Hanesbrands is committed to the responsible management of water, wastewater, chemicals, solid waste, and recycled materials in all of our manufacturing facilities worldwide. We comply with or exceed all environmental laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which we operate. Where lower or no regulations exist, we comply with U.S. standards unless prohibited by local law.

Environmental responsibility has been ingrained in our operations for years. Our chemical management program began in 1991, and we developed an environmental auditing protocol for facilities in 1994. Since then, we have deepened our ethos of environmental responsibility.

  • We strive to use water as efficiently as possible and have reduced water use per product manufactured by nearly 18 percent since 2007.
  • We constructed state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants to support each of our three fabric textiles facilities located in China, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador. These facilities use naturally occurring biological processes and are built to meet or exceed wastewater standards in the United States and local countries, whichever are more stringent. Together, they have the capacity to treat more than 6 million gallons of wastewater per day.
  • We have developed a rigorous chemical management program to ensure that our products are made with the safest substances possible. We maintain a global restricted substances list that meets or exceeds all consumer and environmental regulations in all jurisdictions in which we operate. In an effort to further protect our consumers, we were one of the first apparel companies to conduct chemical audits of suppliers.
  • We reduce waste and recycle wherever feasible. We track 27 different waste streams in our manufacturing and distribution facilities and offices, and we seek recycling options for all of these items.

To continuously monitor and improve our environmental performance, we have instituted our Global Environmental Management System, which allows us to track energy consumption, water usage, waste disposal, and recycling efforts for each facility in an online database. The data is used to set goals and implement best practices across our facilities worldwide.

Social Responsibility

We are also committed to social responsibility in all of our facilities. We seek to maintain a culture of integrity, workplace quality, and product safety – and to support the fundamental needs of the communities in which we operate.