Governance

Since 2018, Fristads has mapped its greenhouse gas emissions as a member of the Swedish Textile Initiative for Climate Action. STICA is a joint climate initiative for Swedish textile companies that focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the 1.5° C pathway, as defined in the Paris Agreement. Fristads’ goal is to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 compared with the baseline year of 2018 for Scope 1 and 2 and 2019 for Scope 3.

Fristads participates in the UN Global Compact, which supports companies to do business responsibly by aligning their strategies and operations with the Ten Principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption and to take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.

In collaboration with RISE, Fristads has developed a standard to measure the total environmental impact of a garment throughout its life cycle, resulting in an Environmental Product Declaration, or EPD, for clothing. Fristads also participates in a program initiated by RISE called POPFREE Industry.

Fristads is a signatory to the new International Accord on Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, furthering its commitment to the Bangladesh Accord since 2018. Through the agreement, Fristads commits to the health and safety work already undertaken in Bangladesh and to the expansion of country specific health and safety programmes based on the principles of the 2013 and 2018 Accord agreements.

Fristads is a member of amfori, an organisation that offers the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) providing companies with a standard to assess and improve social and environmental conditions in their supply chains. amfori BSCI implements the principal international labour standards protecting workers’ rights, with the goal to guarantee ethical working conditions for all workers.

Fristads is committed to improving cotton farming practices globally with Better Cotton, an organisation that promotes a holistic approach to cotton farming and help farmers around the world produce cotton that is better for themselves, their communities and the environment. Better Cotton is sourced via a chain of custody model called mass balance. This means that Better Cotton is not physically traceable to end products, however, the farmers benefit from the demand for Better Cotton in equivalent volumes to those we ‘source.’ At Fristads we are committed to source at least 50% of our cotton as Better Cotton by 2025.

Fristads is a member of B.A.U.M. e.v., a network that is committed to advancing sustainable business practices and is a driving force for sustainable development in Europe.

Fristads is a part of the environmental organisation ChemSec’s initiative the PFAS Movement, which aims to educate about the harmful effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and phase them out of production. Through ChemSec's PFAS movement, companies commit to working to get hazardous fluorides phased out from the manufacturing chain and to support a ban on these harmful chemicals.

Together with our partner SGS, we run a Chemical Compliance programme that educates our suppliers about chemical management practices. Through the program, we also conduct annual random tests at our partner factories to ensure there are no harmful chemicals in our products.