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Norway Europe

Responsibility

We care about sustainability

As a company that designs and develops outdoor and leisure wear, as well as children’s clothing, it is important to us to ensure that future generations can enjoy the same nature we have today. We recognize that the textile industry has a significant negative environmental impact and faces ethical challenges. At Norwegian Concept, we want to take our share of the responsibility, which is why we are committed to promoting responsible business conduct in our supply chains to protect people, society, animals, and the environment in the best possible way.

 

How we work with sustainability

We strive for a more sustainable value chain and production of clothes. To do so we have chosen to partner up with member organizations and use third party certifications. Our memberships give us valuable insights and up-to-date knowledge on sustainability in the textile industry. Our certifications give you, our customers, validation and documentation on our sustainability claims.

Still, it is important to be aware that certifications are not perfect and we do not think they automatically make our production sustainable. But it is the best solution we have found so far.

Due Dilligence following the Transparency Act

In 2022, the Transparency Act came into effect. The purpose of the Transparency Act is to promote respect for human rights and decent working conditions in businesses, and to ensure public access to information. Norwegian Concept is affected by the Transparency Act and is therefore required to conduct and report on due diligence assessments, in addition to having an information duty. We have been working with due diligence assessments for many years and consider it the core of our sustainability work. Due diligence is a method for identifying, preventing, accounting for, and following up on how actual and potential negative impacts of the business are managed. By conducting due diligence assessments, we are better equipped to ensure human rights and decent working conditions.

How
We follow Ethical Trade Norway’s guide for due diligence assessments, which is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct (2018). It involves the following six steps:

  1. Embed responsibility in the organization and policies
  2. Identify and assess negative impact/harm
  3. Stop, prevent, or mitigate negative impact/harm
  4. Monitor implementation and results
  5. Communicate how impacts are managed
  6. Ensure or cooperate on remediation and compensation where required

You can read all about our due diligence assessments and the six steps in our annual sustainability report here. For 2023, we achieved the base level on the report, indicating that we operate in accordance with the Transparency Act.

 

Policies and Guidelines

As part of the first step in our due diligence assessments, we anchor our work through policies and guidelines.

Policy for Responsible Business Conduct:
Describes how Norwegian Concept works with responsible business conduct and the requirements we set for our own business and supply chain. It also includes our Code of Conduct with requirements for human rights and decent working conditions. The policy is developed in collaboration with Ethical Trade Norway and is based on internationally recognized standards such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and ILO conventions.

Download our Policy for Sustainable Business Practices here.

Guidelines for Suppliers:
Describes the basic principles of our partnership with our suppliers. It covers key areas such as human and labor rights, worker safety, and animal welfare. These guidelines are developed in collaboration with Ethical Trade Norway and are based on internationally recognized standards such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights and ILO conventions.

All our suppliers must sign to indicate they have received and understood the content of the guidelines.

Download our Guidelines for Suppliers here.

Our Supply Chain and Supplier Follow-up

All our products are designed and developed by our designers at the headquarters in Kristiansand. We do not own any factories but collaborate with about 20 suppliers, primarily in China and a few in Bangladesh. If you are curious about which factories we produce at, we have an open supplier list here.

Purchasing Practices
To ensure the best products, that productions take place under responsible conditions, and with minimal impact on climate and environment, we rely on close supplier follow-up and good purchasing practices. Some key points in our purchasing practices are as follows:

  • Equal Partnership: Without our suppliers, there would be no products. They are essential to our business. We are therefore committed to treating our suppliers as equals and we refer to them as our partners, not just suppliers. Working towards an equal partnership involves not exploiting our position of power in price negotiations, sharing economic responsibility, and finding solutions together when problems arise.
  • Few but Long-term Partnerships: We aim to have few but long-term partner relationships to build trust, good communication, and the best possible collaboration over time. We have found that challenges are addressed earlier, new opportunities are recognized, and it is easier to carry out projects and changes related to sustainability.
  • Thorough Selection of New Partners: We are particular about who we collaborate with and have a thorough selection process to ensure partners who are as committed to good working conditions and minimal environmental impact as we are.
  • Collaboration on Production Planning: We collaborate on production planning so that partners receive predictable orders, have long enough lead times, and can balance their production capacity. This is important to avoid putting pressure on partners that could lead to excessive overtime, accidents, or poorer product quality.

Our memberships, partners and certifications

Member of Ethical Trade Norway

We have been a proud member of Ethical Trade Norway since 2013. Ethical Trade Norway is a member-based organization and a resource center for sustainable trade. Their goal is to promote responsible business conduct in supply chains to ensure that trade contributes to respecting human and labor rights, communities, and the environment. You can find more information here. We submit our annual sustainability report, available on their website here.

Guide Against Greenwashing

We have signed the Guide Against Greenwashing developed by Skift – Business Leaders for Climate Action, in collaboration with Zero, WWF Norway, and Framtiden i Våre Hender. Through this, we commit to avoiding greenwashing in our marketing and communication. Greenwashing is a form of misleading marketing or communication where a product, service, or company is presented as “better” regarding climate change, the environment, or animal and human rights issues, without proper documentation to support this claim.

Member of the Chemicals Group

The Chemicals Group RISE helps us with a Restricted Substances List (RSL) that is integrated into all our supplier contracts. The Chemicals Group, or Swedish Chemicals Group, is part of RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. They provide the latest knowledge on chemical and environmental issues to member companies in the textile and electronics industries. More information can be found here.

RDS (Responsible Down Standard)

At Norwegian Concept, we believe that high product quality is linked to responsible production. Therefore, we only use RDS-certified down in our products. This certification guarantees that methods such as live-plucking or force-feeding of birds are not used, and the down must be a by-product of food production. RDS sets strict requirements for humane treatment of animals.

bluesign® System Partner

We are a proud bluesign® System Partner. bluesign® is an environmental standard and certification scheme for sustainable textile production with strict requirements for chemical use and emissions throughout the production chain. bluesign® aims to ensure the highest level of consumer safety, minimal impact on people and the environment, and responsible use of resources. More information can be found here.

Oeko-tex 100

Several of our garments are labeled with Oeko-tex 100. Oeko-tex 100 is a label for testing textiles for harmful substances. Garments with this label do not contain allergenic dyes or carcinogenic dyes. We also guarantee that the product is tested for chlorinated phenols, phthalates, organic tin compounds, and more.

PFC-free impregnation

We also guarantee that all our impregnated products are PFC-free. PFCs (perfluorinated compounds) are known for their water-, oil-, and dirt-repellent properties. The downside is that they accumulate in the environment as they cannot break down naturally. In higher concentrations, they have been shown to pose a risk to both human health and the environment. Therefore, at Norwegian Concept, we do not use PFCs in our DWR (durable water repellent). To maintain the water repellency of outer fabrics, we recommend re-impregnating the garment after a few washes, as PFC-free impregnation may have slightly less durability and wear out with use.

Amfori BSCI

To ensure decent working conditions at the factories we produce at, we annually collect Amfori BSCI reports from them. This is a social audit conducted by a third party that checks health and safety, overtime, wages, the right to unionize, climate, and environment. All our partners have at least a C-level on the audit.

 

Chemicals

We are committed to controlling the chemicals used in the production and finishing of our products. Therefore, we have an extensive list of prohibited chemicals (Restricted Substances List) that our partners must follow. This list is developed in collaboration with the RISE Chemicals Group and complies with national and European legislation. Additionally, we conduct lab tests each season to ensure compliance with chemical requirements and to verify that our products do not contain harmful chemicals.

PFC-free Impregnation
We also guarantee that all our impregnated products are PFC-free. PFCs (perfluorinated compounds) are known for their water-, oil-, and dirt-repellent properties. The downside is that they accumulate in the environment as they cannot break down naturally. In higher concentrations, they have been shown to pose a risk to both human health and the environment. Therefore, at Norwegian Concept, we do not use PFCs in our DWR (durable water repellent). To maintain the water repellency of outer fabrics, we recommend re-impregnating the garment after a few washes, as PFC-free impregnation may have slightly less durability and wear out with use.

Animal Welfare

At Norwegian Concept, we are committed to respecting animal welfare. Therefore, we have integrated animal welfare requirements into our Code of Conduct, which all our partners sign. We have also taken an active stance not to use real fur or leather in our garments, only imitations made of PU. We do not use wool from sheep subjected to mulesing, and all down products must have down certified according to the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) to ensure humane treatment of the birds.