Responsibility Update: Summary of Gore Fabrics’ Division Sustainability Initiatives and Goals in 2020

February 1, 2021

Annual report reviews the latest progress by the Gore Fabrics Division and the steps taken to improve its impact on People and Planet

PUTZBRUNN – W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) has published its 2020 Responsibility Update for the Fabrics Division.

The Responsibility Update 2020 shares details on how the Division plans to leverage the newly introduced sustainability framework by using sound science, transparency and cooperation with others to provide innovative solutions to both its customers and the industry.

In addition, the update includes an interview with the leaders of the Consumer Oriented Fabrics (COF) and Technical Oriented Fabrics (TOF) businesses who share how they plan to implement the new framework and use it to help strengthen the importance of sustainability to the Gore Fabrics Division.

Gore Fabrics Division is happy to share the following milestones from 2020:

• Setting of new absolute carbon-reduction goals established to support achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and help contribute to the global effort toward mitigating climate change.
• The achievement of goals set three years ago to have 85% of consumer garments laminates approved by bluesign® and 100% of consumer garments laminates certified under OEKO-TEX® Standard 100.
• The culmination of a three-year effort to triple the number of GORE-TEX laminates (to more than 150) that use textiles with recycled content and solution dyed-yarn.
• Sharing of environmental footprint data of the GORE-TEX consumer garments laminates through the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI), helping our customers to make informed decisions.
• Use of the Higg Facility Tools, implemented to increase transparency around environmental and social impacts at Gore Fabrics manufacturing sites.
• The signing of the Manifesto of the international initiative “S.O.S. SOIL – Save Organics in Soil” by the Solid Waste Treatment Team of the TOF business, with a goal to encourage climate-proof soil management practices.
• Updated the progress towards the elimination of PFCs of Environmental Concern (PFC_EC) from Gore Fabrics Division consumer products.

These are examples of initiatives and collaborations that the Division feels are important as it strives to make a difference to the planet and people. Using decades of scientific knowledge, R&D and testing, the Gore Fabrics Division will continue to drive environmentally improved material innovations that deliver an optimized combination of high performance with a low environmental footprint.

Ross MacLaine, the new Sustainability Leader of Gore´s Fabrics Division, stated: “I am pleased to see that in 2020, despite all of the challenges, we kept making substantial progress in many areas of our sustainability journey. I am particularly proud of our carbon goals and our new sustainability framework. And I promise that we will continue to work hard on all the commitments we made within our evolved sustainability strategy; protecting people and planet whilst prolonging product lifetime and the well-being of users”

Gore revolutionized the outerwear industry with waterproof, breathable GORE-TEX Fabric more than 40 years ago and remains a leading innovator of performance apparel. Gore fabrics products provide comfort and protection in challenging environments and in everyday life, enabling wearers to safely and confidently achieve and experience more. From hiking in downpours to defense operations and fighting fires, Gore’s deep understanding of consumer and industry needs drives development of products with meaningful performance advantages.

For more information, visit gore-tex.com and gore-workwear.com.

About Gore

L. Gore & Associates is a global materials science company dedicated to transforming industries and improving lives. Since 1958, Gore has solved complex technical challenges in demanding environments — from outer space to the world’s highest peaks to the inner workings of the human body. With more than 11,000 Associates and a strong, team-oriented culture, Gore generates annual revenues of $3.8 billion.

For more information, visit gore.com.