Touchpoint Responsibility Report 2020 by touchpointoffice

Responsibility Report 2020 1

www.touchpoint.fi

Contents Touchpoint - Who We Are

A Word From The Ceo

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 9: Industry, Innovation And Infrastructure Goal 12: Responsible Consumption And Production Goal 13: Climate Action Goal 17: Partnerships For The Goals Timeline Of Touchpoint’s Responsibility Actions

Sustainable Development

1. Environmental Responsibility

Emissions Generated In The Textiles Value Chain Product Use And Care Materials Production & Supply Chain Supply Chain Oversight

10 11 13 15 17

2. Corporate Responsibility

Material Responsibility Environmental Impacts Take Back Pledge Co-Operation In 2020

21 21 21 22

3. Social Responsibility

The Team And Touchpoint As An Employer Code Of Conduct/Human Rights

24 25

Our Goals Going Forward

5 6 6 6 7

RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2020

Touchpoint - Who We Are Founded in 2008, Touchpoint is a Finnish workwear manufacturer, whose mission has always been to offer responsibly produced workwear and services to its customers.

Responsible workwear is our passion, and it is our

aim to be a leading workwear company and pioneer in developing a more responsible industry that will be based on circularity in the future. Customers are central to everything we do. The company brand, customer experience and employee satisfaction are all key factors in choosing workwear, which is why we work in close co-operation with our customers - so that we can come up with just the right solutions to their needs. Because workwear gives the first impression of a company, it has to be based on a story worth telling. We primarily use recycled materials in our workwear and make it possible to give end-of-life workwear a new life as raw materials. We are constantly looking for new, innovative materials and solutions to promote circularity. Our customer companies represent a wide range of different sectors - from heath care to restaurants, from transport to the military. At present, a majority of our customers operate in Finland, but our goal is to expand beyond Finland’s borders in the near future. The year 2020 was significant to Touchpoint, as we

increased our operations with the acquisition of Tampere-based workwear manufacturer, Domino Workwear Oy in its entirety. This acquisition enhanced our production and supply chain and diversified our customer base. The merging of companies improves our ability to expand the sustainable development value chain and circular economy services to new customers and sectors.

In 2020, we produced and delivered nearly 550,000 products. We do not directly own production facilities - we work in close co-operation with trusted, long-term partners. Over 60% of our production for 2020 was carried out locally in Estonia and the other Baltic countries. We purchase almost all of our materials from European textile manufacturers, which specialise in workwear textiles. For us, the transparency of the supply chain is the basis for everything we do - we regularly visit production facilities and, naturally, we require that they have all the necessary certifications. We address these matters and others more specifically in our report. We have a strong desire to change and innovate the textile industry as a pioneering workwear manufacturer. One of the more important concrete measures we have taken is the founding of end-of-life textile facility Rester: When we could not find a sustainable solution to the challenge of dealing with end-of-life textiles, we decided to build our own facility. At the time this report was being drafted, the Rester end-oflife textile facility was under construction in Paimio, with plans to open it in the summer of 2021. At the beginning of 2021, there is a total of 16 Touchpoint employees, and we maintain offices in Helsinki and Tampere.

RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2020

A Word From The CEO "We believe that responsibility and working toward sustainable development involve wide-ranging and continuous development, in which little details play a major role"

It is our great pleasure to present Touchpoint’s first responsibility report. Even though we have system-

atically devoted ourselves to responsibility for years, we have not yet drawn resources away from our little team to produce an exhaustive report on our operations. We strongly believe that responsibility lies in deeds as well as constantly pitching in to achieve key goals. We are proud to tell our customers, partners and stakeholders about our key responsibility actions and goals for the years to come. For us, 2020 was an exceptional year in many ways.

Even though the pandemic created a prevailing sense of uncertainty, we also managed to take major and meaningful steps on our path to growth, despite the extraordinary situation we were living through. Like all companies, the pandemic forced us to adapt our operations and working methods. We worked remotely and adopted new practices for both our own team and with our customers and partners. One of the hardest decisions we had to make was the partial, temporary downsizing of our team in Helsinki in the spring. However, we made great strides in our growth targets and laid a foundation for future growth: in March, we merged with our long-time partner, Domino Workwear, which significantly boosted our combined turnover and strengthened our market position. As a larger, stronger company, we are even more able to extend our responsibility goals and promises to a wider clientele.

Another major step toward achieving future goals

was the groundbreaking of our subsidiary Rester in August of 2020. Rester will be the first large-scale end-of-life textile processing facility in the Nordic countries, thus making it possible to recycle end-oflife textiles into new raw material to meet the needs of various industries. The textile industry’s end-of-life textile problem is unsustainable. An increasing volume of natural resources are being used in the manufacture of products and, conversely, materials which have reached the end of their useful life are being lost. Approximately 100 million kilograms of textile waste is generated each year in Finland alone*. Re-using materials makes it possible to reduce the textile industry’s carbon footprint and significantly decrease the consumption of natural resources. We believe that shifting the textile industry from a linear model to circularity is necessary, as the current structure of the textile industry cannot be sustained using virgin materials. Rester offers Touchpoint and our customers the unique opportunity to be on the cutting of developing a new recycling model for end-of-life textiles and promoting a new type of growth for the industry. Rester is a perfect example of the determination, courage and perseverance that is sometimes required of a pioneer: when there was no suitable solution on the market, we decided to come up with our own. Responsibility is at the core of everything we do, but

we also have to admit that nobody’s perfect and there’s always room for improvement. As a result of the corporate acquisition, we have updated our responsibility strategy and goals, to which our material and production strategies are also essentially linked.

We will be expanding upon this in 2021, while pro-

moting our more important responsibility goals.

We believe that responsibility and working toward sustainable development involve wide-ranging and

continuous development, in which little details play a major role, while, on the other hand, decisions and actions still require constant analysis and interpretation from a broader and holistic standpoint. A comprehensive list of our goals is presented at the end of the report, but I feel that the two most important things we will have to do in the coming years are to offer the market the most extensive selection of environmentally-friendly materials and to produce the world’s first carbon-neutral workwear by 2023. Even though both of these goals are ambitious, I’m confident that our brilliant team of professionals and our partners are more than capable of achieving them. Our amazing, professional team is crucial to ensuring responsible operations and continuous development. Our customers and partners make all this

possible, and we have to constantly meet expectations, offering better and more responsible products and services. Hopefully, this report helps to shed light on our views and goals concerning responsibility and provides additional information on our operations maybe it will even inspire and challenge you! — Noora

*STJM Kolme kysymystä käytettyjen tekstiilien kierrätyksestä

RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2020

UN Sustainable Development Goals The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2016.

Nations, decision-makers, citizens and even us companies are needed to realise these goals. The core of these goals has always been the eradication of poverty, but the sustainable development of the environment, the economy and international co-operation are also listed as key goals. We have identified the four goals that are currently most essential to us the Touchpoint responsibility strategy is based on these goals.

Goal 9: Our goal is to build a more responsible textile industry that is based on circularity

With regard to sustainable development, the biggest step

we took in 2020 was definitely the groundbreaking for the Rester circular economy facility in Paimio on 18 August 2020. As the owner of Rester, we are laying the foundation for a textiles ecosystem in Finland, as the end-of-life textile processing facility is the first of its kind in the Nordic countries. You can read more about Rester on page 19. We are constantly developing new, responsible product innovations in co-operation with our partners. For example, in March 2020, we introduced a biodegradable apron together with Jyväskylä-based company, Spinnova, made entirely of a wood-based fibre. We see wood-based fibres as one future material that could someday replace cotton as a raw material. We invest in the active surveying of the market field and potential new partners and innovations, and, with an open mind, set out to test the suitability of new materials in our products. Co-operation with our partners can sometimes also surprise. Our decades-long co-operation with fast-food chain, Hesburger has always been very innovative and productive from the very beginning. Inspired by the “From workwear to composite furnishings” project, we challenged conventional tray materials and worked together to find a method for converting Hesburger’s plastic waste into restaurant serving trays. There is now a total of 19,000 of these serving trays in use at Hesburger restaurants all over Finland.

Goal 17: Our goal is to provide greater support for the implementation of sustainable development and global partnership

UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Goal 12: Our goal is to ensure the sustainability of consumption and production methods

We can’t push the textiles industry toward sustainable development without partners. We believe that the industry

The workwear industry basically produces less waste

won’t grow unless we change it together. A textiles industry ecosystem can’t be created without co-operation, even with some unexpected partnerships.

because workwear is manufactured to meet a need and, in most cases, for a predetermined customer project. In addition to this, our production team ensures that fabrics and accessories are used efficiently in order to minimise waste as much as possible. In 2020, nearly 60% of our production was carried out locally in the Baltic region, where the single largest production country is Estonia. 53% of our products were manufactured in Estonia. We are constantly evaluating the resource efficiency of our production and will continue to invest in product and material emissions and their reduction. We offer our customers carbon handprint calculations on recycled polyester and recycled cotton emissions savings. You can read more about these various actions in the “Production chain” section on page 15.

Goal 13: Our goal is to act with urgency in mitigating climate change and its impacts

By increasing the use of more responsible textile materials, promoting the recycling of textiles, favour-

ing local production and minimising the environmental impacts of transports, we aim to reduce our carbon and water footprint in the years to come. In 2021, we will make every effort to identify the climate impacts of our current operating models and production chains, and, based on this, develop our operations in accordance with Goal 13. You can read more about this in the “Environmental responsibility” section below (p. 9).

In recent years, we have participated in a number of projects, whose goal was to promote the sustainable production, use and recirculation of textiles (e.g. Circular Economy of Textiles (TEKI) project, Telaketju 1 and Telaketju 2). These projects played a major role in establishing key partnerships and contacts. We learned lessons and gained insights from other sectors as well as new partners. Key partners which have supported and promoted our mission include VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Finnish Textile and Fashion. Another important backer of our work is Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, which has included Touchpoint on its “Most interesting companies in the circular economy in Finland” list for several years. Innovative materials must also be tested in the most demanding service environments, i.e. laundries. We actively co-operate with industrial laundries, including product test washes, material testing and processes for selecting the correct size.

RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2020

Timeline Of Touchpoint’s Responsibility Actions

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

We facilitate the closed circulation of

We begin a partnership with

We enhance the efficiency of our

Touchpoint and Domino Workwear

We promise to recycle all the textiles

We hold the first stakeholder break-

Touchpoint makes an investment decision and founds Rester Oy

Our subsidiary Rester starts oper-

workwear lines from end-of-life textiles to composite furnishings

Spinnova

Hesburger’s first 100% ecological line

is launched

Hella Food partnership begins

logistics by consolidating warehousing operations fast meeting

merge

together with its partners

The “Tapio” apron is launched at the

Gastro trade fair

we produce in a responsible manner ation as the first circular economy facility for textiles in the Nordic countries

We develop our responsibility and

material strategy and set our goals for 2021-2025

7 7

RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2020

Sustainable Development You have perhaps heard the terms we use, such as ecological materials and responsible workwear. These terms are part of a larger whole, where the discussion centres around sustainability. Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

The premise of resource efficiency is to use the planet’s resources in a sustainable way and reduce environ

mental impacts. Circularity is an approach that improves resource efficiency that we are attempting to introduce to the textiles industry through our own efforts. Responsibility, on the other hand, involves the actions we take toward achieving sustainable development: assuming responsibility for everything we do and making every effort to improve upon it, not to mention optimising the development of our operations based on our current knowledge. In this report, we will be taking a brief look back on 2020 and examining our responsibility from three perspectives, around which we have built our responsibility strategy and goals for the years to come.

*Juutinen 2016, 24

Examining our responsibility from three perspectives:

1 2 3

Environmental Responsibility

Economic Responsibility

Social Responsibility

1 9

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Environmental Responsibility In production industries, environmental responsibility plays a crucial role - whenever anything new is produced, emissions are produced. The annual greenhouse gas emissions of the textiles and footwear industries account for approximately 10% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. This means that clothing industry value chains generate 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions each year*. For products with a short life cycle, the environmental impacts of textiles are, relatively speaking, far too high in proportion to price and service life. *Quantis, Measuring Fashion Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries Study, 2018

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

In the workwear industry, products with a long lifecycle are basically made directly to meet customer needs,

which fortunately reduces unnecessary waste, thus resulting in lower emissions. Where environmental responsibility is concerned, our objective is to more precisely define our company’s carbon footprint, as it is our goal to produce low-emission and even carbon-neutral workwear in the future. In 2021-2022, we will assess the carbon footprint of our own operations as well as that of our production chain generated through our subcontractors. Our goal is to achieve carbon-neutrality in our own operations in 2022 and introduce the first line of carbon-neutral workwear in 2023. Emissions Generated In The Textiles Value Chain Studies show that a majority of the environmental emissions produced during a garment’s lifecycle are generated before the consumer ever puts it on. Figure 1* shows how the emissions in each phase of the value chain were assessed in studies. The studies show that only a quarter of a garment’s environmental impacts are generated during use and care. Before fabrics are even brought into the garment shop for assembly, 70% of the airborne emissions in the product’s lifecycle have already been generated. Because the result of the studies was calculated according to overall textiles industry emissions, we cannot make any direct comparisons with workwear. However, we can say with some degree of confidence that the materials and finishes used in a garment have a significant impact on emissions.

Garment Industry Value Chain Global Averages Of Airborne Emissions

5% 36%

24% 1%

12% 12%

10%

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Bleaching, dyeing and finishing Fabric production Thread production Fibre production Use and care Freight and distribution Garment sewing

Figure 1: Sustainability and Circularity in the Textile Value Chain - Global Stocktaking Published in 2020 by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 10

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Product Use And Care Our Goal Is To Extend The Lifecycle Of Workwear And Reduce Emissions Product line and service development is continuous, as the needs of our customers are constantly changing, workwear standards are constantly updated and new, environmentally-friendly materials and solutions are constantly being introduced on the market. We want to be the first to introduce new innovations that meet our customers’ needs. We understand that in order to achieve a competitive edge, our product line has to be comprehensive enough to meet the needs of our customers, while also remaining manageable and effective as a whole, particularly where materials are concerned.

The basic product design and production principles of our operations can be simply divided into two operating models:

1 Workwear and product manufacturing in accordance with prescribed customer specifications (such as public tendering) In 2020, a majority of our garment and accessory production was carried out primarily in public procurements, in accordance with the specifications, dimensions and materials prescribed by the customer. In this operating model, we are unable to influence environmentally-friendly choices in the same way as if we were in charge of product design from the very beginning. However, we do make every effort to engage in an active market dialogue with tenders in order to promote the use of environmentally-friendly materials and circularity. Even though changes in fabric quality require relentless and long-term work, we believe it is a worthwhile effort, because the positive environmental impacts are considerable in large scale projects. Our goal, beginning in 2023, is to see more requirements concerning environmentally-friendly materials in public tenders.

2 Design and production based on customer needs When we are able to develop a product line from the very beginning based on the customer’s needs, it allows us to influence the product design, environmentally-friendly material choices and service model. Everything is based on our familiarity with the client company and how we can promote their brand image with a responsible workwear concept that gives the end user a functional workwear entity to support their daily work operations.

When designing a workwear service, we take the following into consideration:

• • • • • •

Responsible workwear concept: material choices, product recyclability at the end of the lifecycle Promoting the brand image: client company goals, visual presentation Technical specifications: routine use and care features required of the workwear Service model design: warehousing, delivery to the customer, forecasting Further development: product and service entity development based on customer feedback, user surveys and interviews Returning products at the end of their service life for processing into new raw materials

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Our goal for 2023 is to have 50% of our own line of accessories to be manufactured using man-made cellulosic textile fibre materials.

Circular Workwear

Use And Care

In addition to an efficient product line, the recyclability of individual products must also be taken into consideration: the fewer different materials and details we use in our products, the easier it is to recycle them at the end of their lifecycle. It must be possible to post-process workwear produced using the circularity model, with a minimal decline in the quality and value of raw materials. The goal for the next few years is to make our products more recyclable. In 2021, we will also explore opportunities for certifying the responsibility of our products.

According to the study mentioned above, approximately one quarter of the environmental emissions in a product’s lifecycle are generated during use (Figure 1). The right kind of use and care play a key role in reducing the environmental impacts during a product’s lifecycle. The needs and practices of our workwear customers vary a great deal: some of our end users care for and wash the garments themselves, while others use an industrial laundry partner. We provide guidance during the product line commissioning phase and contract period, particularly to customers whose end users wash and care for their garments themselves. In practice, we have found that, with good care instructions, we can significantly extend the service life of our products and make end user routines easier.

When the raw material of a product is not a fibre blend, but made of a single type of fibre, we call it a monomaterial. Examples of successful, circularity-friendly products include staff uniforms designed in co-operation with commercial laundry service provider, Sakupe Oy. 99% of the fabric, threads, product information labels and size tags are all made of the same raw material. In the post-processing of these kinds of “no-blend” materials, the value-in-use of the material is kept at an optimal level and recycling is efficient, because the product can be completely recycled. We believe that the more widespread use of equivalent monomaterials and the further development of their recycling process can have major impacts on the environmental savings of our industry. Beginning in 2021, our goal is to add 5 monomaterial products to our line each year as well as to increase the percentage of recycled and recyclable supplies used in our own line. Our goal for 2023 is to have 50% of our own line of accessories to be manufactured using man-made cellulosic textile fibre materials.

In addition to proper care, the long service life of workwear also depends a great deal on the correct sizing of the garment for each user. Not only does a properly fitted garment improve work safety and comfort, it also makes it possible to keep the product in use longer. We initiated the development of a virtual fitting tool and process together with a remote tailoring service partner. Value added is generated by, for example, having a suitable size specified as precisely as possible right from the start, thus resulting in fewer exchanges and returns: this eliminates the need for back-and-forth product deliveries and allows us to minimise emissions and any waste produced. The service also makes it possible for us to provide a more hygienic fitting solution for situations in which it is unsafe to go to the customer’s premises for tailoring or fitting.

Case: Touchpoint × Hesburger Hesburger is one of our longest standing customer partners. The values and active contributions to

sustainable development of this family-owned company have made the partnership a natural fit and very rewarding. We have designed and produced three workwear lines for Hesburger, using more environmentally-friendly materials in each succeeding line. The Hesburger line launched in 2019 was the first 100% ecological product line. All materials used in the line are recycled - from jeans to baseball caps and t-shirts to belt buckles. At the end of 2020, 690,000 recycled plastic bottles were re-used in the workwear manufactured for Hesburger. The use of recycled polyester saved 48,000 kg per CO2e in natural resources*.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Materials

Our Key Fabric Suppliers In 2020 Our goal is to create demand for environmentally-friendly materials According to the study mentioned above, the production of textile fibres generates an average 34% of the garment’s total lifecycle emissions (Figure X). The environmental impact of the textiles industry will not improve without actively making changes. One of Touchpoint’s key operating principles is to offer the most ecological and responsibly produced materials on the market. This is manifested in the use of recycled materials and, on smaller projects, surplus materials. In this regard, development never ends, which is why we engage in a continuous dialogue with our fabric suppliers. In addition to co-operation, we get information on industry innovations and developments at annual textile trade fairs. In 2020, trade fairs and other forms of contact were held online due to the pandemic and its attendant travel restrictions. Because we produce and design apparel for a wide variety of purposes, our material purchases are divided into several different fabric and knit types. As a rule, we always purchase our fabrics based on customer need, focusing each purchase on a specific production lot in order to avoid unnecessary waste. The minimum purchase quantity for some recycled grades can be high, thus requiring us to keep them in our inventory. This allows us to guarantee the customer delivery of a given grade for future orders. Measured in terms of euros, nearly all of our fabric purchases are made with European fabric suppliers. Workwear Materials In 2021, we will be updating our materials strategy. In our strategy, we will place an emphasis on environmentally-friendly materials, user comfort and service life. Garment user needs and requirements vary so much that we believe the future of a sustainable and more responsible textiles industry will be based on the diverse use of fibres, with regard to raw materials, production chains and fibre properties.

The goal we have set regarding our most frequently used materials is to make every effort to replace virgin polyester with recycled polyester and regular cotton with certified and organic cotton. In addition to these, we strive to increase the percentage of manmade cellulosic textile fibres in our materials. Our goal is to replace 20% of the cotton we use with cellulosic textile fibres as well as increase the percentage of environmentally-friendly materials in our own product line by 2025.

Orneule

Foxa Oy

Utexbel

Klopman International

Concordia Textiles

Carrington Textiles

Finland

Belgium

Italy

Belgium

Great Britain

In 2020, 89% of the fabric and knit fibres used in the garments we produced were based on two fibres (Figure 2): 54% polyester and 34% cotton. The remaining 11% consists of, among others, recycled fibres, wool, mad-made cellulosic textile fibres and specialised fibres, such as carbon fibre. Carbon fibre is used especially in healthcare garments to eliminate static electricity. The materials used in the textile products we produce are primarily fibre blends, whose composition can be, for example: 65% polyester and 35% cotton. In 2020, the percentage of recycled polyester used in all our products totalled only 4% (Figure 2). In 2019, the corresponding figure for Touchpoint was approximately 50%. This change is due to the corporate acquisition that took place in 2020, thus resulting in a significant portion of our production being devoted to projects, in which we were not able to make material choices. The corporate acquisition also increased our material flow sevenfold. However, we had used approximately 40,000 kg of recycled polyester by the end of 2020. Our ecological handprint with regard to recycled polyester is 153,363 kg per CO2 e. This is equivalent to 986,894 passenger car kilometres*. Our goal for 2021 is to triple the use of recycled polyester (in kilograms) over 2020 levels.

Materials Used In 2020

3% 4% 2%

35%

1% 1% 54%

Figure 2.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Polyester Cotton Recycled cotton Acrylic Polyamide Other Recycled polyester

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Recycled polyester

Recycled cotton

Cotton

Total use in 2020: 3,400 kg. *kilograms calculated based on an average product weight of 200 g

Total use in 2020: 1,100 kg. *kilograms calculated based on an average product weight of 200 g

Total use in 2020: 31,000 kg. *kilograms calculated based on an average product weight of 200 g

Polyester is a synthetic petroleum-based fibre. We always favour the use of recycled polyester over virgin polyester in order to save on emissions and promote circularity. We have used a large volume of recycled polyester, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. In Finland, plastic bottles can be returned and recycled, but elsewhere in the world this kind of recycling is very rare. Because the base raw material in plastic bottles and polyester is the same, a plastic bottle can be re-fibred into fabric.

Recycled cotton is made into fabric by re-fibering surplus cotton fabric or cotton clothing at the end of its service life. The length of cotton fibre shortens in the process, which is why polyester fibre is usually added to the re-used material in order to enhance the material’s durability. Using recycled cotton instead of virgin cotton reduces the environmental impact caused by cotton cultivation as well as its need for water.

Cotton is commonly used in workwear, particularly as a blend with polyester, thus making the product comfortable to wear due to its ability to absorb moisture and soft feel. Although cotton-polyester blends are primarily used in workwear, we have also manufactured 100% cotton products, such as in welding apparel. Cotton is a durable and absorbent fibre, which makes it an ideal material for workwear.

In test washes, we have found that recycled cotton withstands washing even better than virgin cotton and tricot garments hold their shape better. This is why we intend to increase the use of recycled cotton in our products. Cutting waste is not, in itself, the only solution for material circularity. Our goal for 2021 is to add recycled fabrics made of used textiles to our customer lines alongside recycled cotton cutting waste.

The adverse environmental impacts caused by cotton have mainly to do with the challenges posed by its cultivation. Cotton depletes the soil and its cultivation requires massive amounts of fresh water and fertiliser. We have been making the transition from virgin cotton to certified and organically grown cotton. In terms of sustainable development, the best possible solution we could offer our customers right now is to use recycled cotton whenever it is possible.

Polyester is made of a non-renewable natural resource and we are indeed aware that recycled polyester is not a final solution in textiles production. Our goal is to find a synthetic material made of renewable raw materials that can be used alongside recycled polyester.

For example, a Hesburger employee t-shirt is made of a combination of recycled cutting waste and recycled polyester. The use of recycled cotton saved the company a total of 32,713,200 litres of water by the end of 2020, as opposed to if we had used 100% virgin cotton in our products.

Touchpoint X SOL

Man-made cellulosic textile fibres Man-made cellulosic textile fibres are synthetic fibres, whose raw material is cellulose. These kinds of textile fibres are an excellent future alternative to be used along with cotton in textiles, or even as a replacement for cotton. In recent years, the development of cellulosic textile fibres has been rapid, particularly in Finland. We already use Lyocell fibres in our workwear to some extent. Lyocell has become an alternative in our blended materials alongside cotton. The raw materials used in Lyocell fibres might be the same as used in conventional viscose, but the manufacturing method does not use carbon disulphide and most of the processing chemicals used are recycled. In 2020, Lyocell only accounted for 0.2% of the total materials used by us. A practical challenge involving workwear has been the rapid drying out of man-made cellulosic textile fibres, which creates process problems, particularly in industrial laundries. However, we firmly believe in the potential of cellulosic textile fibre and will continue to develop products with the aim of increasing the percentage of their use in our material purchases. Our partner, Spinnova, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of man-made cellulosic textile fibres. In the spring of 2020, we introduced the world’s first prototype of workwear made using Spinnova fabric. No metal parts were added to the “Tapio” apron, and the basis for design was, indeed, 14 both functionality and recyclability.

Surplus fabrics Sometimes, our partners have viable material left over in their inventory that might be of use to our customers. Design projects using surplus fabrics are always tailored to meet the customer’s needs. The challenges facing surplus fabrics are limitations and the continuity of supply. We cannot, over the long term, guarantee product continuity if the material used comes from an inventory surplus. However, in order to reduce the amount of fabric waste, there are justifications for the use of surplus fabrics in the future. Our customer Picnic updated their workwear in the spring of 2020, and we used surplus denim fabric in their aprons, which has become one of our most popular products. And, did you know that denim is one of the first workwear grades, developed for use by gold prospectors in the United States?

In 2019, we introduced a new workwear line for SOL

cleaning services. The basis for the line was to replace polyester fabrics with recycled polyester. By the end of 2020, 760,000 plastic bottles were processed into 12,700 kg of recycled polyester, which was used to manufacture the line products. The carbon handprint for workwear produced in 2020 was approximately 16,640 kg per CO2e*. This amount of greenhouse gases is 75% lower than if an equivalent line had been manufactured using virgin polyester.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Production & Purchasing Chains

Number Of Production Lots 2020 60

Reliable production partners and transparency in our production chains are crucial to our operations.

50 40 30 20 10 0 Estonia

Latvia

Vietnam

China

Ukraine

Turkey

India

Madagascar Lithuania

1 Touchpoint’s First Tier Of Production We take care of the fabric purchasing, production loads, quality assurance, freight and customs for our subcontractor network. This ensures reliable delivery, quality and resource efficiency in our production. We are in constant contact with our subcontractors, and our own representatives visit the production facilities in the Baltic countries and Vietnam every day during production runs. In addition to this, our purchasing and production team from Finland regularly visits production facilities and works in close co-operation with our contact persons.

Our Goal Is To Continuously Develop Responsible Production Reliable production partners and transparency in our production chains are crucial to our operations. We do not have our own production facility, but rather work in co-operation with carefully selected partners, with which we always aim to establish a close, long-term relationship. The corporate acquisition made in 2020 increased the percentage of local production, and we added subcontractors from Ukraine and Vietnam to our subcontractor network. In 2020, a vast majority of individual production lots were produced in the Baltic countries.

2 Second Tier Of Production Through Partners We want to offer our customers a comprehensive, high-quality, competitive and responsible selection of workwear, which is why we also outsource production-related services from outside our primary network of subcontractors. When we purchase products using this “CMT” Cut, Make, Trim) model, the selected and approved production partner manages a majority of production chain (incl. quality control, production loading, etc.). We also, to a certain extent, purchase ready-made workwear products from well-known ready-made garment manufacturers. We require transparency and valid quality management certificates of all our goods suppliers. We also conduct inspections at production facilities, particularly during the manufacture of large production lots. 15

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Touchpoint’s First Tier Of Production

BALTIC COUNTRIES

VIETNAM

Nearly 60% of our production in 2020 was carried out in the Baltic countries, where the largest single production country is Estonia (49%). We have worked in close co-operation with the same Estonian subcontractor for 14 years. We take advantage of our Estonian partner’s subcontractor network, thus ensuring flexible production. Thanks to them, we are able to meet our customers’ needs and respond quickly. We also have Baltic region production in Latvia (8%) and Lithuania (less than 1%). Our own representative visits the production facilities every day during production runs. Under normal circumstances, our production and purchasing team visits production facilities on a monthly basis.

In 2019, Touchpoint did not have any operations in Vietnam, but, with the corporate acquisition of Domino Workwear in 2020, its share of the total production increased significantly. In 2020, Vietnam accounted for approximately 16% of the production volume. We also see Vietnam as being a key production country going forward as production volumes increase. Vietnam is an important production country for us and we have made substantial investments in co-operation with local operators. We have enjoyed close co-operation with the same operator in Vietnam for 4 years and have multiple production facilities at our disposal. Our local quality manager closely monitors production and visits production facilities every day during production runs. In Vietnam, we offer training for sewing work together with our partner in order to improve the status of women in working life.

UKRAINE

In 2019, Ukraine did not account for a significant share of Touchpoint’s total production, but with the corporate acquisition of Domino Workwear in 2020, its share of the total production volume was approximately 8%. As our Ukrainian production facilities are located in the western part of the country, they are not subject to the unrest affecting other parts of Ukraine. We have operated in Ukraine for 5 years and visit the production facilities on a regular basis.

In Vietnam, we require our production facilities to have the following certifications: Wrap, ISO 9001, SA 8000, Better Work and/or BSCI.

Second Tier Of Production Through Partners

AFRICA (MADAGASCAR & TUNISIA)

CHINA

INDIA

TURKEY

In 2019, we began a partnership with a large Belgian CMT workwear operator, which maintains its own operations in, among others, Tunisia and Madagascar. Our supplier has extremely high quality processes for production and a great deal of experience in managing production operations in Africa. They have also been approved for UN Global Compact. The operator in question is striving for carbon-neutrality in its product line and, for every fourth garment it sells, it plants a tree in one target country to compensate its emissions. The production facilities are audited regularly by a third party, and we visited these facilities in 2019 in connection with one of our own production lots.

Also in China, our production involves subcontractors and purchases from ready-made garment manufacturers, which have their own production or subcontractor network. China’s share of production was previously comparatively large, but, due to the corporate acquisition made in 2020, its share decreased considerably and we do not currently have any plans to centre our production operations in China. In 2019, China accounted for 23% of the total production volume, while in 2020 it had dropped to approximately 1%.

In India, our production has involved both subcontracting and purchasing garments from a ready-made garment manufacturer. For example, we purchase shirts manufactured using cutting waste from Finnish supplier Pure Waste, whose cutting waste process and production is centred in India.

In Turkey, our production involves subcontractors and purchases from ready-made garment manufacturers. However, Turkey’s share of the total production of Touchpoint workwear is very small: in 2019, it was approximately 3% and in 2020 it had dropped to 0.1%. This variation in production volume has partly to do with the product needs of customer projects.

We have maintained partnerships in China with long-standing, reliable partners, which are amfori BSCI approved.

In India, our partners’ production facilities are amfori BSCI approved, and our most recent visit to their facilities was made in 2019. India’s share of total production varies by customer product line and was very small in 2020, only accounting for 1% of the total production volume.

In addition to workwear production, we also purchase supplies from Turkey (e.g. woven labels), which are widely used in all our products. The supplier in question is a leader in our industry and approved by, for example, amfori BSCI. 16

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Ready-made products In 2020, 3% of the products delivered to our customers were ready-made catalogue items produced by our partners. Ready-made garment manufacturers are selected as partners because they offer a wide range of responsible and/or environmentally-friendly products. We assess the responsibility of these second tier production partners through certification. An example of a long-term partnership is Finnish operator Pure Waste Textiles Oy. Supply chain oversight We work in co-operation with long-term production partners and make every effort to ensure that our production chain is as transparent as possible. We require both our direct subcontractor partners and CMT production partners to sign the Touchpoint Code of Conduct (CoC). We gather information on the quality management and responsibility certifications held by our partners (production partners, ready-made garment partners, fabrics and materials) and, if possible, we visit their production facilities in person. Our customers are also always welcome to visit our production facilities. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic in 2020, we were unable to make any visits to production facilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Freight And Transport Freight And Transport The importance of functional, efficient logistics is emphasised particularly when production is carried out far away. When we make a production plan and select production facilities, we naturally also take the freight costs of materials and supplies, scheduling and environmental impacts into consideration. We make every effort to order the materials to be used in production so that the supply chain is kept as short as possible and as few transports as possible will be needed. We strive to minimise inventory levels and production waste by anticipating demand as accurately as we can. Where transports are concerned, we make use of our partner network and partners on a national and regional basis. In addition to this, we also favour long-term logistics partnerships and operators which prioritise environmental concerns and responsibility in their operations. Examples of our logistics partners include Finnish postal service Posti Oy and family-owned company Hacking Logistics as well as international shipping agencies DHL and TNT.

5% 19%

land from production facilities OTR. In 2020, sea transports accounted for 19% and air freight 5% of the shipments made. Sea transports were made from Africa and Asia. Air freight is rarely used, and every effort is made to avoid its use. Rail transports are used on a case-by-case basis, and rail connections are explored and kept as an alternative, for example, for Asian imports. Where freight and shipments are concerned, our goal for the future is to chart their impact on the carbon footprint of our operations and reduce emissions by using, among others, more environmentally-friendly and lower-emission forms of transportation.

Freight 2020

Packaging And Packaging Materials

■ ■ ■

Our customers receive our products and either put them directly into use or first into storage. As a rule, we do not individually package our products. However, we do sometimes use plastic to improve product storage either at the customer’s request or, for example, in order to minimise the risk of soiling the product, particularly with more sensitive items such as white shirts.

OTR (Over The Road) Sea Air

(Figure 4* Data based on shipments made, not production volume.) 76%

In 2020, 76% of all shipments (Figure 4) were made Over The Road: a majority of shipments come to Fin-

We prefer using recycled cardboard boxes and make every effort to re-use cardboard boxes when making additional deliveries. Domino Workwear has signed a Finnish Packaging Recycling RINKI Ltd producer responsibility contract and beginning in 2021 Touchpoint is entirely covered by the contract. Warehousing Touchpoint maintains warehouses in Finland and Estonia with contract partners. In Estonia, we primarily warehouse materials and supplies for future production runs. Our main materials warehouse is located in Rapla, Estonia, and we also maintain smaller on-hand inventories in our production partners’ warehouses. We are in daily contact with our warehousing partners and visit them to conduct audits. Our warehouse for service model customer products is located in Lahti. Our partner in warehousing and customer-specific shipment management is Alfaroc Logistics. Completed in 2020, Alfaroc’s warehouse in Lahti is fitted with the latest environmental technologies, such as rooftop solar panels, geothermal heating, automatically controlled lighting and climate-controlled warehouse space.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

Rester

In 2021, our goal is to begin supplying cutting waste from local production facilities to the Rester end-of-life textile processing facility. The shared goal of Touchpoint and Rester is to establish a new type of business based on the recycling of end-of-life textiles by 2025.

Our Goal Is To Have The Largest Processing Facility For End-Of-Life Textiles In The Nordic Countries We have found that the solution to the end-of-life textile challenge requires a local solution using state-of-the-art technology and processes, so that the costs and environmental impacts of transporting the material can be kept at a level where recycling alternatives are cost-effective. Because there were no industrial scale textile recycling and processing facilities in the Nordic countries, we decided to establish our own. Our subsidiary, Rester is the first large-scale end-of-life textile processing facility for industrial applications in the Nordic countries. Located in Paimio, its construction will be completed in 2021. For a company the size of Touchpoint, Rester is a truly significant strategic accomplishment and investment, which we want to use in establishing a more responsible textiles industry in Finland and the Nordic countries. Rester will focus on Nordic end-of-life textiles, while Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto Oy (LSJH), which is a municipal waste management company subletting the same facility, will process household end-of-life textiles on its own line. In total, the coming facility will be capable of processing 12,000 tonnes of end-of-life textiles each year, which is approximately 10% of the total volume of textile waste in Finland. The end product from both lines will be recycled fibre, which can be used in a variety of different industrial applications, such as threads and fabrics, construction and shipbuilding insulation, acoustic panels, composites, nonwoven fabrics and filter materials as well as other technical textiles, such as geotextiles.

2 20

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Corporate Responsibility The goal of every business is to achieve long-term economic sustainability. It is not possible to do work in accordance with the principles of sustainable development if a business is not profitable. We want to promote our industry in its entirety and work toward achieving a situation in which we are able to offer an even wider range of sustainable solutions to an even broader range of customers.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Environmental Impacts We believe strongly in the power of collaboration and we are fully aware of the fact that, as a small opera-

tor, we are not able to achieve all of our goals on our own. We want to promote and develop a new kind of textiles ecosystem in Finland that is based on circularity and new types of synthetic cellulosic textile fibres. For many years, we have emphasised networking and partnerships as well as participated in various projects, research projects, seminars and lectures. In 2021, we will be focusing on the implementation of our new communications strategy with regard to stakeholder communications.

Our goal is to evolve in carbon management accounting (CMA) At present, the environmental accounting we offer our customers involves the positive environmental impacts of recycled polyester and recycled cotton, as these materials are used in the product line. In the future, we aim to provide our customers with a more comprehensive positive environmental handprint analysis in their responsibility reports. Our goal for 2021 is to determine how we can develop and diversify our accounting. Thus far, accounting has been done by our own team, using public data or data received from material suppliers, but our next step will be to also chart external partners in accounting. The challenge with these reports and accounting is that there is a wide variety of accounting methods in use and, for the time being, there is no standard practice for environmental accounting. Fortunately, there are guidelines being developed: For example, the European Union-approved Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines are intended to establish a common accounting method for the entire EU region. However, the 16 different accounting methods for each environmental impact category given in the PEF guidelines are somewhat hard, and applying these guidelines requires the assistance of an outside expert.

Material responsibility

Take Back Pledge

Our goal is to offer the most comprehensive selection of environmentally-friendly workwear materials

Our goal is to increase circularity in the textiles industry

Beginning in 2021, our goal is to regularly replace customer line products with recycled materials (a minimum of 5 products a year).

Beginning in 2021, we pledge to recycle all textiles we supply our customers responsibly and report recycling volumes (kg) each year. We will take the equivalent volume of textiles (in kg) back from our customers for post-processing as we deliver in each new product line. In accordance with our pledge, our customers’ textiles will not end up as smoke in our atmosphere, but rather be post-processed into new material at the end of their service life. 21

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Co-Operation In 2020 In 2020, despite the pandemic, we were able to continue working with our key partners. Below are a few mentions of our activities in 2019 and 2020.

Mask Webinar With Ali Harlin

Breakfast at Touchpoint

Spinnova

In the spring of 2020, in response to the global pandemic, we immediately set out to develop face masks and protective apparel for healthcare needs. Within a few months, the debate on face masks and respirators heated up, and we received a large number of questions and concerns from our customers regarding them. We hosted a free info-session for our customers and partners on the subject. Research Professor Ali Harlin of Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT served as an expert at the session. Over 20 people attended the webinar on 27 May 2020 and we were given answers to such questions as the filtration capacity of non-woven materials, the filtration capacity of fabric masks and droplet dispersion in public spaces.

At the end of 2019, we launched a free event concept for our customers and partners that focused on various working life, occupational well-being and sustainable development topics and included a hearty breakfast. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss topics related to the sustainable development of working life and create a pleasant setting for an open exchange of ideas.

Spinnova is a Finnish company that develops the use of cellulosic textile fibres, particularly for the needs of the textiles industry. Touchpoint was one of the first brands to collaborate with Spinnova in 2018, and we are the only partner in the workwear sector.

Lab University Of Applied Sciences Co-Operation

Laundry Co-Operation

Telaketju 1 & 2

Touchpoint has worked in co-operation with the LAB University of Applied Sciences (formerly Lahti University of Applied Sciences) for the past four years. Our designer has served as an outside thesis evaluator and we have also contributed to promoting responsibility and ecological perspectives in the degree programme. In addition to this, we held a workwear design competition for second-year students in 2018. In 2020, we saw a large number of impressive, professional theses.

We work in close co-operation with industrial laundries, as we have to take the specific characteristics of a laundry’s processes in the design phase in order to produce workwear that is as sustainable and long-lived as possible. Laundries rent clothing to their customers - this clothing must maintain its size and appearance for its entire lifecycle, which sets stringent requirements for the materials selected. These materials must, for example, be extremely colourfast, have minimal shrinkage and be extremely abrasion-resistant. Naturally, the materials must be able to withstand high temperatures used in washing and tunnel drying. In addition to this, the seam structures and details of products must hold up during the various laundry phases.

Touchpoint has been an active member in the Telaketju network, whose goal is to promote the sustainable, production, use and re-circulation of textiles. Telaketju aims to develop end-of-life textile collection, sorting, post-processing and circularity-based business models and, in co-operation with industry operators, develop an ecosystem based on Finnish know-how, where multisectoral co-operation can be used to establish a new, robust textiles industry.

The meeting topics included “Sustainable development and future trends” and “The employee experience and management” Unfortunately, the pandemic prevented us from holding any breakfast meetings in 2020, but we will be resuming these breakfast meetings in the future.

The most recent product developed in co-operation with laundries is a more ecological insulated jacket, whose material is a blend of organic cotton and recycled polyester. Our goal is to continue to add materials suitable for endof-life re-circulation in our products for laundries and continue test washing products that contain man-made sellulosic textile fibres.

We have conducted a few product development trials with Spinnova cellulosic textile fibres, but the most important fruit of our collaboration is the “Tapio” apron, which is the world’s first apron made entirely of woodbased fibres. The apron is manufactured without using hazardous chemicals and is rapidly biodegradable.

In 2020, we achieved our goal and completed the Telaketju project and Touchpoint’s own “Workwear as a Service”. For Touchpoint, participating in Telaketju required a great deal of resources, but we believe that the work and investment are crucial to our position as industry leader and as part of our development goals. The Telaketju projects have, above all, given us key partnerships and contacts, lessons and perspectives from other industries, and new collaborative arrangements. The project has also made it possible for us to develop and refine our own closed loop service concept.

3 23

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Social Responsibility

Touchpoint’s social responsibility covers employer responsibility, indirect social responsibility for partner employees, and interaction with societal actors. Touchpoint’s mission is to be a responsible and desirable employer and partner.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Team And Touchpoint As An Employer

Our Goal Is To Be A Responsible Employer

What is your age group?

■ ■ ■

20-39

40-59 Over 60

36%

57%

How long have you worked for your present employer? (Touchpoint/Domino Workwear)

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

14%

3-5 years

14%

Personnel Changes 2018-2020

How many days a week do you work remotely?

New employees

■

Left company during the year

2020

■ 2019

80% 70%

60%

14%

50%

44%

40%

8 6

30%

20%

6 2

0 2018

■

5-10 years

14%

We encourage employees to seek training in their own field or specialisation. In 2020, 57% of all employees participated in refresher training courses and seminars. In 2021, the goal is to increase this figure to 75%.

In 2021, our goal is to both improve employee satisfaction and reduce employee turnover compared to 2020.

Number of employees

1-2 years

We support employee sport and cultural activities with a 200-euro ePassi benefit each year.

Prior to 2020, we primarily worked out of our offices, but the spring of 2020 brought about significant changes to our distance working arrangements. When we came into the office, we observed social distancing and practiced thorough hand hygiene. Customer interactions were also handled remotely.

■ Personnel at end of year ■

I started in 2020

Over 10 years

The Touchpoint team and operations grew considerably in 2020 as a result of the corporate acquisition. We have offices in Helsinki and Tampere, and the number of employees at the end of 2020 totalled 16, 4 of whom are men and 12 women. We have a fairly even age distribution, with a majority of the employees in the age group 40-59. Careers at Touchpoint have thus far been relatively short, with a majority of our employees having been with the company for less than 5 years. Since 2020, we have conducted 2 employee satisfaction surveys a year.

4 2019

5 2

10% 0%

2020

I don’t work remotely at all or very, very rarely

1-2 days

3-4 days

I usually work remotely

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Non-profit co-operation in 2020 Employee commuting distance varies between 1 km and 100 km. The

average commute is 20 km. Touchpoint employees do not drive company-owned cars. The commuting distance and regional differences in the availability of public transportation explain why cars are the primary mode of transportation used by employees. Our goal is to explore more ecological commuting alternatives and encourage our employees to use more environmentally-friendly modes of transportation for commuting.

Which claims apply to you when you leave for work?

14%

29%

57%

■ ■ ■

I usually come to work by car I usually come to work with public transportation I usually walk or bike to work

HELLA FOOD Hella Food is a free course intended for young adults 18–29 years of age. The course is held twice a year. The aim of the course is to familiarise young adults with the restaurant industry and open a direct pathway to working life or restaurant studies. The Hella Food course takes four months, during which time the students will learn how to prepare food from scratch with top chefs. Since 2018, we have provided workwear to 95 Hella Food students and their wonderful instructors. Our goal is to support at least one non-profit organisation each year.

WISENOSE Dogs

Code Of Conduct The Code of Conduct specifies the minimum level that we and our partners must honour human rights, sustainable development, and the prevention of corruption as well as our compliance with laws and regulations. The Touchpoint Code of Conduct is closely based on the principles of the UN Global Compact initiative, which is, in turn, based on the following universal principles:

• • • •

Wise Nose has trained four dogs: Kössi, E.T., Valo and Miina, who worked at Helsinki Airport in 2020. Wise Nose – Smell Detection Association of Finland specialises in smell detection training and work. Their dogs perform a “smell pre-test” on passengers, based on which passengers potentially carrying the COVID-19 virus are sent to take an official COVID-19 test. We supply the dog trainers with the necessary work pants, vests and t-shirts, which distinguish them from other airport staff.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work UN Rio Declaration on Environment and Development UN Convention against Corruption

Our goal for 2021 is to have all of our direct subcontractors sign the updated Code of Conduct. In 2022, our goal will be to expand the Code of Conduct to include partners.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Main focal points of the responsibility strategy: Indicators, current status and goals:

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

INDICATOR

CURRENT STATUS

GOAL 2021

GOAL 2022–2025

Reducing the carbon footprint

Carbon footprint accounting

2020: Company carbon footprint not known in its entirety.

Report Scope emissions and begin carbon footprint accounting. Direct measurement of the production chain carbon footprint.

2022 Own operations carbon-neutral 2023: first carbon-neutral workwear

Responsible production chain

Air and express shipment percentage of total freight

OTR and sea shipments favoured - air shipments 5% of total freight

Selecting a delivery method with delivery time and environmental-friendliness in mind → always try to reduce the number of air shipments made

Will be refined during 2021

Responsible production chain

Gathering cutting waste for recycling

Subcontractor locations gather and dispose of cutting waste themselves

Own local production cutting waste gathering and delivery to Rester

Will be refined during 2021

Responsibly designed workwear

Recyclability of products and materials

Sakupe service uniform, Hesburger apron

Improving recyclability: 5 additional monomaterials in the line

Will be refined during 2021

Environmentally-friendly materials and chemicals

Utilisation rate of environmentally-friendly materials

In 2020, the use of recycled polyester accounts for 3,400 kg of production. Cellulosic textile fibres account for less than 1% of production.

1. Tripling of recycled polyester use (over 2020 levels)

1.2025: 95% of our own line made of environmentally-friendly materials

The availability of recyclable supplies has not been regularly charted.

2. Supplies: increasing the percentage of recycled/recyclable supplies in our own line

2. 2025: 20% of products containing cotton replaced by other modified cellulose-based materials

Recycling of end-of-life textiles

Channels and opportunities for recycling end-of-life textiles locally

Company (Rester) founded in 2019 and construction begun in 2020

2021 completion of the end-of-life textiles recycling facility and launching of operations

2025: Touchpoint and Rester have created a new type of business for the recycling of end-of-life textiles

Wide range of enviromentally-friendly materials

Percentage of the product line made of environmentally-friendly materials

Limited use of environmentally-friendly materials product testing and customer training required

Regular replacement of the materials used in main customer line products with recycled materials (min. 5 products a year)

Take Back model

Number of Take Back customerships

The “Take Back” model under development preparations being made for the start-up of the facility

Touchpoint is committed to recycling all of its supplied textiles through the facility and reports recycling volumes (kg) annually

Will be refined during 2021

Transparent communications

Two-way, open communication with key stakeholders

2019 informative breakfast meetings (2), mask webinar

1. Autumn 2021 (pandemic situation permitting) resumption of breakfast meetings

Will be refined during 2021

Business growth through responsibility

Increasing demand for more environmentally-friendly products

Even though environmental-friendliness does carry weight, customers/ tenders often stress other features more (such as price)

Share information with customers and partners on environmentally-friendly materials and their impacts.

Beginning in 2023: more environmentally-friendly materials in public tenders

Partnerships and co-operative networks

Active participation in projects and networks, which promote the sustainable production, use and re-circulation of textiles

Telaketju

Complete the Telaketju project and Touchpoint’s own “Workwear as a Service”.

2022 → Specify the follow-up projects for 2022– 2025. Criteria for participation: promoting circularity, responsibility and/or internationalisation.

A good, desirable employer

Personnel surveys, Personnel turnover (%)

No. of personnel surveys conducted in 2020: 2.

1. Employee satisfaction surveys twice a year - Aim: to increase satisfaction

Will be refined during 2021

Turnover in 2020: 23%

2. Aim: Reduce personnel turnover (turnover max.10%)

Team responsibility

Commuting emissions, use of own car compared with using public transportation and bicycling, etc.

A large percentage of employees live far away from their workplace and/or the workplace location is not convenient for using public transportation.

Explore more ecological commuting alternatives and provide personnel with information on these.

Will be refined during 2021

Team training and development

Participation in refresher training and seminars (% of employees)

57% of employees

75% of employees

Will be refined during 2021

Social responsibility

Joint projects with non-profit actors

Beginning in 2018, workwear for Hella Food students and instructors

Support to be given to at least one non-profit actor

Will be refined during 2021

Responsible production chain

CoC signature

New Code of Conduct drafted and approved by the Board of Directors in January 2021.

1. All Tier I suppliers have signed the updated CoC by the end of the year.

2022: All those required to sign the CoC which have signed the Touchpoint CoC or have submitted their own signed CoC, which is equivalent to the Touchpoint CoC.

2020 Teams workshops and meetings

2. 2021 implementation of the updated communications strategy

2. The other suppliers and partners who are required to sign the Touchpoint CoC are specified.

GLOSSARY

CIRCULARITY (CIRCULAR ECONOMY)

To keep the value of products and materials as high as possible for as long as possible, while keeping environmental impacts as low as possible. Source: VTT JOHDATUS TEKSTIILIEN KIERTOTALOUTEEN presentation (in Finnish) https://telaketju.turkuamk.fi/uploads/2020/03/c2ca846f- johdatus_tekstiilien_kiertotalouteen.pdf

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Human development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Juutinen 2016, 24) Source: Juutinen S. 2016. Strategisen yritysvastuun käsikirja. (in Finnish) Helsinki: Talentum Media

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

SOURCES AND REFERENCES:

The premise of resource efficiency is to use the resources available on earth in a sustainable manner and to reduce their environmental impacts. It is also one of the most important means of transitioning to a low-carbon, or “green”, economy. The concept of ‘green economy’ is based on using natural resources efficiently in society with the help of environmental, economic and social policy and innovations. Resource efficiency covers issues such as enhancement of the use of materials and energy and the recycling and reuse of products or waste. In its broadest sense, resource efficiency encompasses not just the use of materials and energy but also the use of air, water, land and soil.

Kolme kysymystä käytettyjen tekstiilien kierrätyksestä, STJM 17.2.2020 https://www.stjm.fi/uutiset/kolme-kysymysta-tekstiilien-kierratyksesta/ (read 21.12.2020)

Source: https://www.ymparisto.fi/en-US/Consumption_and_production/Resource_efficiency

Quantis, Measuring Fashion Insights from the Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries Study, 2018

https://www.ykliitto.fi/yk-teemat/kestava-kehitys/kestavan-kehityksen-tavoitteet (read 8.10.2020) Sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain — Global stocktaking, Published in 2020 by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Alsico UN Global Compact https://www.unglobalcompact.org/participation/report/cop/create-and-submit/active/434275 (read 12.1.2021) ECOSYSTEM

Ecosystems are interdependent networks between enterprises, entrepreneurs, researchers, public administration and third-sector operators.

Waste2Wear® R-PET: Life Cycle Enviro nmental Impact/Analysis: Recycled Polyester Staple Fiber; October 2015, update September 2018

Source: https://tem.fi/en/ecosystems 27