Find a Green Manufacturer - Brentwood Classics Ltd.

Standard Best Practices

• We pay a living wage rather than minimum wage & we extend that around the globe: Yes
• We have a written Social Equity Code of Conduct as a baseline for employee relations: Yes
• We have written and distributed a Supplier Equity Code of Conduct for our vendors and conduct training at our partner facilities on the adoption of same: No
• We and our partners meet or exceed all local health and safety codes and can document our health and safety working conditions in all our facilities/stores: Yes
• We have participated in or sponsored in-store, community and/or regional educational events on sustainability and the environment: Yes
• We investigate and mitigate any negative environmental impacts from our operations: Yes
• We regularly ask for verifiable chain of custody documents (legal logging certifications) before buying wood products: Yes
• We are eliminating unsustainable virgin materials from our product offerings while increasing our percents to total of rapidly renewable resources, reused/reclaimed components and recycled content. We factor disassembly, recyclability and product reclamation into buying decisions: Yes
• We have decreased our use/acceptance of known toxic chemicals for treatments, binders and finishes, replacing compounds that harm indoor air quality and are carcinogenic: Yes
• We are asking our vendors for organic cotton in place of conventionally-grown cotton and for textiles that are Oeko-Tex certified: Yes
• We are getting quotes on doing a Life Cycle Analysis and/or are applying for SMaRT certification: No
• We extract, manufacture and distribute for consumer use within a 500 mile radius for at least a portion of our product line: Yes
• We offer a product reclamation/product reuse policy: No
• We use recycled or recyclable packing/packaging materials, offer blanket-wrap transportation arrangements for customers and have a carton return/reuse policy: No
• We hold third party certifications for some of our products/as a store, we promote and educate the consumer on the meaning of various third party certifications: Yes
• We take responsibility for sharing our commitment to sustainability up and down our entire supply chain, rewarding our vendors with increased business for partnering with us on this path to sustainability: Yes
• We save reams of paper with our policy expressing an aversion to excess written documentation: Yes
• We have had an energy specialist/utility company audit to measure our conventional energy usage and are on track to reduce it, replacing a portion with certified renewable energy, either directly or by contacting Green e-Power: No
• We have replaced outdated and inefficient equipment, identified and changed wasteful resource procedures and implemented tighter operational controls: Yes
• We have increased the use of daylighting and instituted a fluorescent bulb exchange policy for direct cost savings: No
• We make only verifiable sustainability claims in adherence with FTC mandates against greenwash and in support of their Environmental Marketing Guides. Authenticity and adoption of one credible standard reduces confusion in the marketplace, driving sales: Yes
• We conduct training in-house and in the broader community about global climate change and our partnership with the SFC: No
• In keeping with our commitment to continual improvement, we are planning to take the following actions this year: On energy consumption: 2012: We are in the process of becoming paperless. All of our catalogs and correspondence with our retailers and customers are already, or becoming electronic. We do not print invoices, acknowledgments or newsletters, everything is emailed to our dealers our available through our online ordering system. This paperless approach will be 100% by August 2009.
• In keeping with our commitment to continual improvement, we are planning to take the following actions this year: On how we will manage our primary material or service to a more sustainable direction: 2012: All of our products are 80% biodegradable on the inside, however we have been struggling with affordable sustainable fabrics. It is our plan to have 50% of our Fall 09 introductory fabrics be sustainable. We will introduce more organic cottons, bamboos, hemp, recycled polyesters, etc. Each season thereafter, we will introduce more and more sustainable fabrics in order for them to have a larger share of our fabric line-up.
• In keeping with our commitment to continual improvement, we are planning to take the following actions this year: On education and promotion of the sustainability cause: 2012: We currently give complimentary seminars in our showroom to designers and decorators. This month we will be having our first, "green" fabric seminar. We also maintain a close relationship with the Ontario Soybean Growers, and we have been asked to furnish a "soy house" at the Royal Ontario Agricultural Winter Fair in November 2009. All of our POP material states our responsibility to sustainability which is currently displayed in our retailers showrooms. We would also like to contribute more financially to environmental causes in the community as part of our corporate responsibility.