- "Snowboard pioneer now leading the eco revolution" -

Burton Snowboards

  • Achievments:
  • bluesign® System Partner

    • bluesign® System Partner
    • The bluesign® system - Managing Inputs. Responsible Actions. The bluesign® system reduces the environmental impact concerning the entire textile supply chain. With its holistic approach the Input Stream Management provides an efficient solution for chemical suppliers, textile and accessories manufacturer as well as fashion brands. Stating the principles and monitoring the implementation of the bluesign® system, bluesign technologies ag encourages the textile industry to increase their efforts in sustainable processes.
    ×
  • Chill Foundation

  • Lifetime Warranty

GRV Statement:

Burton has been the snowboard market leader from the beginnings of this sport and is gearing all products and processes towards sustainability. Looking at Burton’s large and diverse product portfolio, this is a real challenge, which they tackle with the aid of Life Cycle Assessments and by using the Higg Index, which helps to measure and reduce impact in the supply chain. Burton makes an effort to insure that all employees and vendors understand the sustainability issues (social and environmental) and take responsibility.

By becoming a bluesign® system partner in 2012, and therefore responsibly manage the apparel production emissions and the involved chemistry, Burton is showing the way for the snowboard industry. Burton also supports POW (Protect our Winters) and is the originator of Chill, a program to bring under privileged kids to the mountains.

“We have a responsibility to the sport we pioneered – and to the people and environment that sustain it. Our commitment is to make Burton as respected for our environmental and social impact as we are for our products. In doing so, we will help to make snowboarding – and our lifestyle – sustainable well into the future.”

Good

10 / 15

  • Certified by:
    • bluesign® System Partner
    • The bluesign® system - Managing Inputs. Responsible Actions. The bluesign® system reduces the environmental impact concerning the entire textile supply chain. With its holistic approach the Input Stream Management provides an efficient solution for chemical suppliers, textile and accessories manufacturer as well as fashion brands. Stating the principles and monitoring the implementation of the bluesign® system, bluesign technologies ag encourages the textile industry to increase their efforts in sustainable processes.
    ×
 

GRV Transparency ToolBURTON SNOWBOARDS & APPAREL

 

2016

Management
Commitment
Products

Brand Management

  • CSR topics and solutions are shared amongst all employees. Management head office is powered by 100% renewable resources.
  • bluesign® system partner.
  • Supports POW (Protect our Winters) and is the originator of Chill (taking under-privileged children snowboarding).
  • Good repair facilities. If the product reaches it’s end of life, Burton transforms Boards into accessories and donates garments to charity.

Brand Commitment

  • Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software to understand products and processes in order to reduce negative impact
  • Leader for hard goods in the equipment part of the Higg Index and having entered 100% of the hardgood and apparel factories into the Higg Index system, which is the leading initiative to standardise impact measurement.
  • As an industry leader, they are sending a clear signal to their peers and to consumers on the importance of sustainable development.
  • Investments into innovation on resource efficiency.

Products

  • Growing number of bluesign® approved textile products, which guarantees a comprehensive ecological and chemical management
  • Social labor standards are sufficient.
  • Over 50% of the boards made in Austria, with thorough ecological guidelines. The lower price segment is made in Asia.
  • Brand Management
  • Brand Commitment
  • Products

Brand Management for us at GRV means to look at all the issues, which are directly controlled and integrated by the Brand’s Management towards business and supply chain strategy as a whole.

Brand Commitment for us at GRV means to look at the pro-active efforts towards sustainable development on all levels like the % of “sustainable product” lines within the whole portfolio, their investment in life cycle assessments and public reporting, as key indicators of the Brands engagement towards a responsible business.

On this level GRV is looking at product related information, like material content, supply chain and certification. Warranty, reparability and “end of use” advice are also important aspects. At the moment, GRV is looking at selected highlight products from different product lines, which show the special sustainable efforts of the brand. Here is the overview of the products we looked at, if you want to know the details, go to the specific products.

3 4 3

/ 5

  • EHS/CSR Staff

    Burtons mission and vision for CSR is to strengthen their approach towards sustainability based on integrating all business partners of their value chain, using their ...more

    Burtons mission and vision for CSR is to strengthen their approach towards sustainability based on integrating all business partners of their value chain, using their brand power to foster change towards more sustainable business practice.

    Ali Kenney is the CSR specialist in charge surrounded by a crew of passionate and like-minded individuals to support the mission outlined with Burton’s CEO and co-founder, Donna Carpenter. For the past several years, they’ve been working with every aspect of Burton’s global business and supply chain to identify opportunities to improve the brand’s impact on our planet and its people.

    less
  • 3rd party audits and certificates

    Burton has a quality control team on site and in the factories (20-40 people) and is a bluesign® system partner, which means that they have ...more

    Burton has a quality control team on site and in the factories (20-40 people) and is a bluesign® system partner, which means that they have efficient chemical management in their apparel supply chain by using the bluesign® RSL (Restricted Substance List). For Winter 2017, 80% of the outerwear line and 50% of First Layer are bluesign® approved products.

    Burton Statement: “We are riders, and we take climate change personally. We need to take a stand. The environment is in crisis, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to act. We are not where we want to be and we recognize that we have opportunities to improve across the board. As we continue on the journey toward sustainability leadership, we invite the broader Burton community to join in the work of securing the future of the sport and lifestyle we all love – and to hold us accountable for ongoing improvement.“

    less
  • Emission Management

    A three-year goal to reduce water, waste and energy in their offices and warehouses has been set in 2013. So far, the emissions have been reduced ...more

    A three-year goal to reduce water, waste and energy in their offices and warehouses has been set in 2013. So far, the emissions have been reduced as planned, but not yet reported on in any standardized environmental reporting format.

    The head-office in Burlington uses 100% renewable energy.

    less
  • Event Management

    Burton has a policy in responsible event management – the The Green Events Guide outlines how to reduce the impacts of all Burton Events: through food ...more

    Burton has a policy in responsible event management – the The Green Events Guide outlines how to reduce the impacts of all Burton Events: through food choice, consumable products used during the event, and preferences on type of transportation (carpooling, bio diesel buses etc).

    On exhibitions, the booth consists of mainly recycled material.

    less
  • Environmental & Social Projects

    Burton supports local environmental groups and Protect our Winter POW, they are also the originator of Chill, a program to help less privileged children to go snowboarding.

  • Material Program & Testing

    Burton has it’s own lab and is known for it’s massive field testing – think about all those awesome all pro riders!

  • Repair

    Spare parts are provided for repair. Burton has a really strong repair policy for it’s boards (48 h repair-guarantee), uses Gore-Tex® certified repair centers for ...more

    Spare parts are provided for repair. Burton has a really strong repair policy for it’s boards (48 h repair-guarantee), uses Gore-Tex® certified repair centers for it’s technical apparel and promises a lifetime guarantee on all soft-goods that are at the $250 USD price point and above. All bags and luggage also have a lifetime warranty. All boards with the channel have a 3-year warranty.

    less
  • Product Transport

    Burton has a transportation strategy in place to reduce emission from factory to warehouse- their central warehouses are in the EU, Japan, Australia, China and ...more

    Burton has a transportation strategy in place to reduce emission from factory to warehouse- their central warehouses are in the EU, Japan, Australia, China and USA. All transport is by ships, which has the least impact – with airfreight only in emergency cases.

    Packaging is now redesigned with 80 % recycled content, FSC-certified paper based packaging instead of plastic.

    less
  • End of Use

    Old garments are donated for charity. Old boards sent to warranty which can’t be repaired are re-cycled into small accessory items. Burton currently uses 60...more

    Old garments are donated for charity. Old boards sent to warranty which can’t be repaired are re-cycled into small accessory items. Burton currently uses 60-80% of every board returned to transform them into new items like the beer sample holders made for the neighboring beer brewery, Switchback. For the parts of the boards that are unused in this process, they are working with a local recycler to grind them up and use them in other products and industries, and therefore kept out of landfill or incineration.

    less
  • Life Cycle Assessment

    Burton started working with Life Cycle Assessments 2012. This means that they are using software to work with benchmarking data, to guide responsible decision-making internally. So ...more

    Burton started working with Life Cycle Assessments 2012. This means that they are using software to work with benchmarking data, to guide responsible decision-making internally. So far Burton doesn’t publish the results yet and have no third party check. It still is the best tool to understand the product and process in order to reduce the impact on it.

    less
  • Reporting

    Public environmental reporting is supposed to be visible on the website this summer/ fall with details all of Burton’s policies and efforts and progress toward their goals.

  • Share of “environmentally friendlier” and “socially responsible” products

    Burton’s definition on environmentally friendly and socially responsible products: Statement Burton: “We have shifted our strategy from token “environmentally friendly” products to making sustainability ...more

    Burton’s definition on environmentally friendly and socially responsible products:

    Statement Burton: “We have shifted our strategy from token “environmentally friendly” products to making sustainability considered throughout all steps of product design, development and manufacturing. We thus no longer quantify environmental products as we aim for every product to have sustainability considered throughout design and manufacturing. We don’t define socially responsible products, we have a social responsibility policy for our entire company.”

    less
  • Credibility

    In terms of credibility Burton has a high impact social media dialogue with its stakeholders. “We have a sustainability website requesting feedback that comes directly ...more

    In terms of credibility Burton has a high impact social media dialogue with its stakeholders.
    “We have a sustainability website requesting feedback that comes directly to our team and is shared with our owners and we have a live blog with a feedback request from stakeholders”

    less
  • Common Welfare Investment

    Burton is asking its stakeholders for common welfare priorities. Part of Burton’s multi stakeholder initiatives is a leading position in the equipment part of ...more

    Burton is asking its stakeholders for common welfare priorities.

    Part of Burton’s multi stakeholder initiatives is a leading position in the equipment part of the development of the Higg Index. Burton has now entered 100% of its factories into the Higg Index “Facilities Module” to measure and reduce impact in the supply chain and are therefore using the best industry tools available as drivers for innovation and design

    less
  • Innovation

    Burton invests over 10% of its annual turnover into innovation, which is huge!

  • Intro

    In order to calculate an evaluation for the product part of the Brand analysis, we are looking at six representative products and take an average.

  • Men:

    4/5 AK 2L Swash Jacket in Color-Ways: Flashback / Burnout / Tripper, Larkspur / Washed Blue / Eclipse, True Black 4/5 AK 2L Swash Pants in Color-Ways: Gringo, Matador/Otter, Flashback/ ...more

    4/5 AK 2L Swash Jacket in Color-Ways: Flashback / Burnout / Tripper, Larkspur / Washed Blue / Eclipse, True Black

    4/5 AK 2L Swash Pants in Color-Ways: Gringo, Matador/Otter, Flashback/ Burnout/ Tripper

    3/5 AK Piston Hoody

    less
  • Women:

    4/5 AK 2L Altitude Jacket in Color-Ways: Athens Eclipse, Grapeseed, True Black

    4/5 AK 2L Summit Pants in Color-Ways: True Black, Eclipse, Grapeseed

    3/5 AK Lift Hoody

  • Snowboard:

    3/5 Family Tree Branch Manager Snowboard 3/5

Snowboard pioneer now leading the eco revolution.
From USA/Austria, founded by Jake and Donna Burton Carpenter, since 1977.
Burton’s philosophy is to strengthen the approach towards sustainability throughout the company.