021 and the first half of 2022 have not only been a time of economic recovery, but also a period of continuous pursuit of sustainability in the apparel business. Many related policies and regulations are being formed worldwide. The rising awareness of the social and environmental impact of the garment industry is demanding reform throughout the supply chain and end-to-end transparency at an unprecedented scale.
Operating production sites in 15 countries requires understanding of local sustainability policies and available sustainable resources. Trimco’s international ESG Operations Team, with members in each operating country, was formed with the task to research ESG ideas, educate and execute ESG initiatives, and record our scores. 2022 will be our first year to work with a centralized data driven platform to collect, manage, visualize and report our sustainability data.
We are running many internal operations projects with the aim to reduce our impact on the environment. For example, we established a global Recycling & Waste Management Policy for wastewater, solid waste and chemical waste. Another significant commitment to sustainability is our global renewable energy strategy to install solar panels. We completed the first installation at our China factory in 2021 and will start in Vietnam and Turkey in 2022. Other sites will follow in 2023 and beyond.
Trimco has long been adopting various streams of ESG standards for our products and operations. In April 2022, we are happy to have successfully used the HIGG Index to complete a social and environmental self-assessment for all our in-house production entities.
We are continuously setting higher goals to increase the usage of more sustainable raw materials in our product offerings. Our Sustainability Sourcing Team in both Europe and Asia has been instrumental in providing new and practical sustainable alternatives to the business. In addition to physical products, our Care & Content and Sustainability Team is keeping our business, as well as our clients, on their toes regarding requirements to make compliance and sustainability claims on product labelling. Trimco is at the forefront of understanding these new and fast-changing policies and what changes garments manufacturers and brand owners, along with the entire supply chain, need to make in order to be truthful and transparent.
PRODUCT DNA® will continue to be the IT platform Trimco uses to enable our clients to track and trace their supply chain, down to individual garment’s raw materials used, its manufacturer, and provide real-time presentation of this value chain to consumers via QR codes. Most important of all, we hope PRODUCT DNA® will empower the apparel industry to leverage existing data for analysis that drives more sustainable sourcing decisions and the achievement of ESG goals.
This ESG report is our first attempt at reporting according to Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards. We are adopting in advance the new 2021 GRI Standards which will be effective in 2023 so some of the data required is still in the process of being collected or under preparation.
We are all on this sustainability journey together and to many of us, we are only at the starting point. It is encouraging to see the progress and possibilities. There is so much more we could do together as a company, as part of a supply chain, as an industry and as individuals on this lovely planet we are sharing. Trimco is excited to be part of this sustainability movement and be an innovator driving a positive impact throughout our global supply chain.
Together, We Act.
Amy Wan
Chief Executive Officer, Trimco Group