American & Efird Honored with Nike Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) Award
Leading Sewing Thread Manufacturer’s Award is the Latest Evidence of Its Continued Commitment to Sustainability
MOUNT HOLLY, NC (April 30, 2013) – American & Efird – (A&E) one of the world’s leading manufacturers of sewing thread, embroidery thread and technical textiles for worldwide industrial markets, today announced its dye house in Dongmei, China has received recognition for its outstanding participation in the Nike Materials Sustainability Index. This is A&E’s second consecutive award in Nike’s quarterly competition. Third parties must certify all data submitted.
Les Miller, Chief Operating Officer of American & Efird, accepts Nike MSI award from Catherine Newman, Nike Material Sustainability Index Operations Manager, on March 21, 2013.
“Nike MSI is one of the most prestigious sustainability programs with exceptionally high standards, and we are incredibly honored to receive this award,” said John Eapen, A&E Vice President, Environmental, Health and Safety/Sustainability. “While others have backed away from environmental efforts, we have broadened our environmental responsibility, the results of which have reinforced our global commitment to creating a better world through responsible corporate actions, an environmentally protective stance, and numerous contributions to the communities in which we operate.”
This Materials Sustainability Index award strengthens A&E’s position as a trusted supplier to Nike, so winning is an extreme honor.
A&E received perfect scores in both Nike Water Program and Water Conservation. The Nike Water Program requires suppliers to submit treated wastewater to an independent, certified environmental laboratory, and then upload the results to the Nike MSI water website. The results must meet Nike and local discharge standards. The Dongmei Plant has a highly sophisticated physical/chemical/biological/Ultra Filtration/Reverse Osmosis treatment system, which allows the facility to surpass required regulatory limits and recycle over 50% of the treated wastewater. A&E invested over two million US dollars for this state of the art treatment plant.
American & Efird, Dongmei Plant, China- Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant
In its 2011-2012 sustainability report, A&E announced that worldwide it was able to make 16.8 percent improvement in water conservation and saved more than 557 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 2.1 million cubic meters of water during the past six years.
ABOUT NIKE MSI:
Nike’s focus on materials has led to product innovations that deliver superior performance and reduce its environmental impact, as measured by the Nike Materials Sustainability Index. Materials represent an estimated 60 percent of the environmental impacts of its products, so selecting better materials at the beginning of the product creation process is an activity within its control and one of its biggest levers for change. In 2003, Nike began developing Nike MSI to provide a practical method to help designers make informed, real-time decisions about the potential and various environmental impacts of material choices in the product creation process. Nike MSI calculates relative material scores for each of the more than 80,000 materials available to Nike product creation teams from 1,400 suppliers. These scores then feed into the Nike Apparel and Footwear Sustainability Indexes, helping designers to select materials with lower environmental impacts, as measured by Nike MSI.
ABOUT AMERICAN & EFIRD:
Headquartered in Mt. Holly, NC, American & Efird has manufacturing centers and distribution points in 41 countries. Founded in 1891, A&E maintains a longstanding commitment to Environmental Health & Safety, Sustainability and Social Responsibility in all of its worldwide operations.
In 2011, A&E received National Safety Awards for its plants in Ludhiana and Perundurai, India, The Enterprise with Excellence recognized its Dongmei, China facility with the Prevention of Work Injury Award. And in early 2012, A&E was recognized with gold and silver safety awards from the state of North Carolina, where it is headquartered. For more information on American & Efird, visit the website at www.amefird.com.
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