Glen Raven releases corporate sustainability report

BURLINGTON, N.C.— Glen Raven, Inc., recently announced the release of its first corporate sustainability report Continuing a Pattern of GoodThe global report establishes a baseline of metrics across two foundational pillars – “Supporting Our People and Communities” and “Sustaining Our Planet” – and outlines the company’s goals of being a good corporate citizen.

“We’re publishing this first corporate sustainability report because our stakeholders want to know and we want to aknowledge the work we’ve done,” said Leib Oehmig, CEO, Glen Raven. “But we also think it brings transparency about our new goals and lets us hold ourselves accountable to get better.” 

The new sustainability goals were developed with cross-functional teams and third-party experts. They were created to build on the work already underway and to ensure the organization continues to have a meaningful impact globally.

Within the two pillars, specific goals are structured around four key areas: associates, communities, environmental impact and circular economy.

Photography by Steve Exum and Griffin Davis.

Focusing on associates, the company wants to increase diversity in leadership by 20% and women in supervisory roles by 25% by 2025, as well as improve safety by targeting zero at-risk behaviors worldwide each year.

“Thinking about Glen Raven in the future, we wanted to make sure we were holding ourselves accountable and being intentional in our recruiting efforts,” said Oehmig.

Volunteerism is a priority for the company under the communities goal. Glen Raven hopes to achieve 100% participation of associates globally in volunteer activities, with a focus on early childhood development.

“Early childhood education is foundational, but in many communities, especially those with fewer resources, there’s a great deficit,” said Oehmig. “We started working on that on a local level and started to expand globally—even in China, where we have a business hub, they’ve adopted a local community and are pursuing this as well.”

Glen Raven also aims to reduce its environmental impact by becoming 100% powered by certified renewable electricity by 2025 and becoming carbon neutral for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.

And promoting a circular economy plays into that focus on sustainability. The company plans to increase the use of recycled raw materials by five times by 2025 and help customers recycle an additional one million pounds of Glen Raven products by 2025, roughly doubling current amounts. And the company has committed to implementing zero-waste-to-landfill practices for all facilities by 2022. 

“The global landfill-free initiative is a journey we began in 2010, and globally, we’re beyond 90% of reaching that goal,” said Oehmig. “Not only do we want to reduce our consumption of materials that go to landfills, but also working with recyclers to eliminate those waste streams altogether or in many cases transition them to recycled products.”

Recycled Sunbrella fibers

Programs like Recycle my Sunbrella allow people to recycle fabrics, and those fibers are being reused in many ways, including in new collections, like the Retweed line released in 2020.

“Retweed was a renaissance fabric for us, and it contained 93% recycled content,” said Oehmig.

Oehmig said the company is excited to not only continue working toward these goals, but to make them public knowledge to increase their accountability on the progress. 

For more information about Glen Raven’s sustainability efforts and to view Continuing a Pattern of Good, visit GlenRaven.com/sustainability.

Jennifer Bringle

Jennifer Bringle has covered the home furnishings industry for nearly a decade, previously as editor of Casual Living and Kids Today magazines, and managing editor of Designers Today. She also is a contributor to Home News Now. Her work also has appeared in Good Housekeeping, Glamour, The Washington Post and Parents, among other outlets.

View all posts by Jennifer Bringle →

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our Newsletter for breaking news, special features and early access to all the industry stories that matter!

Subscribe

* indicates required
What is your Profession? *