HanesBrands, an American basic apparel manufacturer, said that it has won its ninth consecutive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for “sustained excellence in energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction and environmental sustainability.”
The company will attend the Energy Star banquet in Washington, D.C. on April 20 to accept the award and liaise with other brands that have earned Energy Star recognition, including Allergan, The Boeing Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, General Motors Company and Raytheon. The EPA introduced Energy Star in 1992 as a “voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased efficiency.” Its annual Energy Star Partner of the Year award honors business and organizations that have “made outstanding contributions to protect the environment through best practices and organization-wide energy savings,” according to the firm.
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Its achievements in sustainability include lowering its year-over-year energy use per pound of production by 6 percent, resulting in savings of more than $4 million, and its reduction of “energy intensity” by almost 21 percent, which delivered a total cost avoidance of over $200 million since 2007 from its ongoing efforts, according to the firm.
HanesBrands has also implemented a number of environmental stewardship initiatives; embarked on partnerships with various universities to educate next generation business leaders about sustainability; and achieves high employee engagement in its “energy management culture.” For example, through initiatives such as HanesBrands’ recent “treasure hunt” held at the company’s Dos Rios fabric manufacturing plant in the Dominican Republic, the firm generated nearly 125 employee-led energy reduction ideas for power, steam, compressed air and water use, the company said. Collectively, the potential for savings totaled almost $1 million.
Javier Chacon, the chief global manufacturing officer for HanesBrands, said that “HanesBrands is incredibly honored to earn our ninth consecutive Energy Star Partner of the Year award and will accept it on behalf of our approximately 70,000 worldwide employees who are committed to energy management and environmental responsibility. Thanks to our employees’ steadfast commitment, Hanes is the only apparel company to be honored for sustained excellence by the EPA Energy Star program in its 26-year history and continues to demonstrate that companies from all industries can make a difference in energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction and environmental sustainability.”
HanesBrands also recently released the company’s 2017 environmental performance report, which highlights its achievements in water use, carbon dioxide emissions, energy use, renewable energy use and landfill diversion. The company said it is “on track” to meet its 2020 goals to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent (28 percent in 2017); energy use by 40 percent (28 percent in 2017), and water use by 50 percent (30 percent in 2017).
So far, HanesBrands has yielded strong year-over-year results from its efforts in 2017, most notably the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 15 percent; energy use by 6 percent; and water use by 7 percent, while also increasing its use of renewable energy by 7 percent, the company reported. HanesBrands said it pledged to “secure at least 40 percent of its energy from renewable sources (33 percent in 2017) and achieve zero waste by diverting company-owned supply chain waste from landfills (84 percent in 2017).”
Michael E. Faircloth, group president, global supply chain, information technology and e-commerce for HanesBrands. “These across-the-board improvements indicate our strong commitment to create a more efficient and energy-conscious organization for both the areas where we do business and the larger worldwide community. We have taken great strides toward our 2020 goals, and we intend to continue pushing to fulfill our promise to create a more environmentally friendly company.”
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., HanesBrands owns the majority of its supply chain operations and manufacturing facilities. The company markets T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery and activewear under apparel brands such as Hanes, Champion, Maidenform, DIM, Playtex, L’eggs, Wonderbra, Alternative and Gear for Sports, among others.
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