Policy declaration

Alsico is a globally active family business that aims to provide a sustainable comprehensive solution to companies looking for quality industrial washable workwear for their staff.

Alsico takes the safety requirements and comfort of each wearer as a starting point and makes sure that the clothing respects their identity as well as the image of their organization. We want to offer our customers a complete service, at a fair price, with an accessible and quality product.

Central to this is the sustainability of the solutions we offer. Alsico defines sustainability as consistent impact management. We understand that our activity has an impact on people and the environment and we measure and report that impact. On that basis, we formulate actions to reduce any negative impact and, where possible, to create or increase any positive impact.

That includes measures to lead us to full climate neutrality by 2050, as well as to improving our environmental performance and protection throughout our production chain according to the precautionary principle, as defined in the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Lisbon Treaty (Art. 191, $2). Furthermore, we strive to eliminate all social risks in the chain and to create a circular and traceable product.

Accountability and transparency form the basis as we begin to fulfill this vision of sustainability. We measure the impact of our activity using three bottom lines: People, Planet and Profit (economic viability). This means that we take full responsibility for the products we make, as well as where and how we make them. This requires transparency; about the origin of our raw materials and about the people involved in the production process. We do this by complying with applicable environmental laws and regulations. But also by means of the human rights due diligence or risk analysis that we conduct annually to determine social and environmental risks throughout our supply chain.

We strive for accountability and transparency in the following basic responsibilities:

  1. The quality of our products, which we guarantee and continuously try to improve through our processes. Add to that the ISO 9001 quality management system, which creates a professional management framework in which responsibilities and obligations are clearly defined. Management continually monitors compliance with the processes and has the task of making adjustments where necessary. At the forefront is the integration of the production centers, the quality control that takes place there and the logistic tasks they perform.
     
  2. The direct impact we have on the environment - from our products, services and activities - is monitored and improved with the ISO 14001 environmental management system. This includes meeting relevant requirements and improving of our management system continually. We control our indirect impact on the environment by means of the purchase process of our raw materials: we only purchase fabrics and accessories that have an Oekotex 100 certificate. Thanks to a survey of our suppliers, we know the origin of yarns and fibres for 75% of our purchase volume. This survey is renewed every year so that we can adjust our risk analysis and related actions. Our range includes sustainable fabrics with a demonstrably lower impact in terms of CO2 emissions and water consumption. We will systematically increase the share of these. Thanks to our CO2 measurement, we also know the emissions associated with our activity. This allows us to set a target to reduce our total CO2 emissions by 30% by 2021 (compared to base year 2016).
     
  3. A safe and healthy workplace, focused on the well-being of its staff. Employees should be able to finish their day as healthy as they started it. To this end, Alsico offers not only a safe and healthy work environment, but also opportunities for physical fitness together with colleagues. Additionally, our top-notch HR policy watches over the psychosocial well-being of our employees. Mechanisms are in place to prevent any form of undesirable or discriminatory behavior.
     
  4. An open company culture, based on an absolute guarantee of labor rights (trade unions, collective bargaining, minimum age, free choice of employment). The goal for all employees is to feel involved and motivated to function in a company culture of honest and open communication. We want to achieve harmonious relations between the Alsico management, the management of each production center and all employees. Everyone is expected to assume their responsibility to clients, employees, management and stakeholders. They do so by carrying out their tasks with a goal-oriented attitude to successfully complete the mission that Alsico has set itself.
     
  5. Social and ethical transparency to exclude any form of corruption and human rights violations within Alsico's entire supply chain. As stated in our code of conduct, Alsico does not tolerate any form of child labour, forced labour or corruption in its supply chain. To this end, we screen our suppliers and evaluate them on their transparency about their supply chain. In case of violations of our mentioned zero-tolerance values, we initiate a discussion that must lead to concrete actions but will terminate the cooperation in case of non-compliance. For its part, Alsico will provide its clients with all the necessary information to guarantee its ethical and social responsibility in the supply chain.

We ask all employees to make a commitment and accept their responsibilities so that we can carry out our mission and achieve our objectives in terms of quality as well as environmental and social management.

 

Vincent Siau

Managing Director, Alsico nv