We at PUMA believe that public reporting is not only a venue to demonstrate accountability, but also a means for us to celebrate success, openly address challenges, and elicit feedback on what we do and how we do it.

To learn more about how PUMA is making a difference, as well as our roadmap to sustainability, see our latest Sustainability Reports:

Insights Environmental and Social Report 2001

Perspective  Sustainability Report 2003

Momemtum  Sustainability Report 2004

Sustainability Report 2005/2006

PUMAVision Sustainability Report 2007/2008

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Sportlifestyle company PUMA and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) today announced that PUMA has become the first member of its Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain (“The Network”).

The central purpose of The Network is for large companies to provide support to their Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) suppliers in measuring and reporting on their economic, environmental and social performance – known as sustainability reporting.

Through PUMA’s membership of the Network, its suppliers will benefit from capacity building through GRI certified training to prepare a GRI sustainability report. PUMA has nominated five suppliers in Portugal, Turkey and Pakistan to receive training on the transparent measurement and reporting on their sustainability performance using the GRI G3 Guidelines – the world’s most widely-used framework for sustainability reporting.

“We are pleased that GRI provides another opportunity for PUMA to increase capacity building in our global supply chain through its Global Action Network,” said Reiner Hengstmann, Global Head Environmental and Social Affairs at PUMA. “Through our participation in a previous GRI sustainability reporting project, we enhanced the understanding of and commitment to sustainability at PUMA suppliers in South Africa significantly with one supplier even winning an award for their first sustainability report.”

The Global Action Network for Transparency in the Supply Chain is based upon the success of a recent project in which GRI partnered with the German Development Agency (GTZ) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project brought four multinational companies – including PUMA – together with twelve of their suppliers across five countries to teach the suppliers to understand, monitor and report on their sustainability impacts.

Gregory Elders, SME and Supply Chain Program Manager at GRI said: “We are delighted that PUMA has become the first member of The Network and has taken this bold step in embedding the practice of sustainability reporting within companies in its supply chain. The process of sustainability reporting is an essential step in enabling companies – large or small – to take ownership of their economic, environmental and social performance. Since small and medium enterprises – often within the supply chain of larger firms – provide the majority of employment globally: it is crucial that they measure and manage their sustainability impacts”

GRI has a strong track record in working with both multinational enterprises and smaller firms in driving the sustainability agenda forward through transparent public reporting.

“We are pleased to welcome PUMA back to build upon the success of the previous project, through which the company supported apparel suppliers from South Africa through the sustainability reporting journey,” added Elders.

Three PUMA suppliers in South Africa participated in an earlier pilot of the project. Impahla, one of the suppliers that participated in the pilot, has made sustainability reporting an annual activity.  The South African suppliers were supported by SustainabilityServices.co.za  for ellaborating their reports.  Our suppliers’ GRI / GTZ reports can be downloaded here:

Impahla Clothing 2007
Impahla Clothing 2008
Vimal Clothing Enterprise C. C.  2007

Encompassing issues of human rights, product safety and ecological concerns, the puma.safe concept (Social Accountability and Fundamental Environmental Standards) is articulated as a set of internal standards in effect throughout the supply chain. True to the adage that “responsibility starts at home”, these standards are primarily upheld by the puma.safe Audit Team, a group that monitors partner manufacturers and works with the rest of the company in promoting the initiatives of the puma.safe program.

The development of the “SAFE” concept originated 10 years ago when we came up with five core pillars as the basis for our program, representing a milestone for PUMA’s Corporate Social Responsibility policy: Transparency, Dialogue, Evaluation, Social Accountability and Sustainability. For details please take a look at our Sustainability Reports: 

Insights Environmental and Social Report 2001

Perspective  Sustainability Report 2003

Momemtum  Sustainability Report 2004

Sustainability Report 2005/2006

PUMAVision Sustainability Report 2007/2008

For PUMA, social accountability means responsibility to all of our stakeholders, including direct and indirect employees, shareholders and consumers. PUMA continuously seeks an active dialogue with these stakeholders and interest groups such as non-governmental organizations, academia and others.

The social standards, which have been laid out in our Code of Conduct, contain the most important social principles, which respect the rights and practices relating to the employees at all of our supplier factories. These social standards are further expounded in our Handbook for Social Standards and Handbook for Health and Safety. The Handbook of Environmental Standards aims to reduce any negative environmental impact from PUMA’s business activities and guarantee that our products are free from hazardous substances.

For more information about our standards please see our Workplace Standards/Policies.