Responsibility at Samsøe Samsøe

Our main responsibility is to create outstanding items that we can be proud of and that can be valued for years to come. This includes taking responsibility for the social, environmental, and ethical challenges linked to our products and their production, as well as the culture and activities across our own organisation. As a result, our responsibility ambition is threefold and obliges us to:

First, create responsible products that are competitive in terms of design and quality. Second, work with transparent and ethical production partners who share our ambition to develop responsible products. Third, build an inclusive and healthy culture that considers our impact on people and the planet.

Explore our responsibility ambition and CSR updates below.

CONSIDERATE CULTURE

Inclusive culture

We are committed to an equal and inclusive culture built on the right to non-discrimination. Therefore, we do not require candidates to provide photo identification or disclose their age or gender when applying for a position at Samsøe Samsøe. In addition, we use non-discriminatory language in all handbooks, policies, and guidelines.

An inclusive culture offers equal opportunities for all genders. We strive for a broad representation of skills, competencies, and identities on all business levels. Today women make up 70% of the Operations Group, 20% of the Management Group, and 25% of the Board, and we support the professional and personal development of all employees, regardless of gender, age or identity.

Responsible stores

Our stores are built with a responsible and circular mindset, and we reuse what we can when it comes to furniture and interior. When adding new interiors we only use certified materials, such as FSC certified superior wood from sustainably managed forests in Austria and recycled wool from Danish KVADRAT. Moreover, the electricity used across all Nordic stores is matched with renewable energy production through green certificates, with a planned global rollout in 2023. Click to learn more about our Store Community.

Plastic commitment

We are committed to a circular economy for plastic through the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Since committing to this agenda, we have achieved a 40% reduction in our total annual plastic usage. We accomplished this by reducing the size of our polybags (used to protect products in shipping) and removing them from sample shipments, removing secondary packaging from all shipments, and switching to better packaging materials, such as GRS certified recycled plastic and FSC certified paper.

To even out the climate impact of the packaging used in online sales, eCommerce packaging is 100% climate compensated through Gold Rate-certified projects that restore forests to increase the carbon uptake from the atmosphere.

RESPONSIBLE PRODUCTION

Product traceability

We are committed to being fully transparent about all parts of our business, including where and how our products are made. Product traceability is essential for guaranteeing responsible production - especially in long, complex supply chains.

We have achieved full traceability for the first three stages of production (factory, dye house, and fabric mill) for close to 100% of our items. Despite the significant complexities, we remain committed to tracing our garments even further back, to raw material extraction and production.

Fair working conditions

We aim to have a stable and consolidated supplier network and prioritise long-term partnerships that make it easier to visit suppliers and manage production.

To ensure that fair working conditions are met across all suppliers, we require independent audits to be carried out at their production sites. We only accept internationally recognised standards such as BSCI, SMETA, WRAP and SA 8000.

This allows us to assess their performance in terms of human rights, international labour standards, health and safety regulations, environmental protection, and business ethics. More than 80% of our production volume is covered by valid audits and we are working towards increasing this to 100% year-on-year.

Low impact technology

We actively promote low impact production practices in our supply chain. Such solutions include installing solar panels, implementing on-site wastewater treatment, and investing in new production equipment. These developments require us to invest and engage in transparent, long-term partnerships.

Explore how our responsible denim collection, Blue Belief, became an industry model for low impact production and industry-wide collaboration.