Nike’s sustainability efforts – how is it doing?

A couple weeks ago, we profiled a report published by Nike reflecting on the company’s success in achieving it’s environmental and social responsibility goals, and identifying the work still to be done.  We are curious though, how successful Nike has been, both internally and externally.  The report on sustainability makes clear how Nike thinks they are doing – which is unsurprisingly glowing; however, we are curious how real and true the success is, both from the producer side of it (being Nike) and the consumer side (being you).

Let us know what you think – of the report, of the progress, of the work to be done, and anything in between.

There is an interesting blog article that comes from Greenopolis, written by Joe Laur, reflecting on how Nike has worked hard to reinvent itself as a leader in responsible corporate citizenship.

Joe Laur writes:

Back in the late 1990’s footwear and sports apparel giant Nike was hitting a rough patch. They were dogged by furor over labor practices in overseas manufacturing facilities and worried about waste in manufacturing. They were looking for substitutes for toxic solvents used to bind shoe parts together, and a new gas to fill the famous Nike Air shoes with that wouldn’t add to climate change woes. They were seeking to eliminate wasted fuel and trips in shipping.

Now, a little more than a decade later, Nike is considered a top example of corporate social responsibility. They lead the rest of the field in setting standards for ethical labor practices at overseas manufacturing facilities. They’ve reduced their ‘carbon footprint” by 75%, by finding a  non greenhouse gas to fill Nike Airbags, and have dramatically reduced waste in their footwear and apparel manufacturing by  adopting “closed loop” strategy of zero waste, zero toxics, 100% recycling, 100% clean energy. They are a huge user of organic cotton and helped found the Organic Cotton Exchange to connect cotton farmers with cotton users and bring more organic cotton online. They have an entire line of products — Considered Design, which considers the future, the impacts, the waste, the energy and so on of every aspect of a product throughout its life.

You can read the rest of the article here.

You can read the Nike Sustainability report here.

Again, we encourage you to let us know what you think – of the report, of the progress, of the work to be done, and anything in between.