With this policy we, PUMA SE, declare that we do not source or process raw materials from any endangered species as being defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN.

Our policy also prohibits using leathers, hides and/or skins from animals that have been treated inhumanely. PUMA SE does not distinguish here whether these animals are wild or farmed.

PUMA SE will not use any animal fur in its products globally.

In particular the following listed items are not being used

• Furs, hides or skins from exotic animals like crocodiles, snakes, sharks or fishes
• Downs and feathers that are plucked from living geese or birds
• Merino wool from sources where mulesing practices are still applied, regardless of the country of origin

PUMA SE

Franz Koch

Chief Executive Officer

Continuing PUMA’s commitment with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657), we have strengthened our requirements for suppliers. This is reflected in the new version of our “Handbook for Social Standards”. We developed stricter guidelines to combat the eradication of slavery and human trafficking. In addition, we are in the process of communicating to all our suppliers the changes in our standards.

Handbook for Social Standards version 2012

In September 2010, the government of California approved a new law, which will require retailers and manufacturers operating in the state to make public the steps they have undertaken to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply and distribution chain. PUMA acknowledges the levels and types of risks related to each country where PUMA’s materials and goods are sourced and produced. In line with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657), PUMA recognizes the pervasiveness of practices that could be construed as slavery and human trafficking and is committed to addressing the issues within PUMA’s supply chain using best practice approaches where possible.

PUMA.Safe is the supplier social and environmental compliance program established over 10 years ago to ensure compliance to PUMA’s Code of Conduct. Our Code of Conduct covers issues such as maximum working hours, basic wage, respect, equality and restriction of forced labour, amongst others. The factory compliance monitoring system is the core operational activity of PUMA.Safe, along with capacity building projects, regular consultation and outreach with stakeholders and factories to improve compliance, particularly in our major production markets.

At present, the PUMA.Safe audit process is the primary mechanism to ensure that PUMA’s social, health, safety and environmental standards are observed at our direct contract factories as well as the contract factories of PUMA’s subsidiaries and licensees, as well as in a proportion of known subcontractors. All official PUMA.Safe audits are announced, unless there is information or justification provided in advance that warrants an unannounced visit to a factory. During the audit, workers are interviewed and amongst other topics they are asked how they obtained their job, if they had to pay any fees, if general wages & deductions against wages are fair and if they were given back their identification documents. Migrant workers’ working permits, whether foreign or domestic, are also reviewed. If there are employee accommodations in the factory these are also checked and the working hours records are thoroughly reviewed. All of these actions aim to verify that there is no human trafficking and slave labor.

Furthermore, within our manufacturing agreements, every factory which manufactures PUMA products is obligated to be audited by PUMA or a designated third party for compliance with all PUMA standards and the relevant national and local laws – including those related to anti-slavery and human trafficking. Where such laws do not yet exist or are milder compared to international standards, PUMA strives to engage with all relevant stakeholders to come up with policies and actions to address the issue. Within these agreements contract factories are required to disclose subcontractors as defined by PUMA and failure or negligence to provide such information would be grounds for a variety of commercial penalties. PUMA conducts regular annual mapping exercises to validate subcontractor information provided by contract factories, and these are supplemented with engagements with stakeholders.

PUMA’s contract factories are also subjected to independent external monitoring by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which at present are all unannounced visits. The FLA is a is a collaborative effort of socially responsible companies, colleges and universities, and civil society organizations to improve working conditions in factories around the world. The FLA has developed a Workplace Code of Conduct, based on International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, and created a practical monitoring, remediation and verification process to achieve those standards. The FLA is a brand accountability system that places the onus on companies to voluntarily achieve the FLA’s labour standards in the factories manufacturing their products. The main component of both the PUMA.Safe and FLA audits is the remediation of the areas of failure. To achieve sustainable compliance, our factories are obliged to address not only the immediate areas of failure but the root causes of the failures. Where such root causes go beyond the factory walls PUMA encourages suppliers to engage with stakeholders that can help address these root causes on their own or in partnership.

PUMA also supports Better Work Programmes active in its major production markets. Better Work, a partnership between the International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation, brings together governments, employers, workers and international buyers to improve compliance with labour standards. The Better Work programme is active in the following countries: Cambodia (as “Better Factories Cambodia), Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nicaragua and Vietnam. Better Work provides assessment, advisory and training services to registered suppliers, whose participating buyers have access to assessment reports and improvement updates. Assessments measure compliance with national labour law and core international labour standards, including those relating to forced labour. In assessing forced labour, Better Work looks at employer practices relating to recruitment (including the use of employment agencies), document retention, freedom of movement, payment of wages, forced overtime, threats or intimidation, termination, and prison labour, among others. When necessary, Better Work staff work with suppliers to address practices that may contribute to conditions of forced labour. In addition, each country programme produces public compliance synthesis reports, which report aggregate non-compliance data—including data on forced labour—from participating factories.

In the event that a case of human trafficking or slavery would be detected in PUMA’s supply chain, the PUMA.Safe team together with the factory management would seek to eradicate the practice and launch a fair remediation for the affected parties. Through its affiliation with PPR Home, PUMA is strengthening its own internal awareness of social issues such as human trafficking and slavery and the impact of our business operations on society, particularly those operations that may seem removed from the supply chain.

Stakeholder engagement and partnership building at the local, regional and global levels in order to identify and act on solutions to a variety of risks and issues in the supply chain is an integral component of the PUMA.Safe program. PUMA strives to engage and work with local actors in areas with known risk of human trafficking and slavery to support initiatives that would mitigate and correct impacts in a systemic fashion. PUMA also works with its peers locally, regionally and globally through initiatives like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to ensure environmental sustainability initiatives are aligned with mitigation of social risks.

In accordance to the new law SB 657, PUMA is dedicated to expand its standards and take measures to cover the necessary scope and beyond in efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in our immediate supply chain and eventually beyond. This includes strengthening and making more explicit PUMA’s workplace standards and policies for contract factories in accordance with best practices and more stringent international standards.

The new law, SB 657, will go into effect on January 1st, 2012.

revised original statement, 28 December 2011

PUMA.Safe, as part of PUMAVision, reports directly to the management board of PUMA SE as well as to the Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR and Chairman of the PUMA Administrative Board, Jochen Zeitz. Since the establishment of PUMA.Safe in 1999, it has evolved from a social and environmental supplier auditing programme into the social and environmental responsibility arm of PUMA. PUMA.Safe has employed a strategic approach to address issues of non-compliance with PUMA’s Code of Conduct found amongst suppliers, implementing top-down as well as bottom-up social and environmental capacity building projects at key points in our supply chain.

In order to serve PUMA’s increasing sustainability requirements, PUMA.Safe adjusted its internal structure in July 2011 following the requirements of PPR HOME, the sustainability initiative of PUMA’s majority shareholder PPR, on Leadership, Humanity, Ecology, and Creativity. The PUMA.Safe department was divided into two strategic arms focusing on Humanity and Ecology issues within the supply chain and PUMA’s operations. With this division of the team we will have a higher leverage of our key sustainability activities in the supply chain and beyond.

As of the end of 2011 PUMA.Safe has 18 employees who globally ensure the proper implementation of PUMA’s sustainability approach within PUMA’s operations and in the supply chain.

PUMA.Safe Humanity
PUMA.Safe Humanity focuses on the monitoring, remediation and build-up of supplier capacity to comply with and go beyond the PUMA Code of Conduct in the areas of labor, human rights, health & safety and community development. It also engages with all relevant partners and stakeholders to ensure socially responsible production of PUMA products. PUMA.Safe Humanity also contributes to the enhancement of social and economic development of communities of interest within PUMA’s spheres of operation and influence.

PUMA.Safe Ecology
PUMA.Safe Ecology focuses on all environmental areas of PUMA’s sustainability approach; the proper implementation of the Restricted Substances List (RSL) amongst all our suppliers; the collection and interpretation of Environmental Key Performance Indicators (E-KPIs); on capacity building programs to improve energy and water efficiency as well as waste management. PUMA.Safe Ecology is the main driver for the establishment of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reports on supplier level and is responsible for the E-KPI data collection and interpretation within our company. PUMA.Safe Ecology also works in cooperation with other PUMA departments to develop more sustainable product materials and cooperates with the sustainability managers in footwear, apparel and accessories to bring all of our suppliers to a greater level of sustainability.

Within the context of publishing a worldwide unprecedented Environmental Profit and Loss Account (EP&L), PUMA and PPR HOME, the PPR Group‟s sustainability initiative, released on November 16, 2011, that the environmental impact for the key areas of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), water use, land use, air pollution and waste, generated through the operations and supply chain of PUMA is valued at € 145 million in 2010. Furthermore, in acknowledging the PUMA EP&L today as an innovative sustainability approach, the PPR Group, PUMA‟s majority shareholder, announced that this groundbreaking economic valuation methodology for a company’s environmental impacts will be implemented across its Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle brands by 2015.

After publishing an economic valuation of € 94 million of GHG emissions and water consumption in May this year, PUMA has now finalised its 2010 E P&L by adding € 51 million caused by land use change for the production of raw materials, air pollution and waste along its value chain. Only € 8 million of the € 145 million total derive from PUMA’s core operations such as offices, warehouses, stores and logistics while the remaining € 137 million fall upon PUMA’s supply chain. These costs, which will not affect PUMA’s net earnings, will serve as an initial metric for the company when aiming to mitigate the footprint of PUMA’s operations and all supply chain levels.

“The unprecedented PUMA Environmental Profit and Loss Account has been indispensible for us to realize the immense value of nature’s services that are currently being taken for granted but without which companies could not sustain themselves,” said Jochen Zeitz, Executive Chairman of PUMA and Chief Sustainability Officer of PPR. “At PPR HOME, we view the PUMA EP&L as an essential tool to help drive PPR’s sustainability development across its Group of brands because analysing a company’s environmental impact through an E P&L and understanding where environmental measures are necessary will not only help conserve the benefits of ecosystem services but also ensure the longevity of our businesses. The results of the PUMA E P&L underpin the urgency for a paradigm shift in the way we all currently do business and I have been pleased to also see that the release of PUMA’s first results has generated widespread interest among governments, corporations, NGOs and academics.”

The PUMA E P&L and the associated methodology were developed with the support of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Trucost PLC, using recognised ecological and economic techniques and building on a large volume of work in the fields of environmental and natural resource economics. The valuation of the overall results shows:

- PUMA’s supply chain is responsible for 94% or € 137 million of its total environmental impact.

- Over half (57% or € 83 million) of all environmental impacts are associated with the production of raw materials (including leather, cotton and rubber) in Tier 4 of PUMA‟s supply chain4.

- Only 6% or € 8 million derive from PUMA’s core operations such as offices, warehouses, stores and logistics; a further 9% (€ 13 million) occur in Tier 1, with the remaining 85% (€ 124 million) in Tiers 2-4.

- GHGs make up 90% of the total impact of PUMA’s offices, stores and warehouses.

Alan McGill, partner, Sustainability and Climate Change, PwC, said: “These values are enough to make any business pay attention. The PUMA E P&L offers a real insight into the environmental consequences of commercial decisions and at the same time highlights potential commercial consequences of the environmental realities unfolding around the world. This will make many companies consider how they can apply similar analysis in their own organisations. Companies – big and small – are now reliant on global supply chains, making their environmental footprint much larger than many realise. Assigning economic values to the environmental impact of a company‟s operations enables a business to tackle vital questions now, not just about environmental impacts, but business risk, costs savings and finding new ways to become more effective. Without measuring them, the impacts cannot be managed, or reduced.”

E P&L Results Break-Down

Water Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The impacts of water use and GHGs were found to be roughly equal, together making up just under two thirds of the overall impact (around € 47 million each). (For more details, please refer to the press materials of PUMA’s May 2011 announcement on http://about.puma.com/?p=6644)

Land Use

Negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services as a result of land-use for agriculture and buildings in PUMA‟s supply chain are valued at € 37 million or 26% of the total E P&L. More than any other impact these costs are concentrated in Tier 4 with just 1% arising in PUMA‟s operations and Tiers 1-3. Because leather is used extensively in footwear – PUMA’s dominant business line – and it is the most land extensive raw material that PUMA sources, the use of leather is the greatest single factor contributing to impacts on land-use. As a result, footwear accounts for € 34 million or 91% of the overall land-use impact.

Air Pollutants

The environmental damage caused by air pollution (particulates, ammonia, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and carbon monoxide) amounts to € 11 million, representing 7% of the E P&L total. Tier 4 is responsible for the lion’s share of the air pollution impact, valued at just over € 4 million. The single most significant contributor to this impact is ammonia emissions from animal waste and fertilisers used in agricultural processes.

Waste

The environmental impact caused by waste generation (landfill and incineration) is valued at € 3 million, representing 2% of the total PUMA E P&L. More than half of this derives from Tier 1 with some 21,000 tonnes of waste, followed by Tier 2 suppliers with some 8,000 tonnes and PUMA Operations with some 6,000 tonnes of waste. The vast majority of PUMA’s overall waste is produced in Asia / Pacific where most of PUMA’s suppliers are located.

Dr. Richard Mattison, Chief Executive Officer, Trucost said: “The current era of volatile resource prices, growing consumer and investor interest and greater regulatory standards mean that environmental issues are increasingly core to the business strategy. Water supplies, access to raw materials, a stable climate and clean air are vital to business operations, but many companies struggle to assess these issues due to their long and intricate supply chains. The Environmental Profit and Loss Account approach provides a robust framework to help companies unlock this complex challenge and embed sustainability at the heart of business decision making. PUMA has demonstrated that accounting for the environment is no longer a ‘holy grail’ objective, but simply makes good business sense.”

Responses to the PUMA 2010 Environmental Profit and Loss Account

The PUMA E P&L findings from 2010 have revealed that the lion share of PUMA’s environmental impact occurs within its supply chain of external partners, which the company has limited control over. In order to reduce the environmental impact at the lower end of the supply chain, PUMA is dependent on the cooperation of other industry players. To tackle this issue, PUMA has already started to gain support from national governments, environmental organizations, and representatives of science and industry to push for a shift in the current business paradigm towards a more sustainable approach; one that acknowledges the indispensible services provided by healthy ecosystems and respects their limits. The first step to achieving this change requires the services to be given monetary values in order to account for them when doing business.

At the same time, PUMA has started to implement solutions at its Tier 1 suppliers and within its own operations, where the company is able to provide support for change, independently.

Jochen Zeitz commented: “Reducing the environmental impacts that derive from PUMA’s supply chain represents a real challenge for us, as we have limited control over these activities and on further Tiers, suppliers can be shared by thousands of companies. However, we recognise that in order to make a real change we, along with our industry peers, have to work responsibly to help reduce the impacts of external supplier factories and raw material producers. In addition to driving innovation in various areas along our own supply chain and with our consumers, we also need the support of policy makers and the engagement of the whole industry to implement a new model for businesses that works with nature rather than against it and ultimately supports social and economic sustainability.”

Raising Awareness Among National Governments, the Industry and Science

The release of the initial E P&L results in May generated extensive media coverage and attained significant interest among governments, industry peers and international organizations.

Having been nominated as a co-opted member of the German Council for Sustainable Development, which advises the German government on sustainability issues, Jochen Zeitz presented the results and benefits of the PUMA E P&L to 15 Council members and a representative of the Federal Government last month. As a result, the council will launch a project that aims at implementing standards for PUMA’s environmental accounting statement and will promote the E P&L approach as an innovative practice in public debates.

The UK government featured PUMA’s groundbreaking analysis as a best practices case study for sustainable business in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair (DEFRA) Natural Environment White Paper in June 2011. White papers are documents produced by the UK government setting out details of future policy on a particular subject, often forming the basis for legislative reform.

Also, the Co-Chair of the Investment Commission and Treasurer for the UN Environment Programme Financial Initiatives referred to the PUMA E P&L when speaking at the 2011 UNEP Financial Initiatives Global Roundtable in Washington last month. Further references have been made by sustainability experts Pavan Sukhdev and John Elkington, the Harvard Business Review8, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to name but a few.

Stepping up internal Resources at PPR and PUMA

In support of these findings, PPR and PUMA have stepped up their internal resources, hiring additional staff on a group level as well as within the PUMA.Safe team in order to address the challenge of reducing the environmental impact. On a corporate level, PPR is adding an Energy Management Specialist to its sustainability team, who will immediately begin to investigate opportunities for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. PPR has also hired a Conservation and Ecosystem Services Specialist who will be investigating the development of broadly-accepted definitions of sustainable cotton and rubber and internal standards for their sourcing.

To better target and focus its efforts, the PUMA.Safe team, which ensures that supplier factories adhere to PUMA’s social and environmental standards, has created both a Humanity and an Ecology team. Five additional environmental and social auditors will be joining the existing 13 employees in the PUMA.Safe team, so that environmental impacts at PUMA’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers can be better addressed and solutions for their reduction more rapidly developed. PUMA is also hiring a Chemical Engineer to look at solutions to identify more sustainable materials as well as supporting PUMA in phasing out harmful substances within the supply chain.

Developing synergies and partnerships

PUMA and PPR HOME have shared the results of the E P&L with other industry players and corporations to leverage adopting a new business model that takes the costs of using natural resources and eco-system services within corporate supply chains into account. Furthermore, PUMA has collected information on the environmental performance of suppliers which can be used to provide benchmarks for supplier performance targets and the sharing of best practice. PPR HOME will also leverage the lessons learned during PPR‟s Group EP&L implementation stages in order to provide case studies across the Group‟s companies and brands to assist in broader adoption among businesses.

Building Capacity to Penetrate the Supply Chain

PUMA has already stepped up its capacity building programme for its suppliers such as the CONSERV project at apparel and footwear factories in Vietnam. The project, which was launched in cooperation with the German investment and development organization DEG and international capacity building organization Assist Asia, will support the factories of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, secure availability of natural resources and minimize the risks from waste and pollution through the implementation of resource efficiency practices.

Innovating for the Development of Sustainable Products

PUMA has also looked into opportunities to address the impact of Tier 1 to Tier 4 suppliers through the innovative development of more sustainable products and introduced its iconic style PUMA Suede to sustainability, creating the PUMA Re-Suede made for the environmentally conscious consumer. It has been developed using the latest materials and processes through eco-friendly product innovation. It is comprised of 100% recycled polyester fibers, produced by a chemical recycling process that reduces both the energy consumption and the CO2 emission by 80% compared to the production of virgin materials. The recycled polyester is scrap waste from manufacturing processes that is repurposed to create the synthetic material. With the development of the Re-Suede PUMA has come a little step closer to achieving its goal of manufacturing 50% of the international collections using more sustainable materials by 2015. Further information is available in the press kit on www.about.puma.com

The PPR Group E P&L Press Release is available on www.ppr.com.

PUMA North America has further reinforced the sportlifestyle company’s commitment to sustainability by announcing their participation in the UPS Carbon Neutral Program, an environmentally responsible shipping program where PUMA, with the help of UPS, can offset the carbon impact for all the company’s UPS shipments direct to consumers via shop.puma.com, to wholesale retail partners as well as UPS packages to domestic and international corporate offices and US retail locations. PUMA, whose mission is to be the most desirable and sustainable sportlifestyle company in the world, adds this program to a long line of efforts under the PUMASafe banner of sustainability programs and activities to reach PUMA’s 2015 sustainability goals.

“Participating in the UPS carbon neutral program is a milestone for PUMA as we continue to grow toward our mission to be the most desirable and sustainable sportlifestyle company in the world,” said Jay Piccola, President and General Manager of PUMA North America. “We are proud to be able to make this service available to our consumers and retail partners, at no additional cost to them, and to further our commitment to collaborate with our partners to find solutions to offset our carbon footprint.”

How does the program work? In the United States, a small fee that may range from $0.05 for a ground package to $0.75 for an international package will be applied to each package. PUMA will cover the fee for all consumers who shop online at the brand’s e-commerce store as well as for packages shipped to wholesale partners around the United States. On shop.puma.com, consumers will be notified via branding throughout the site and at check out. PUMA will also ship all packages to their domestic and international corporate offices via the carbon neutral program, as well as to and from all US PUMA Stores.

UPS carbon neutral shipping will be available to consumers on shop.puma.com beginning this November, just in time for holiday shopping. The remainder of PUMA’s partnership with UPS, for corporate and retail shipping, will begin roll out by early 2012.

Last May, PUMA released its first-ever results from their Environmental Profit & Loss Account (EP&L) and used its findings to better direct its sustainability efforts and initiatives. Partnering with UPS is a move toward reaching the sportlifestyle company’s goals to collaborate with partners across the entire supply chain, address environmental impacts at PUMA’s operations and seek solutions to offset or reduce the company’s carbon levels by 25% by 2015.

UPS launched the carbon neutral program domestically in 2009, and has made incredible advancements to expand the program internationally, and make it accessible to the majority of its consumer base and corporate clients. As a part of the initial launch, UPS purchased high quality certified carbon offsets to fund a variety of projects such as the Garcia River Forest Project, overseen by The Conservation Fund and continues to extend its offset purchases to other regions worldwide. UPS also matched the offset purchases up to $1 million through the end of 2011.

The calculation to measure the carbon (CO2) impact of the customers’ shipments is based on current and historical operational data, including distance and transport mode and a comprehensive carbon inventory.

UPS’s proprietary calculation methodology and processes are verified by Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS). Additionally, the carbon offset process is certified by The CarbonNeutral Company. The calculator is based on Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international standard for carbon accounting and reporting.

UPS carbon neutral complements the company’s sustainable business practices worldwide. These include operational efficiency, conservation initiatives and industry-leading innovations. UPS recently was named by Climate Counts as the leader in the consumer shipping category for the second consecutive year. To learn more about UPS’s total environmental program, go to www.ups.com/responsibility. To learn more about UPS’s carbon neutral product, please go to www.ups.com/carbonneutral.

The partnership between PUMA North America and UPS not only applies to the PUMA brand, but also brands under the PUMA North America banner, including Tretorn and COBRA PUMA Golf, and PPR sister company, Volcom.

In May 2010, PUMA published the last round of GRI Sustainability Reports from 10 of our key suppliers. In  2011 PUMA continued to develop its partnership with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) by expanding the project across its most important supplier factories in Asia. Within the course of the project, suppliers throughout the region successfully completed a GRI Certified training within the Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain (GANTSCh) project and as a result publish their own GRI Sustainability Reports.

PUMA’s mission is to become the most desirable and sustainable Sportlifestyle company in the industry and the company has implemented a comprehensive long-term sustainability strategy (for further information please see the PUMA Annual Report 2010). In 2011, PUMA published the first-ever Environmental Profit and Loss Account that put a monetary value on the environmental impacts that PUMA’s operations and supply chain generate. This analysis revealed that 94% of PUMA’s overall impact occurs at its supply chain. Integrating suppliers in PUMA’s sustainability initiatives is therefore an essential component of the company’s strategy and efforts to produce more sustainable products or truly become more sustainable itself. The GANTSCh project helps to further integrate the concept of sustainability into the supply chain, acts as a measurement tool for all relevant key performance indicators (e-KPIs), gives the suppliers a communication platform to demonstrate their own initiatives and increases the transparency of the PUMA supply chain.

PUMA plans to maintain the sustainability reporting by its key suppliers by working with GRI on a next wave of support for our manufacturing partners ensuring that the reports are further developed and enhanced. After having covered Europe, Africa and Asia with this project, we are now looking forward to include the Americas in the next project phase in order to make the global coverage complete.

~

~

Sao Viet
Pou Chen
Novita
Mortex
Lee & Man
Keenway
Kanaan
Jia Hsin
Foshan Xinguang
Dongguan Surpassing Shoes
BP Bag
Alliance One

An icon of culture, the original PUMA Suede was a 70’s statement shoe within the Beat-Boy community, an 80’s Hip-Hop must have and ever present in the alternative music scene of the early 1990’s. Famous for its bright colours, plush suede material, and custom fat lacing techniques, the PUMA Suede now stands for one more thing…sustainability.

Introducing the PUMA Re-Suede. PUMA has re-tooled the brand’s most iconic shoes, the Suede, with the highest degree of recycled materials, delivering sustainable style through an unforgettable classic look.

The PUMA Re-Suede has been developed using the latest materials and processes in eco-friendly product innovation continuing its legacy of distinct style, attitude and innovation.   Every aspect of the shoes has been designed with environmental impact in mind including the upper, sockliner, laces and sublining which are all made from 100% recycled materials and an innovative new outsole material.

The synthetic ultra suede upper material is created by Toray, leaders in the development of environmentally responsible materials.  The synthetic suede is comprised of 100% recycled polyester fibers, produced by a chemical recycling process that reduces both the energy consumption and the CO2 emission by 80% compared to the production of virgin materials.  The recycled polyester is scrap waste from manufacturing processes that is repurposed to create the synthetic material.

The PUMA Re-Suede retains the look and feel of the original Suede but is made for the environmentallyconscious consumer. The outsole is made from Double R Rice Rubber, which replaces a portion of the rubber content with a rice husk filler, a natural bi-product of the food industry, reducing the amount of overall rubber needed saving considerable fossil fuel energy in manufacturing and agricultural resources, making it PUMA’s most sustainable shoe yet.

The new PUMA Re-Suede is incredibly light weight, (140g/5.2oz less than the original) thereby reducing the fossil fuels needed in transport, saving fifteen tons of carbon emissions for every ten thousand pairs shipped. The Re-Suede is currently being sold in PUMA’s Clever Little Bag, a cutting-edge innovation in sustainable packaging that replaces traditional shoeboxes.

In September 2010, the government of California approved a new law, which will require retailers and manufacturers operating in the state to make public the steps they have undertaken to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply and distribution chain. In line with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657), PUMA recognizes the pervasiveness of practices that could be construed as slavery and human trafficking and is committed to addressing the issues within PUMA’s supply chain.

PUMA acknowledges the levels and types of risks related to each country where PUMA’s materials and goods are sourced and produced. PUMA has in place a factory monitoring system to ensure compliance to PUMA’s Code of Conduct. Our Code of Conduct covers issues such as maximum working hours, basic wage, respect, equality and restriction of forced labor amongst others.

Furthermore, within our manufacturing agreements, every factory which manufactures PUMA products is audited for compliance with all PUMA standards and the relevant national and local laws – including those related to anti-slavery and human trafficking. Where such laws do not yet exist, PUMA strives to engage with all relevant stakeholders to come up with policies and actions to address the issue.

At present, the PUMA.Safe audit process is the primary tool to ensure that PUMA’s social, health, safety and environmental standards are observed at our contract factories as well as its subsidiaries, licensees or subcontractors. During the audit, workers are interviewed and amongst other topics they are asked how they obtained their job, if they had to pay any fees and if they were given back their identification documents. Foreign workers’ working permits are also reviewed. If there are dormitories in the factory these are also checked and the working hours records are thoroughly reviewed. All of these actions help to verify that there is no human trafficking and slave labor.

Our factories are also subjected to compliance audits by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which at present are all unannounced visits. The main component of both the PUMA.Safe and FLA audits is the remediation of the areas of failure. To achieve sustainable compliance, our factories are obliged to address not only the areas of failure but the root causes of the failures. Where such root causes go beyond the factory walls PUMA encourages our suppliers to engage with stakeholders that can help address these root causes on their own or in partnership with us. PUMA also supports capacity building projects and conducts regular consultation with factories to improve the level of compliance.

The PUMA.Safe program was established over 10 years ago. In the event that a case of human trafficking or slavery would be detected in PUMA’s supply chain, the PUMA.Safe team together with the factory management would seek to eradicate the practice and launch a fair remediation for the affected parties.

In accordance to the new law SB 657, PUMA is dedicated to expand its standards and take measures to cover the necessary scope and beyond in efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in our immediate supply chain and eventually beyond. This will include strengthening and making more explicit PUMA’s workplace standards and policies for the manufacturers.

The new law, SB 657, will go into effect on January 1st, 2012.

PUMA.Creative has unveiled the environmental documentary film short HOME OCEANS, as part of its larger ocean preservation education campaign. The never-before-seen short film is from Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the director of the visually-stunning environmental documentary, HOME.  The 10-minute HOME OCEANS highlights marine issues of:  rising floodwaters, the depletion of sea mammals and sea birds, changes to ecosystems, coral reefs and much more. The film will be available for public viewing at each of the ten Volvo Ocean Race global stopover ports, with a premiere at race start in Alicante, Spain at the Volvo Ocean Race Dome and PUMA Quad.

In keeping with the style of the original film, HOME OCEANS approaches the topic of climate change from a unique perspective using only aerial photography to illustrate the transformations made to the earth. The short film not only features the problems facing the open seas, but ways the human race can make changes to help slow down the issues at hand before more damage occurs.  Footage was captured in Antarctica, North Pole, Africa, the United States and other locations.

Free screenings of the film will take place at the Volvo Ocean Race stop-over ports at the PUMA Quad and select venues such as local aquariums and history museums. The screenings are in addition to story time readings of the educational book “Marmo Saves Our Seas” with PUMA’s octopus mascot, Marmo, and other related activities.