PORTLAND, Ore. — August 1, 2019 — From Tim Boyle, President and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Company:

“President Trump announced today via Twitter that he plans to raise tariffs on imported goods from China beginning September 1, 2019. If that happens, it will be a disaster for the American economy, employers and consumers. If tariffs are imposed, Columbia Sportswear Company — along with many other manufacturers in our industry — will be forced to raise prices on our products. This is a massive tax on employers and consumers, not on China.

“Footwear and apparel are some of the most highly taxed products in the United States. Herbert Hoover-era tariffs as high as 37.5% are already in place and are being paid by U.S. consumers. With President Trump’s proposed 10% tax on goods manufactured in China, the American people will see almost half the cost of their shoes and clothing go to taxes.

“Furthermore, raising tariffs creates uncertainty, which makes it difficult for American business to make investments that can continue to grow the U.S. economy. We’ve been fortunate to have a strong economy for the past decade. Let’s not tank the economy with the misguided conception that trade wars are fun.”

Posted August 2, 2019

Source: Columbia Sportswear Company

LOS ANGELES — August 2, 2019 — Barco® Uniforms (Barco) celebrated its 90^th anniversary yesterday, August 1. Since its founding in 1929, Barco has grown to become a global apparel industry powerhouse and is widely recognized as the pioneer of the modern medical scrubs industry. One out of every three Healthcare professionals in the U.S. has purchased Barco-branded scrubs.

“Celebrating 90 years in business is a tremendous accomplishment, and our success is built on the relationships we have with clients, partners, and dedicated Healthcare and service industry professionals around the world. They’ve challenged us to innovate the modern professional apparel industry and maintain our leadership position, and we are humbled by their support over the years,” said Barco President and CEO David Murphy.

At its four-day celebration event, supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, who modeled for Barco early in her career in the 1960s, made a surprise guest appearance to help present its first annual “Made to Matter” award, created to honor the world’s most inspiring healthcare professionals. The winner, Tatiana Giusti, MD, M.Sc., advising professor and founder of Proyecto Mayu in Venezuela, will receive a year’s supply of new scrubs and a $5,000 donation to the charitable cause of her choice.

“At Barco, the value of caring for others is at the heart of everything we stand for,” added Murphy. “The purpose of our work is focused on providing comfort for those who care for others — helping them to look, feel, and perform their best. The goal of our Barco Made to Matter™ Award is to take that mentality one step further to honor and recognize Healthcare’s most inspiring Healthcare professionals, who work tirelessly to provide care to their patients and community.”

Headquartered in Gardena, Calif., Barco is one of the largest professional apparel companies in the world by revenue. Its products are sold in more than 50 countries and territories, including 1,200 independent retailers in the U.S. and internationally. It employs 250+ employees, and approximately one-third of the company is dedicated to design, research and development, product development, merchandising and fabric sourcing. The company has been privately owned and operated since its inception; Michael Donner currently serves as the chairman of the board.

“At a time when most companies are courting private equity funding or flirting with going public, we’ve held steadfast to our values and remained family-owned. Since the great Kenneth Donner took over the company from his stepfather in 1936, Barco has been guided by a mission to be a purposeful, innovative and meaningful apparel brand and that will not change. We are confident that we can continue to be successful, and look forward to the coming decade,” affirmed Murphy.

Beginnings of Barco Uniforms

In 1929, Morris Barker founded Barco to provide uniforms for beauty and residential professionals. Seven years later, Kenneth Donner accepted an offer from his stepfather to run the company, bringing a keen business mind and a new fashion sensibility to designing uniforms. Donner brought a fashion-forward approach to the company, and leveraged technology and innovation to improve Barco’s products. Donner, known for obsessively sourcing and innovating fabrics the company used, was also known for focusing on the tiniest details in crafting a garment that would improve a nurse’s performance.

In 1943, Barco pioneered the use of nylon to create stylish easy-care dresses for nurses and continued to innovate with a series of fashion “firsts” that transformed the nursing industry. In the 1960s, Barco introduced ‘warp knitted’ fabric to its medical uniforms for stretch and comfort. It also began running advertisements in women’s magazines like Mademoiselle and Cosmopolitan so nurses would see them and feel fashionable.

Invention of the Modern Medical Scrubs

When cultural norms made it acceptable for nurses to wear pants, Barco was the first to add a new level of ease and convenience to shopping by creating “grab and go” pantsuit sets, essentially inventing the modern medical scrubs set; later, it became one of the first professional apparel companies to offer tops and bottoms – for men and women – sold separately to accommodate a broader range of body sizes.

Grey’s Anatomy™

Since 2006, Barco has worked in partnership with ABC, holding merchandise licensing rights in the medical scrubs category to the television network’s hit drama “Grey’s Anatomy.” The global popularity of the show has helped make Barco’s flagship collection the best-selling line of premium medical scrubs in the U.S. over the last 20 years. The “Grey’s Anatomy by Barco” scrubs collection has expanded to included six sub-brands and continues to be the preferred choice for discerning medical offices and health care professionals around the world.

Barco One®

Launched in 2016, Barco One was designed in response to health care professionals’ need for a uniform that would keep them cool even under extreme physical and emotional duress. It utilizes revolutionary temperature-regulating fabric technology that adapts to environmental and body temperature variances, providing optimal comfort. Each garment is made from five recycled plastic bottles, and the fabric’s anti-static properties (Quick-Shed™) release animal hair quickly and easily – ideal for veterinarians, pet groomers, dog walkers, animal wranglers, etc. A modern, sporty, athleisure-inspired look and fit make these pieces ideal for an easy transition from work to weekend life.

Barco One® Wellness

Launched in 2018, Barco One Wellness is the first-ever medical scrub collection to use advanced bio-mineral-infused fabric technology, which aims to help the body self-regulate and recover. A health care professional’s daily tasks are often physically strenuous and tiring, especially for those who work late and early morning shifts. Thermoregulated fabric technology keeps the body cool and comfortable, even when the heat is on.

Skechers® by Barco®

In 2017, Barco partnered with the leading lifestyle and work footwear brand Skechers USA, Inc. (NYSE:SKX) for the global launch of a new innovative scrub collection—Skechers by Barco—designed to offer fashion and high performance to healthcare professionals. Skechers by Barco features an eco-friendly fabric with four-way Spandex stretch to enhance performance as well as the company’s unique soil releasing and moisture-wicking fabrics. Each garment is made from seven recycled plastic bottles.

Design and Innovation

Under Kenneth Donner’s leadership, Barco began to design nurse’s uniforms with the same precision and attention to detail as a European couture house, transforming the women who wore them. For Barco, purposeful design and innovation are what makes a set of medical scrubs more than just a uniform. Every stitch, pattern, pocket, and waistband are designed to positively impact the lives of those who sacrifice and serve others.

Today, approximately one-third of the company is dedicated to designing, researching, and developing new products, as well as merchandising and fabric sourcing. Garment prototypes are cut and sewn in Los Angeles, and then tested by real health care professionals who provide feedback before going into production. Barco is the only medical apparel company in the industry to employ a male designer specifically for men’s apparel. The company’s gradual shift into lifestyle collections and athleisure-inspired pieces is no coincidence, as it employs several designers who come from the high-street fashion and sportswear industries. Barco’s current roster of designers have previously worked at Adidas, Nike, Quicksilver, Timberland, Manduka, Levi’s, PacSun and Hurley.

Corporate Apparel

In 1970, Barco entered a new phase when it was invited by Denny’s to design and manufacture the corporate apparel for the national restaurant chain. Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s, both expanding rapidly across the globe, came next. Today, Barco proudly represents a client portfolio that includes Domino’s, Jack in the Box, Jamba Juice, Bojangle’s, Subway, Sonic Drive-In, and Wendy’s, and more.

Posted August 2, 2019

Source: Barco® Uniforms

ARTEIXO, Spain — July 16, 2019 — At today’s Annual General Meeting at its headquarters in Arteixo (La Coruña), Inditex’s shareholders ratified the Group’s 2018 financial statements. In 2018, Group revenue amounted to 26.15 billion euros, underpinned by growth in all the regions in which it does business, as well as in online sales, which accounted for 12% of the total, having increased by 27% last year. Net profit totalled 3.44 billion euros. These results paved the way for the payment of a dividend of 0.88 euros per share, a growth of 17% year-on-year and of 83% in the last five years.

During his presentation at the AGM, Inditex’s executive chairman, Pablo Isla, shared with Inditex’s shareholders some of the key targets set out by the company for and the period up until 2025.

“Our digital transformation and determined progress towards the most demanding sustainability standards are complementary and underpinned by the efficiency of our long-standing business model, which is based on offering our customers the best in quality fashion,” Isla said. He also highlighted that “sustainability is a never-ending task in which everyone here at Inditex is involved and in which we are successfully engaging all of our suppliers; we aspire to playing a transformational role in the industry”.

Among those targets, he stressed that by 2025 Inditex will only use cotton, linen and polyester that is organic, more sustainable or recycled. Use of cotton, linen and polyester  —together with viscose, which will reach this target by 2023 — constitute 90% of the raw materials purchased by the Group. In addition, 80% of the energy used in the Group activities (stores, logistic centres and offices) will be renewable.

The first milestone, set for 2019, is for all of the Group’s platforms and head offices to meet the highest green building certificates and for 100% of Zara stores to be eco-efficient (which is one year ahead of the original target). In addition, the at-home used clothing collection service currently operating in several cities in Spain and China will be extended to Paris, London and New York by September.

Another of the more ambitious programs announced today by Inditex, is that the entire eco-eficient store platform will be complete by 2020. Zara will achieve this target in 2019, the rest of the brands will follow suit in 2020, assisted by the company’s effort to fine-tune and digitalize its sales footprint.

• Also this year, the Group’s Join Life garments will account for one-quarter of the total. Join Life is the label used by all of the Group’s retail formats to single out the use of more sustainable raw materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester and Tencel and the prioritisation of more water and energy friendly processes.
• The volume of clothing featuring the Join Life label has already increased by 85% in 2018 to 136 million garments. The Group is anticipating further significant growth in 2019 – of 110% – and that by 2020 one in every four items of clothing put on sale will qualify for this sustainability label.
• Also in 2020, all of the Group’s brands will have eliminated the use of plastic bags, with Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti and Uterqüe already having done so. In 2018, only 18% of all bags were made from plastic.
• Next year, all of the Group’s stores will have been fitted with containers for collecting used clothing for subsequent charitable purpose reuse or recycling. The Clothing Collection program is one of the cornerstones of Inditex’s circular economy effort.
• That program’s reach — in collaboration with a number of non-profit organizations — has increased to 24 markets; the 1,382 containers installed in the Group’s stores are complemented by the 2,000 street containers set up throughout Spain in collaboration with Caritas and the at-home pick up service operational nationwide in Spain. Since its launch, over 34,000 tonnes of garments, footwear and accessories have been collected through the dedicated containers placed in the company’s stores, offices and logistics platforms.
• Complementing this program is the strategic commitment to researching new technologies for developing new recycling processes. On this point, Inditex’s chairman referred to the expansion of the collaboration agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under a $4 million plan designed to tackle global challenges in operational and sustainability matters and support research into better ways of recycling clothing and recovering fibres using clean technology.

By 2023, the company will have fully eliminated single-use plastics from customer sales and 100% of the waste generated at the Group’s head offices, logistics platforms and stores will be sent for recycling or reuse, framed by the Zero Waste programme.

Currently, the company is recycling or reusing 88% of the waste. It will continue to introduce collection and recycling systems for all of the materials used in its package distribution and hanged garment operations (mainly FSC-certified cardboard boxes, recycled and recyclable plastic, alarms and hangers) for reuse within the supply chain itself or for recycling under the so-called Green to Pack programme.

Also in 2023, another of the most widely used raw materials, viscose, will be 100% sustainable, and in line with the target shared with Changing Markets, enabled by the fact that, by then, the supply chain will have finished implementing the recommended best environmental practices.

Digital, Sustainability Transformation

“Our digital and sustainability transformation is only possible thanks to the solid business model performance, which is generating the funds needed to reinvest in the company’s future”, Isla told the company’s shareholders. He recalled that the company has invested more than 9 billion euros during the last six years, over 2 billion euros of which has been earmarked to introducing technology designed to enhance the customer experience.

The sales footprint increased by 5% in 2018, once again accompanied by the strategic commitment to larger stores equipped with new technology to enable online integration and eco-efficient operations. During the last six years, the company has overhauled its store portfolio, a process marked by 3,364 newly opened stores, 2,374 store refurbishments, 1,019 expansions and the absorption of 1,401 older and smaller-sized units in overlapping catchment areas. “Thanks to this effort, we are now offering our customers an integrated and unique experience in which they can swap the store for the online platform, and vice versa, at any stage in the process to best suit their needs”, Isla added.

Expansion Of The Online Platform

The constant updating of the physical store network has been accompanied by significant expansion of the online platform, underpinned by the announced target of having all of the Group’s brand fashion propositions available to purchase anywhere in the world by 2020. Indeed, following the launch of its global online sales platform, www.zara.com/ww, in 106 markets in which the chain does not have physical stores, Zara’s collections can now be purchased in over 200 markets. Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterqüe have also already launched their global stores, lifting the number of markets where their fashions can now be shopped by over 100.

The work done to further the integration of the physical and online store platforms, tangible in the introduction of next-generation, customer-oriented technology and services, set the backdrop for Isla’s explanation of the Group’s “solid model”. This model has yielded sales growth of 56% during the last five years, with positive results in all regions.

At the end of the year, the worldwide Group was made up of over 174,000 people of 154 different nationalities. Its chairman described that workforce as one that embraces sustainability as an end goal and a cross-cutting value, underpinned by the “culture of modesty, diversity, creativity, innovation and refusal to settle that characterises the entire team”.

Inditex paid its employees 619 million euros of bonuses and variable remuneration from its 2018 profits in addition to their base salaries, lifting total employee remuneration to 4.14 billion euros.

That figure was topped up by a further 32 million euros corresponding to the second cycle of Inditex’s 2017-18 extraordinary profit-sharing plan which was paid out last April to the approximately 92,000 people who had been working for the Group for at least two years as of 31 March 2019. In all, the Group has paid out 152 million euros in the four years these plans have been in place. 2019 has been marked by the introduction of new plans with targets tied to sales growth in each specific store in the case of store staff and to profitability in the case of personnel working in the central services and logistics departments.

Tax Contribution

Isla mentioned the Group’s contribution to the Spanish economy in particular, driven by the activities carried out at its head offices. In 2018, Inditex’s total tax contribution topped 6.17 billion euros, 1.69 billion euros of which was paid in Spain. Its effective corporate income tax rate once again exceeded 22%.

In addition, in Spain, nearly 7,500 suppliers invoiced Inditex for more than 5 billion euros of goods and services in 2018. Total invoicing by Spanish suppliers to Inditex over the last five years therefore stands at over 23 billion euros.

Lastly, Inditex’s executive chairman highlighted the more than 2,400,000 direct beneficiaries of the community investment programs the Group collaborated with in 2018, contributing 46.2 million euros.

AGM Resolutions

In addition to the 2018 financial statements, Inditex’s shareholders ratified the re-election of the Group’s executive chairman Pablo Isla as director. Also, approved the re-election as directors of Amancio Ortega, José Luis Durán and Emilio Saracho and the appointment of Carlos Crespo as director. Afterwards, The Board of Director appointed Carlos Crespo as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

They also approved the creation of the new Sustainability Committee within the Board of Directors and agreed to increase the number of directors to 11, paving the way for the appointment of a new independent director in the future.

They also voted in favor of the new dividend policy. As a result, the ordinary payout will increase from 50% to 60%. In addition, the company will pay out a bonus dividend totaling 1 euro per share against 2018, 2019 and 2020 profits.

Framed by the new policy, they also ratified the motion to pay out a dividend of 0.88 euros per share from 2018 profits (up 17% year-on-year), 0.44 euros of which was already distributed on 2 May, leaving the remaining 0.44 euros to be paid in the form of an ordinary final dividend and bonus dividend on 4 November 2019.

Posted August 1, 2019

Source: Inditex

WASHINGTON — August 1, 2019 — The National Retail Federation today issued the following statement from Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French in response to the Trump administration’s plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of goods imported from China beginning September 1.

“As we’ve said repeatedly, we support the administration’s goal of restructuring the U.S.-China trade relationship. But we are disappointed the administration is doubling-down on a flawed tariff strategy that is already slowing U.S. economic growth, creating uncertainty and discouraging investment. These additional tariffs will only threaten U.S. jobs and raise costs for American families on everyday goods.

“The tariffs imposed over the past year haven’t worked, and there’s no evidence another tax increase on American businesses and consumers will yield new results. We urge the administration to bring our allies to the table and find new tools beyond tariffs to achieve better trade relations.”

Posted August 1, 2019

Source: The National Retail Federation (NRF)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — August 1, 2019 — HanesBrands, a socially responsible leading global marketer of everyday basic apparel under world-class brands, has voluntarily disclosed its carbon emissions and related information for the CDP 2019 Climate Change Report.

The disclosure shows progress toward the company’s 2020 goals for use of renewable energy, total energy use and carbon emissions.

Hanes, which has participated in the initiative since 2010, earned an A- score and a leadership position in the CDP 2018 Climate Change Report. The company scored in the top 6 percent of nearly 7,000 companies that participated in last year’s report and achieved the highest score in the apparel industry. Receiving nearly across-the-board scores in the A range, Hanes’ performance was also higher than the company’s reporting sector average (B) and regional average (C-).

The disclosure for 2018 performance, including updated data to reflect the integration of recent acquisitions, continues to demonstrate that Hanes is making significant progress against it goals, including:

• Renewable energy sources accounted for 40 percent of the company’s energy use, up 7 percentage points compared with 2017. The company’s level of renewable energy reliance met the 2020 goal of 40 percent two years early.
• A 22-percent reduction in energy use per pound of production versus its 2007 baseline and against a goal of 40 percent. To date, the company’s energy reduction efforts have delivered a cumulative total cost avoidance of more than $220 million.
• A 34-percent decrease in carbon dioxide emissions versus its 2007 baseline, nearing its 2020 goal of a 40-percent reduction. Bolstered by the significant jump in Hanes’ use of renewable energy, the company posted a nearly double-digit decrease versus 2017.
• A 31-percent cut in water use against the company’s 2020 goal of 50 percent compared to its 2007 baseline. Hanes’ water use was down 2 percent versus 2017.
• An 86-percent diversion of supply chain waste, or 107 million pounds, from landfills while working toward a 2020 goal of 100 percent.

“Our company is intensely focused on making significant strides each year to protect the environment we share and enhance our business competitiveness,” said Mike Faircloth, group president, global supply chain, information technology and e-commerce. “Transparently reporting progress against our goals is an important part of our efforts and culture. We have made significant progress in reducing our environmental footprint since 2007, and we remain committed to being an international business leader in energy management and eco-friendly business operations.”

In 2018, this commitment also earned Hanes its 10th consecutive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star Sustained Excellence/Partner of the Year award. The company was recognized for its 2018 environmental stewardship performance.

Also in 2018, the company developed the capability to convert wastewater sludge to energy, installed waste heat recovery equipment to preheat process water, retrofitted facilities with LED lighting and improved water efficiency in boiler operations with reverse osmosis technology.

Posted August 1, 2019

Source: HanesBrands