R.M.Williams

Our Sustainability Framework

• Emissions & Key Environmental Issues

  What is your company doing to reduce your emissions or combat key environmental issues (e.g. waste (packaging, end of life product strategy or recycling), biodiversity, land use, water, chemical use, energy use, and natural resource use etc.)?

  R.M.Williams is deeply committed to reducing our carbon footprint and being a positive influence on our supply chain. We acknowledge that we are early on in our journey, and target-setting and sustainability is an iterative process. We began measuring our greenhouse gas emissions footprint in FY20, starting with our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, which cover fuel, gas and electricity in our own operations. We have since expanded this process to include a full Scope 3 emissions footprint, including raw materials, upstream manufacturing, freight, distribution, waste from operations, product care and maintenance, end of life disposal of our products, employee commuting and business travel. This has formed our FY22 baseline year, from which we will begin measuring our impact and reducing emissions within our value chain. We will publish our emissions bootprint in 2023. As our primary product, understanding and reducing the emissions associated with R.M.Williams boots is key to lowering our overall environmental impact. We recently engaged a third party to conduct a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of our boots, which is undergoing independent verification. We look forward to reporting on our progress.

• Materials

  How are the products your company offers made from environmentally friendly materials (e.g. recycled, organic materials)?

  We are committed to using materials in our footwear, apparel, and packaging that support environmental regeneration. We are identifying and testing new and existing materials that have a positive impact on the world around us, to reduce CO2 emissions, divert waste from oceans and landfills, reduce chemical and water use, and employ circularity in design. R.M.Williams has already implemented myriad initiatives that include the introduction of sustainable ecommerce packaging, such as switching our shoe boxes to FSC-certified board and the procurement of new, sustainable fabrics for use in our apparel lines. We are also testing low-emissions leather alternatives, such as MIRUM. In 2022 we partnered with Australian-based Good Earth Cotton, the world’s first carbon positive cotton company. Through regenerative farming processes, Good Earth Cotton crops are actively absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere than they produce and creating products with a more circular lifecycle. We are working to transition our apparel and packaging portfolio to ensure we use 100% preferred materials by 2025.

• Service Offering

  How are the service/s you offer environmentally friendly?

  At R.M.Williams, we champion the Australian values of perseverance and durability. We are extending the inherent circularity of our products to end of life responsibility too, taking back boots at the end of (a long, well-lived) life and ensuring we create a circular framework for all R.M.Williams boots. We craft items that last, that stand the test of time and that people trust.

• Supply Chain

  Do you partner with ethical factories that meet international labor standards? What processes have you implemented to make your supply chain more sustainable?

  At R.M.Williams we believe that honesty and transparency are the most important drivers in ensuring progress is made for people and the planet. In this vein, we currently and continuously publish our Tier-1 suppliers on our website. The R.M.Williams ‘Terms of Agreement’ and ‘Ethical Code of Conduct’ have been signed by all suppliers and vendors. Together this forms a document called 'Terms of Engagement'. Suppliers must adhere to the R.M.Williams Ethical Code of Conduct as a precondition of working with us. This goes beyond legal compliance to cover animal welfare, energy efficiency, ethical raw material sourcing, chemical and water use, waste, reuse, and recycling. In partnership with QIMA, a quality control and supply chain auditing platform, we have regular onsite audits of our suppliers and vendors to give us a deeper understanding of how our partners are working toward our shared goals.

• Community Initiatives

  How does your company give back to the community (e.g. financial donations, volunteering, partnerships etc.)?

  R.M.Williams believes it is important to give back, donating excess shoes and apparel to Thread Together, a charitable organisation which offers those most in need access to brand new clothing. We also encourage all employees to take two paid volunteer community service days annually. In a commitment to supporting craftsmanship and creativity across Australia, our Salisbury workshop team donate approximately 20 bags of excess leather each month to South Australian First Nations Artists via local social enterprise, Carclew. R.M.Williams is committed to furthering the restoration of Aboriginal histories and being a leader in how Australian businesses engage and advance First Nations communities. We are early in this journey and have started by listening to Adnyamathanha elders in the Flinders Ranges, where the R.M.Williams brand was born. We look forward to sharing more of our progress in the near future.

• Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

  How has your company made a commitment to achieve and maintain inclusion & diversity (e.g. Gender / Race / Ethnicity / National Origin / Sexual Orientation / Religion / Disability / Age)?

  We have set ourselves a target to develop a full DEI roadmap by end of FY23 and reach gender parity at all levels by 2025. In July 2022, we implemented a comprehensive parental leave policy. We now provide 26 weeks paid parental leave for eligible primary care givers at full pay, in addition to 4 weeks paid for secondary carers at full pay. If your spouse or de facto partner is the primary carer and their employer does not provide a full pay, we will pay up to 5 months parental support at full pay. Support is offered through this policy in instances of surrogacy and surrogates, adoption, permanent foster care or guardianship.

• Circular Models

  How does your circular model or circular initiative work?

  R.M.Williams has been repairing boots since 1932 and repairs approximately 20,000 boots annually. Reginald Murray ‘RM’ Williams always said that there’s only one thing more comfortable than a new R.M.Williams boot, and that’s an old R.M.Williams boot. Repairing your well-worn footwear not only extends the lifespan of your favourite boots, but can also have an incredible impact when you consider that one of the easiest things we can do for the planet is cut down on consumption and get more use out of the products we already own. In FY22, R.M. Williams repaired an estimated 19,360 pairs of boots. The estimated environmental savings of the repair services compared to the manufacture of new boots, includes: Saving a total of 18.5 tonnes of leather waste in FY22 Saving 641,700 litres of water We have also launched Re.Made, a boot refurbishment and resale program. To date we have repaired 472 pairs from the 2,107 that were brought into stores across Australia.