“It is our collective and individual responsibility… to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live”

Edwards is committed to creating more sustainable operations with a goal of minimizing our total environmental footprint. We strive for transparency when it comes to our efforts and implementations in the sustainability realm. Edwards fully believes that we have a duty to make day to day operations, big or small, more environmentally friendly.

We have recently created a Sustainability Committee in hopes to really focus on the different areas of the company that could be more sustainable. While the committee is new, the changes are big! Here is a recap of what we have done so far, working towards, and talking about.

What we have accomplished:

• Energy-efficient lighting has been installed across the entire building
• Partnered with a local company to take our wood pallets to reuse, repair/reuse, or turn into chipboard.
• Unsellable garments are donated to local thrift stores and charities to eliminate sending to landfill.
• Partnered with Blue Jacket Inc. to take our second quality donation of goods. They will be used for resell in their Blue Jacket Clothing Company.
• Used embroidery plastic spools are collected after use and shipped back to supplier to be recycled and reused.
• Partner with our local Meijer recycling program to take our plastic waste. With this partnership, Edwards is able to keep over 10 tons of plastic out of landfills each year.
• Started creating sustainability focused garments by incorporating recycled fabric.

What we are working towards:

• Creating communal trash/recycling bins throughout the offices to reduce the amount of plastic trash bags being used. About 75% of the offices have made this transition and we have already seen a huge decrease in the amount of trash bags being used.
• Reducing unnecessary packaging materials in existing and future styles (hangtags, plastic garment pins, etc).
• Moving from plastic silicone desiccant packs to plastic-free Micro-Pak Dri Clay Kraft desiccant.
• Changing virgin plastic poly mailers to Ecopackable recycled non-virgin plastic poly mailers. In the process of testing thicker bags and receiving alternative product from Ecopackables.
• Looking for a partner to recycle hemming/extra fabric. Currently at a road block but contacting local fabric stores, churches, etc. to start taking set amounts weekly or monthly.

What we are talking about:

• Adding recycling symbol to recyclable polybags so the recipient is aware of recyclability.
• Finding a way to reuse/recycle embroidery backing that is made up of multiple kinds of fibers.
• Predicting a wealthy decrease in paper consumption after the launch of our new ERP system. Using our current monthly paper usage as a benchmark. ERP is forecasted to launch later in 2023.