Ответственность

A joint pilot project in smart textile management was launched in June by Lindström and food company Atria. The project makes use of radio-frequency identification, tracking tags attached to workwear. The technology allows to monitor the circulation and volume of workwear delivered by Lindström also in Atria’s own premises. A total of 30,000 workwear garments are in circulation.

The jointly developed garment range caters for the clothing needs of 2,000–2,700 Atria employees. Employees having clothing that allows them to work well and safely served as a starting point for the pilot project. The lifecycle of workwear can be monitored in a completely new way with the availability of accurate information on how often an item of clothing has been used, washed and maintained.

“Knowing the whereabouts of items of workwear and thus also their need means that no one has to worry whether clean workwear is available at the start of a shift,” explains Ralf Tupeli, Procurement Director at Atria.

Partnership and responsibility make a difference

In the food industry, the main function of workwear is to protect food products. Workwear needs to correlate with the industry’s high hygiene standards. Also responsibility counts. “It is important for Atria that all suppliers operate responsibly, taking care of their financial, social and environmental obligations. Also public reporting increases reliability,” says Anne Hirvelä, Quality Manager at Atria. In addition, longterm partnership plays a role. “It makes a difference for Atria that new solutions are developed for key workwear needs in longstanding partnership,” Hirvelä adds.
According to Hirvelä, in addition to ensuring food safety, workwear needs to be functional and comfortable in challenging working conditions. Clothing needs to protect employees from moisture and the cold, while being breathable and pleasant to wear. High-quality, suitable workwear improves wellbeing and work itself.

Electrotek is a leading manufacturer of antistatic clothing in India. The company’s unit in Bengaluru manufactures garments solely for the needs of Lindström’s customers. As a result of the partnership with Lindström, the Bengaluru unit has grown from a unit of 22 to a production plant employing 140 people.

”We mainly employ women, and for us it is a matter of honour to be able to offer enough work to secure their workplaces and livelihoods. We want our employees to produce high-quality products, which I believe will only happen through their wellbeing at work. We are currently in the process of expanding our production facilities, paying attention to the wellbeing of staff in the design”, explains T.K. Shankar, Director of Electrotek.
“We meet our contact persons at Lindström a few times a month for one or two days at a time to go through products, work methods and premises”, says Shankar. “Together we develop our operations to correspond to Lindström’s requirements as far as both corporate responsibility and product quality is concerned. Sometimes the targets are challenging, but our abilities and desire to develop are trusted.”

“Electrotek is a typical Indian clothing manufacturer for Lindström. The supplier was selected according to strict criteria, and operations are monitored through close collaboration and regular audits”, says Sourcing Director Kristiina Tiilikainen. “We are also glad to be involved in the development projects of our suppliers, such as the expansion of Electrotek’s production facilities. We examined the plans together a year ago, and I just visited the plant to ensure the plans are being carried through as agreed”, states Kristiina.

Sustainability has became an important issue and matter of reputation for hotels. Customers world-wide expect sustainable use of energy, water and textiles, as well as responsibility in suppIier chain. «From all of our suppliers we require a written code of conduct, system of monitoring their supply chains and environmental programme to make sure of sustainable use of natural resources», says Cathrine Dehli, the Head of Sustainability of Nordic Choice Hotels. The hotel chain has three textile suppliers, two in Sweden and one inNorway.

«We are aware of the challenges in the field and have, with our suppliers, been analysing the sustainability chain of our textiles covering cotton growing, manufacturing, sewing, dying, transportation, use in the hotels as well as maintenance in the laundries and disposal of textiles out of use”, explains Cathrine of the work done lately. Also the mixture of bed linen by adding polyester and reducing cotton has been under consideration.

It would make the linen more sustainable, but also affects the look and feel of them. Cathrine wants to emphasize that sustainability is a chain of considered actions. “Our customers need to leave textiles they don’t want to be washed to racks, we have to leave textiles in racks to rooms and consider our own use of textiles. Our suppliers have to use the nature resources sustainably, wash and dry with as less energy and water as possible, and minimize the transportations. We don´t require that everything is perfect but the attitude has to be open, and going forward”, Cathrine sums up.