Joint response to Greenpeace letter related to upcoming detox publication (engl.)

Herzogenaurach, 19. März 2012 - On March 15th 2012, Greenpeace wrote to brands and notified them that another Detox publication will be launched soon. While the letter does not indicate further details about the content of the report, Greenpeace has requested brands to commit and announce a full elimination schedule and implementation of a full ban of APEs (alkylphenol ethoxylates). On March 16 the following response was sent to Greenpeace.

"In November of 2011, acting with a deep sense of commitment and urgency, the undersigned brands established the 'Joint Roadmap toward zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020’. We all recognise that industry collaboration at all levels is needed for us to achieve our challenging goal. To help build the critical mass needed to affect change in our industry, the signatory brands have accepted G-Star into the Joint Roadmap Collaboration. We are also actively recruiting other brands, consultants, NGOs, advisors, and industry players to participate with and guide us on this journey. At this point in time and to build further leverage in the industry it is crucial to enlarge the group of brands and for this purpose the Joint Roadmap sets a clear framework for commitments.

With regard to your inquiry about APEOs, we wish to inform you that all brands have already or will very shortly communicate to our respective suppliers the need to source APEO free chemical preparations.

In April 2012, we will be posting our first Joint Roadmap status update. In this update, we will describe the progress we have made and the state of the collaborative projects.

We hope that you will continue to support the engagement with other brands at the same level playing field with the purpose of achieving critical mass for this endeavor.

Kind regards,

adidas Group, C&A, G-Star, H&M, Li-Ning, Nike, and Puma"