Sustainability
DK Distribution and its brands all have a strong commitment to sustainability. We have a small carbon footprint compared to most other businesses, however we are conscious that our products are freighted across the globe and around New Zealand.
As a business we have made the climate positive pledge to become a climate friendly business. We both off-set our own emissions and invite our customers to make a contribution, through CarbonClick. In this way we can ensure we are making a difference to our plant through our everyday actions. Customers can choose to make a contribution that goes towards trusted carbon offsetting projects, like tree planting and renewable energy projects. These trusted projects reduce carbon and drive meaningful impact in communities around the world.
CarbonClick looks like a green button at checkout. When you click it, a small contribution is added to your basket which purchases carbon offsets. These offsets reduce the environmental impact of the carbon emissions related to the purchase. CarbonClick’s offsets fund forest restoration, tree planting, and renewable energy projects around the world. We’re proud to be part of the fight against climate change.
We’ll be making our own contributions, and changing our practices to reduce our carbon footprint. We hope you’ll join us in creating a sustainable future, by choosing to CarbonClick with your purchase.
Also, see our brands individual sustainability policies below:
Code of Conduct
Human Rights
MARKBERG supports and respects the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and together with our business partners we make sure, they are not complicit in human right abuses.
Labour
MARKBERG supports and respects the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. We aim to eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labour, child labour and discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment
MARKBERG supports and respects a precautionary approach to environment challenges and undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility, and encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Anti-Corruption
MARKBERG supports and respects the work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.
Animal Welfare
MARKBERG supports and respects the protection of endangered animals and refrains from leather derived from endangered species. The leather we use for our products is a by-product and from animals that have been bred for the food industry.
If you wish to read our Code of Conduct in full, please contact us at contact@markberg.com.
Our responsibility
More than just a product
MARKBERG is the title of a true love story and with true love comes great responsibility.
Not only related to the actual product, but also by having an obligation to improve our impact on the environment and human beings. We focus on continuously being more sustainable and responsible, and we constantly work on building a long-term successful business that benefits the global society.
Our aim is to design and produce in a sustainable way, where high quality products can last a lifetime. Today, our society is in many ways based on a throwaway culture and mentality. We want to go in the opposite direction with Markberg.
We never compromise when creating a product and we combine timeless design and high quality. We have high expectations and demands to ourselves as well as the people we work with. We only cooperate with people and factories we have carefully selected to ensure we can rely on a high quality level as well as good conditions in our production.
The following are examples of our choices and values:
Our products
The leather used is a by-product from animals that have been bred for the food industry. The leather is not from endangered species or exotic animals. All products with croco or snake look are made from embossed cow leather.
By using high quality YKK zippers in our products, we increase the lifetime of the products.
We only use cotton lining in all our bags, as we want to increase the lifetime of the products. Other fabrics commonly used for lining is not durable for long time use. All our products have batch information printed inside at the care label. This ensures traceability for the individual product.
We are in the process of phasing out the use of real fur in our products.
We are working towards implementing the use of organic cotton in 100% of our products.
Environment
We make sure that all our products comply with the European REACH regulation, and therefore do not contain Chrome (VI). We conduct our own regular testing, following our own Chemical testing program.
Silica gel bags are widely used in the industry to avoid moist and mould in the packaging, but the Silica gel bags have an unfortunate impact on the environment and human beings. Instead, we are using Micro-Pak® as a sustainable and environmental friendly alternative.
We make sure that the carton boxes we receive from our factories are re-used when sending out our goods to retailers. If boxes are not useable, they are being recycled. The same goes for plastic and other materials we come across.
We make sure that leather from unsold products are upcycled, and young people in the community can be creative and use the leather for other purposes.
Suppliers
We only work with a small number of carefully selected factories in Europe and Asia. We visit all suppliers regularly and at least once a year. It is important for us to approve the conditions and management ourselves.
Our ethical guidelines and principles as stated in our Code of Conduct, have been accepted and signed by all our factories.
Helping Hand
Helping Hand is Edblad's way of helping. Every year we design a piece of jewellery for the benefit of a selected organisation, where a portion of the sales from the jewellery goes directly to that organization. We believe that everything you do spreads like rings on the water and therefore we are proud to be able to make a difference together with our customers.
Educate every girl
During 2020, we have chosen to cooperate with Plan International Sweden. They work from a ten objectives that aims to give girls in the world better opportunities for education, co-determination in society and over themselves and their own bodies. Around the world, girls are discriminated. Fewer girls than boys finish school and more than 30 000 girls are forced into marriage every day.
Education and knowledge are important keys to change and improvement. It is a right that Edblad wants to be supportive of. Of the ten objectives on the Agenda for Girls, Edblad wants to focus on education, which is also Cathrine Edblad's most important topic.
SUSTAINABILITY
At BELLA BALLOU, we strive to improve every day. This is especially true of sustainability. We want to be open and honest about our initiatives, and as a fashion brand, this is also our moral obligation. We have a holistic approach to sustainability and relate to it throughout the design process. From the materials we use in our collections, to how our suppliers operate and what environmental impact our production has. And not least: the conditions for the people we work with.
Our prints are unique, timeless and never go out of fashion. About half of our collection is digitally printed, which is a more sustainable production method compared to traditional screen printing, as only 10 percent ink is used in this process.
Sea freight is 100 percent CO2 neutral, as a tree is planted similar to our CO2 prints for each shipment.
We hope in the future to be able to contribute to our beautiful world with many beautiful prints and an even more sustainable imprint.