How sustainable is Björn Borg?
This screening has been done by Fairify on June 22nd 2020
Bjorn Borg is a Swedish underwear and sports brand that was founded by the successful Swedish tennis player. The brand is known for its colourful patterns and prints on its underwear and mainly sells in Scandinavia and The Netherlands. Although the company does publish a yearly sustainability report, it lacks relevant data. Bjorn Borg is not transparent about its carbon emissions, its supply chain and material origins.
Bjorn Borg has taken some climate action. Its goals for 2019 included reducing its carbon footprint by 40% in terms of greenhouse gases, and the company is now aiming for another 30% reduction by 2030. The company doesn’t publish its supply chain emissions and its reporting lacks relevant data about water, waste and energy consumption, which implies that either its efforts are not data driven or that there’s a lack of transparency. Either way, there are improvements to be made.
The same goes for material sourcing. The company had a previous target in place for a 70% sourcing of more sustainable materials, but is currently stuck at 20%. Bjorn Borg has the ambition for 100% more sustainable materials by 2022 and even though it has made the first steps, there is a lack of transparency concerning this topic as well. It remains largely unclear where the materials originate and what the percentages of used materials consist of, including the use of animal materials.
It’s good to see that the company has made improvements in terms of increasing the amount of more sustainably sourced materials and packaging. On labor rights the company has made some improvements as well. It has adopted the Amfori Code of Conduct, which provides guidelines for labor standards in its supply chain. Amfori also conducts independent social audits to ensure these labor standards are being enforced. Unfortunately, Bjorn Borg isn’t transparent enough about the quantity and results of these audits to guarantee fair conditions in its high-risk production countries like Bangladesh, China and Turkey. We’re missing some major certifications and memberships for improvement on this topic, which goes for the Bjorn Borg sustainability efforts in general.
