As a vertically integrated manufacturer, we also understand the importance of operating our business in a responsible way. Anvil’s commitment to the environment involves production of affordable quality apparel while taking measures to conserve natural resources and minimize the impact associated with manufacturing. Some examples of the measures we’ve taken include:

• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program Anvil promotes purchasing and calculating of benefits of a broad range of environmentally preferable products and services.
• Recycling We recycle all cardboard and yarn cones used in our manufacturing process whenever possible. We sell plastic wrapping from textiles, empty thread cones, used cartons, etc. We sell used batteries from the forklifts and pallet jacks to a company that produces batteries by recycling the battery parts. We recycle the printing cartridges for our printers at all facilities. And we are paying to have our sewing needles and cutting knives melted down at a foundry to be recycled.
• Resource Management We conduct energy assessments and reduction initiatives in throughout the organization, including weighing alternative energy sources. The industrial park where our textile facility is located has its own waste water treatment plant and the park is in the process of ISO 14001 certification. Other areas which we have addressed include:
• Dye machine technology to reduce water usage.
• Hot water recovery technology.
• New pad technology to reduce fabric water content requiring less heat to dry fabric.
• Large roll knitting to reduce seams, waste and energy.
• Silo storage of soda ash to eliminate use of paper bags lined with plastic which were not easily processed.
• Energy efficient building strategies.
• Assessing opportunities for alternative energy (for example, fuel from biomass).

Founded in 1989, Ceres is a leading network of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, comprised of more than 50 institutional investors who collectively manage over $4 trillion in assets. Companies that join Ceres must make continuous strides in improving their sustainability performance and reporting practices by engaging with investors, environmental groups, and other stakeholders. Essentially, we must adhere to the Ceres Princples which are:

• Protection of the Biosphere
• Safe Products and Services
• Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
• Environmental Restoration
• Reduction and Disposal of Wastes
• Informing the Public
• Energy Conservation
• Risk Reduction
• Management Commitment
• Audits and Reports

For more information on Ceres, visit www.ceres.org.

It’s the little things that can make a huge difference in helping heal the Earth. Visit this link regularly to read about easy ways to reduce your impact on the environment. For example: unplug your mobile charger when you’re done using it. Why? Even if your phone isn’t attached, the charger draws power. A recent study found that if 10 percent of the world’s 190 million cell-phone users unplugged chargers when not in use, it could save enough energy to power more than 65,000 homes. Another idea: switch to a solar-powered charger like the one available at solio.com for $99.95. Happy talking!

Since 1995, Anvil’s Honduran cut and sew facility has been certified by Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP), an independent, non-profit group that monitors factories to make sure they’re producing goods under lawful, humane and ethical conditions. Anvil is also a signatory to Social Accountability International’s Corporate Signatory Program, which supports human rights for workers through its SA8000 certification, based on the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions.

Yes, Anvil makes t-shirts. But did you know they’re also building homes in rural Nicaragua, and donating them to people in need?

In partnership with the Mayor’s office in Masatepe, a small town 30 miles southeast of the capital city of Managua and home to the company’s cut and sew facility, Anvil is funding the building of five homes, which will be given to low-income single mothers from the neighboring community. “It’s the first time we’ve had this kind of support from a private company,” said Masatepe’s Mayor, Guillermo Jose Calero Sequeira. “It’s wonderful to see a company be so concerned about the community that surrounds it.”

The five homes—the first of which is to be completed in late September, the subsequent ones by the end of the year—are just the beginning. In a separate project, this time in partnership with Las Palmeras, the industrial park where the Anvil facility is located, the company plans to help build as many as 700 hundred affordable single-family homes in a lot adjacent to the plant. And while designs for the homes are simple—in some cases one room studio-like layouts—the idea is still a big one: help low-income Anvil employees purchase their very own homes, a notion that for many working class Nicaraguans remains out of reach. “That’s why our doing this is so important,” says Dale Lockamy, Anvil’s Vice President of Cut and Sew, based in Nicaragua. “It’s a tremendous benefit to our people.”

The region can certainly use the help: aside from the economic troubles that plague so much of Central America, there is a severe housing shortage in Nicaragua. National statistics show single family homes are typically shared by an average of three families. “Both of these are marvelous projects,” says Mayor Calero. “I am so grateful for the company’s energy and initiative.”

In April, on International Earth Day, Anvil brought environmentalism to life at Santa Elena Elementary School in Honduras and Escuela 14 de Septiembre in Nicaragua. In both cases, Anvil employees put on special workshops and puppet shows to teach students why treating the earth with respect is important, and how their daily choices—like recycling, and turning off the light when you leave your room—can make a huge difference. Anvil also donated to each school, bins and supplies so they could start recycling programs. And at the end of the day, employees and students planted trees. Not only do we want to preserve the earth for the next generation, we’d like to make sure they know how to care for it too.

In May, just as fuel and food prices were reaching new highs in Central America, sparking transportation strikes, Anvil distributed 120,000 pounds of food staples—including rice, beans and tortillas—to its employees in Honduras and Nicaragua. The initiative was so popular and successful, it led Anvil executives to start planning the opening of a company store, where employees will be able to purchase basic goods at deeply discounted prices.

If you happen to be strolling through New York City’s Upper East Side, make sure to drop by Ruppert Park, on Second Avenue between 90th and 91st Streets, where Anvil recently provided funding for the installation of a new irrigation system. The park, which sits in the middle of one the city’s largest, most populous housing complexes, parts of which are state-subsidized, is named after an early owner of the New York Yankees, Jacob Ruppert. It was he who bought Babe Ruth’s contract from the Boston Red Sox in 1920, bringing the legendary player to the big apple, and thus transforming the Yankees into the most successful team in the American League. Not bad company for Anvil, eh?