Speak to a few dozen firms, read a couple hundred press releases, or make your way through a few sustainability reports, and you will begin to develop a baseline by which to judge firms.

One of the firms that I learned about through my friends in textiles was the Esquel Group.

Esquel manufactures for the world’s best known and highly respected brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Brooks Brothers, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike, Lands’ End and Muji, and major retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Nordstrom and Jusco.

Known to people within the industry as being pro CSR, I recently found the article Green Endeavors in the Beijing Review that offers an interesting insight into their sustainability (environmental sustainability) efforts:

To encourage employee creativity in reducing energy consumption and pollution, company executives regularly evaluate employee project proposals, offer bonuses to winners and help them put their ideas into practice. In total, the company has invested more than $50 million in energy-efficient and eco-friendly projects over the past decade.

On their site, a link to their program announcement Esquel Group and Zhejiang Institute of Science & Technology of China Jointly Founded Eco-Textile Research Center , where Esquel announced it collaborated with Zhejiang Institute of Science & Technology (ZIST) of China to:

establish the ”ZIST Esquel Eco-Textile Research Center (ZERC).” The collaboration is a first of such joint initiatives by academia and private enterprise in China to foster scientific research on eco-textile production, and sets a precedent for the promotion of research in textile and ecology.

Where I like both of the above is that they are matched to their business, and that they are looking outside their four walls (more specifically outside the four walls of their management office) to find solutions.