The materials we use—from growing crops to dyeing and finishing textiles—have the greatest environmental impact in the entire product lifecycle. Using better, more sustainable materials is an important way that we improve our overall environmental performance.

We use more than 16,000 materials in our products each year; a single pair of shoes can contain up to 30 materials. Our Materials Sustainability Index encourages our product creation teams to choose better materials from vendors by comparing 57,000 materials from over 700 vendors.

We’re also improving the carbon footprint of high-volume materials by using recycled polyester, sourcing more sustainable cotton and using innovative technologies to reduce the amount of water and chemicals used to dye fabrics.

Dyeing and finishing textiles is one of the most energy-intensive processes in our value chain. We work with our dyeing and finishing suppliers to drive energy efficiency by building their organizational capabilities, improving steam boiler systems and implementing best practices for system maintenance. From FY15 to FY20, our focus was on moving our factory partners away from boilers to “electrification.” Now that factories have implemented over 40 boiler projects, we are working on shifting that electrical energy into renewable sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and, where available, offsite PPAs.

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