Textile Exchange

Did you know that 31 waste disposal trucks are needed to clear the waste that 100,000 pairs of conventional sneakers cause during the production process and consumer life until their owners throw them away and they end up in landfills or incinerators?

This is an insight gained from PUMA’s first Product Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) Account for four selected footwear and apparel styles, which PUMA published last month.

PUMA’s Product E P&L is an extension to product level of PUMA’s groundbreaking EP&L from 2010. PUMA announced the first E P&L in recognition that producing and selling PUMA products has a wide impact along the entire supply chain.

The E P&L puts an economic valuation on environmental impact caused by factors such as greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption, which in turn helps to identify the most significant environmental impacts so that solutions to address these issues can be developed.

The PUMA Product E P&L applies the analysis to two more sustainable and two conventional products: a pair of our soon to be launched biodegradable PUMA InCycle Basket shoes and a biodegradable cotton PUMA T-shirt versus a pair of the conventional retro PUMA Suede shoes and a conventional cotton PUMA T-shirt.

This helps us to establish whether our efforts to become a more sustainable company and develop more sustainable products are in fact making a positive difference. This first-ever PUMA Environmental Profit and Loss Account for products is a big step forward on our mission journey to become the world’s most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company.

PUMA’s current product collections also include a number of sustainable products using more sustainable materials such as organic cotton or recycled polyester in line with the aim to produce 50 % of the international collections according to the best practice sustainability standards by 2015.

The PUMA Product E P&L, which was developed with the support of PPR’s sustainability department PPR HOME as well as consulting firms Trucost and PwC, revealed that the new biodegradable PUMA shoe InCycle Basket and the biodegradable cotton T-shirt cause 31% less environmental impacts than their conventional counterparts.

More importantly, just like the E P&L, the PUMA Product E P&L cleverly values these environmental impacts and attaches a price tag of Euros and Cents. Customers aren’t expected to absorb the costs of these impacts, but at PUMA we believe it is necessary to make their extent clear for consumers.

For more information on the PUMA E P&L and Product E P&L, please go to www.about.puma.com.