Environmental Communication Sustainability

Since 2008, GOLDWIN has done all that it can as a sports apparel manufacturer, considering the environment together with consumers with the aim to realize a sustainable society, under the banner of GREEN IS GOOD.

We aimed to realize a circular society by developing and manufacturing products that integrate ideas to reduce environmental impact, while taking action with our customers who use these products, aiming to care for different environments within all areas of sports and the outdoors. We are promoting communication and activities with our customers through our stores and products, on our company website, and through events.

GOLDWIN Group conducts semiannual environmental education for each business department, aiming to ensure awareness of our Environmental Philosophy and Environmental Policies, and to share progress on key environmental issues.

In FY 2022, all employees, excluding sales associates, were given approximately 50 minutes of environmental education each to deepen their understanding of company-wide and department-specific targets and issues. We also launched the “Sustainability Navigation” series, which aims to instill sustainability within the company, by using the intranet. In FY 2022, we posted an article on the theme “Why is sustainability needed now?” and in FY 2023, we plan to post a series of articles to encourage employees to think about sustainability in terms of themes that are familiar to them, including reasons for our commitment to sustainability, sustainability-related terms readers may not be familiar with, and ESG (environment, social, and governance).

In FY 2023, our policy will again be to provide employees with opportunities to learn about the environmental issues faced by GOLDWIN Group, as well as to ensure that they are fully aware of our Environmental Policies.

GOLDWIN Group actively communicates our environmental initiatives, for example, through our website, our Integrated Report, and through event sponsorship.

We also promote activities to improve the global environment in-store and through sporting events, together with participants in sporting and outdoor activities. In addition, we hold activities to raise interest in Earth and the environment among children, who have Earth’s future in their hands, and to help them to understand the importance of working together to protect our natural environment, through experiences and fun, such as Kids Nature School and Play Earth Park.

Collection of Clothing at the 2022 Toyama Marathon

Since 2015, GOLDWIN has been a sponsor of the Toyama Marathon, which is held in Toyama Prefecture where the company was founded. At the marathon held on Sunday, November 6, 2022, we organized a booth to showcase our environmental initiatives, and we collected approximately 670 kg of clothing. Collected clothes made of polyester and nylon are chemically recycled back into high-purity raw materials that are used to make new products. Our aim is to reduce environmental impact by converting products into sustainable resources.

Collection of Clothing at Kataller Toyama Home Matches

GOLDWIN has continued to support Kataller Toyama (a professional soccer team) by supplying uniforms since the team debuted in 2008 in Toyama Prefecture where the company was founded.

During the 2022 season, we started collecting unwanted clothing from Kataller Toyama supporters at home matches. About 1,100 kg of clothes was collected. Clothes made of polyester and nylon are chemically recycled back into high-purity raw materials that are used to make new products. Our aim is to reduce environmental impact by converting products into sustainable resources.

Cooperation for the Shonan International Marathon

GOLDWIN and THE NORTH FACE cooperate with the Shonan International Marathon, dubbed a “My Bottle Marathon” aimed at zero waste.

Although the 2020 and 2021 marathons were cancelled due to COVID-19, at the marathon on December 4, 2022, runners were asked to bring their own drink bottles, and water tanks and jugs were set up at over 200 locations along the course. All paper cups, plastic cups, and PET bottles were completely eliminated from the event, equating to approximately 31,500 PET bottles and 500,000 paper and plastic cups that were previously needed, plus another 26,500 PET bottles that were distributed after the goal line.

Community Clean-up Activities

Each of the GOLDWIN Group’s business departments undertake community clean-up activities. In FY 2022, we conducted 133 such activities, including clean-up activities at each of our business locations and stores, as well as beach clean-up activities and clean-up mountain-climbing activities.

Tree-planting Activities

GOLDWIN’s THE NORTH FACE brand is conducting the “ONE PRODUCT ONE TREE” campaign in which one tree is planted for every product sold. The aim of the campaign is to get people to think about the global environment through the act of choosing a product.

In FY 2022, approximately 4,000 larch trees were planted in the Numata Forest, one of the forests owned by Mitsui in the Uryu District of Hokkaido, and about 100 wild cherry, Japanese fir, maple, oak, and eleven other species were planted in spring and fall on the Bosatsu Pass in the Tanzawa Mountains, Kanagawa Prefecture.
We have planted approximately 8,200 trees to date and plan to continue this initiative in fiscal 2023.