Jack Wolfskin striving for clean outdoor clothing by 2020

Ambitious
goal

2020 may
seem far away, but it is still a fairly ambitious goal to ban all pollutants by
the end of this decade. “The technical possibilities today don’t allow the
production of sustainable and effective outdoor wear that still offers
protection from the weather, without the usage of chemicals such as PFC’s”,
they say at the German outdoor specialist.

That is why
Jack Wolfskin will engage in a partnership with two of the most renowned
research centres in this area: the Helmholtz centre Geesthacht (centre for
material and coastal research) and the University Fresenius, who will perform
fundamental and applied research for the outdoor specialist.

“We have
the will to master the possible replacements of perfluorinated and polyfluorianted
chemicals (PFC’s) by 2020, to offer consumers a perfect protection from the
weather as well as a preventive protection of the environment”, says Michael
Rupp, CEO of Jack Wolfskin.

“We know we
have a long and difficult road ahead of us, but with our knowhow and with top
partners at our side, we are convinced we can reach our ambitious goals”, Rupp adds.

1 million
per year for cleaner production

The company
isn’t new to being sustainable: with its membership of the Fair Wear Foundation
and the publication of a “social report of suppliers” Jack Wolfskin has had a
leading role on social norms in the production countries.

The brand
also has a long list of forbidden chemicals: PFC’s such as perfluorooctane
sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid have been taboo since 2007, while it uses
the limits of the OEKO-TEX Standard for other chemicals. Since 2011 the company
is also system partner of Bluesign, to reduce the usage of chemicals during the
fabrication of materials.

The company
already invests more than one million euro per year to have a cleaner
production process and it will up that sum over the coming years.

Jack
Wolfskin is one of the leading retailers of functional outdoor clothing, shoes
and equipment in Europe and also the largest franchisor in the German sporting
goods sector. In Europe and Asia their products can be found in more than 600
franchise stores and over 4,000 multi-brand shops. The company with
headquarters in German Idstein had sales of 355 million euro in the financial
year 2011 and has 650 employees.