autumn 2012 - 4-Seasons.de

38 News News 39
InVolVeD
This is Where Your
Meru Shirt is Growing!
Globetrotter’s own brand focuses on organic cotton. High quality,
affordable, ecofriendly resources, fair production – it has never been
easier to take responsibility.
Conventional farming of cotton leads
to massive environmental problems
in extensive areas of the world.
Fields have to be irrigated (approximately
the volume of ten baths full of water for the
fibre of just one shirt), a fact which caused
Good for human and environment: the resource for Meru tops.
the drying up of the Aral Sea in Asia. Onecrop
agriculture requires lots of pesticides
which impair pickers‘ health. Many workers
do not earn enough for a living. And
child labour is no exception on cotton
farms and in production plants.
Not with Meru. The brand is operated by
the Ruofamily, a cooperation of seven leading
sports retailers from four different
countries. Globetrotter’s textile experts
from Hamburg are in charge of the development.
Since 2011, Globetrotter offers
two Meru T-Shirts and a hoodie tailored
with organic cotton for men and women in
several colours.
Meru found a strong purchasing and manufacturing
partner for the tops, namely
the Swiss Company Remei AG. They have
been producing fibres, yarns and clothing
out of organic cotton for 20 years under the
name of bioRe. Besides Meru, brands like
Mammut and Elkline are amongst the
purchasers. Globetrotter also has bioRe
products in their range.
8,300 organic farms in India and Tanzania
bioRe purchases raw materials from 8,300
small farmers in India and Tanzania. They
profit from the cotton farming in several
ways: economically, because the farmers
do not need a credit to buy the chemicals;
healthwise, because the farmers do not
poison themselves by using chemicals and
at the same time gain additional food by
practicing crop rotation; agriculturally, because
organic farming protects the fertility
of the ground. At the same time, the stan-
dard of bioRe cotton guarantees the farmers
social advantages such as a 15 percent
price bonus and an association for
farmers with member participation.
The farming is controlled by independent
inspections according to organic regulations
of the European Union. Remei AG
Photos: Remei AG
The plantation is in line with the organic
farming regulations of the European
Union.
also compensates for its CO 2 footprint in
India and Tanzania: It is co-financing
3,150 organic gas cooking facilities and
4,200 smoke-free kitchen stoves, thus enhancing
air quality and protecting forests.
Moreover, each cooking facility saves enough
CO 2 annually to produce and transport
500 T-Shirts.
Globetrotter on site
There are strict rules governing processing
such as no child labour, safety at the working
place and appropriate renumeration.
An independent testing institute monitors
compliance. So, Remei gets most of their
production line certified according to
SA8000, an international standard to improve
working conditions. In addition, the
bioRe foundation runs social projects in
India and Tanzania which to date boast 20
town schools and a mobile medical practice.
In November 2010, Globetrotter
colleague Christina Holst from the textile
department inspected bioRe projects in India.
»I was impressed how much they put
their heart into those projects«, says the
Meru product developer. It is a fight
against genetically modified cotton: »It
brings in a higher income in the short run«,
explains Christina Holst. »However, many
farmers run into debts because of the ex-
InVolVeD
Available at Globetrotter: Meru’s Tawa
Hooded Jacket made of bioRe cotton.
pensive, annual, genetically modified
seeds and the artificial fertilizer. In the
long run, organic cotton is the better
choice for farmers.«
Meru devolepers know what they are doing
when they entrust the production of
the tops to Remei AG. From now on, customers
can also track back their clothes
on the website (remei.ch/produkte-traceability/),
right up to the farming area.
Globe trotter salespeople lead by example:
The orange and black T-Shirts are
made of bioRe cotton.
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Vital momentum
Six new electric bicycles help
Globetrotter employees to get from
A to B – giving momentum to CO ²
reduction.
It is exactly 4.1 kilometres from »BKS«
to »NHB«, Globetrotter employees say,
meaning the distance between the headquarter
at Hamburg’s Bargkoppelstieg
and the logistics centre at Neue Höltigbaum.
This road and many others can
Bernd Repenning (right) from E-Collection
handed the bikes over to Fabian
Nednza.
now be cycled with six E-Bikes instead of
travelling in cars. In June, Globetrotter
put the electric bicycles made by Hamburg-based
E-Collection into service.
They are pedelecs, so Globis still have to
pedal but with the help of a 250-watt
motor acting pretty much like a permanent
tail wind.
Fabian Nedza is Globetrotter Representative
for »Corporate Social Responsibility«
and explains: »After introducing a CO rule ²
for company cars two years ago, as well as
the use of the electric Mercedes Vito for
our internal transport of products since
2011, with the E-Bikes we have taken
another step towards the reduction of CO - ²
emissions caused by mobility.«
The E-Bikes speed along at 25 km/h over a
distance of up to 80 kilometres. Enough to
go to appointments in the city, such as at
»JFS« - or how do they call the Jungfernsteig
at Globetrotter?
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Photo: Globetrotter Ausrüstung