Tapestry Reveals 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report – WWD

Tapestry on Friday issued its 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report, claiming it continues to make progress on its social and environmental efforts. 

The fashion group — parent to the Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands — released the report for the fiscal year ending June 27, 2020. The report, Tapestry’s eighth year in a row, tracks the company’s efforts in areas such as equity, inclusion and diversity in the workforce; sustainability initiatives, such as supply chain traceability and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and charitable contributions worldwide.

“Our Social Fabric framework is focused on three pillars: our people, our planet and our communities,” said Joanne Crevoiserat, chief executive officer of Tapestry. “It unites teams across the business to meet common goals and a shared objective — to create the modern luxury company of the future that balances true fashion authority with meaningful, positive change. Today, our commitment and resolve to execute against these three pillars of Our Social Fabric has never been stronger. In the face of unprecedented challenges over the year, we broadened the scope of our actions and built upon our commitments to shape the world to become more inclusive, sustainable and safe.” 

The annual survey serves as a sort of report card on how well Tapestry is doing in its efforts to be a good corporate citizen.

Here, a few takeaways from the report. 

The Workforce

During the last year, Tapestry started an Inclusion Council in an effort to increase participation of people with diverse perspectives throughout various levels of the organization in business decisions. In addition, more than 90 percent of store managers, leadership and U.S. corporate employees completed e-learning inclusion training in the last year. 

The company has also made efforts to hire and promote from within: 82 percent of leadership roles were filled internally. 

And Tapestry made the list of Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity 2020, the third consecutive year. In addition, for the sixth consecutive year, Tapestry achieved a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, earning the designation as a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.” 

Meanwhile, gender and ethnic diversity was a mixed bag across the organization. Throughout all of Tapestry, whites made up 42 percent of the workforce, followed by 26 percent Latinx, 13 percent Asian, 12 percent Black and 2 percent Pacific Islander. The remaining population was undeclared or of mixed backgrounds. 

At the U.S. executive leadership level, those with positions of vice president or higher, the majority also continued to be white, 76 percent, with just 1 percent Pacific Islander, 2 percent Latinx, 4 percent Black and 13 percent Asian. The other 5 percent were undeclared or of mixed race. 

Across gender lines, 78 percent were women and 22 percent men. Women also made up the majority of retail associates, retail managers and executives — including Crevoiserat, the company’s CEO — at 80 percent, 80 percent and 60 percent respectively. 

In the boardroom the divide was evenly split: 50 percent women and 50 percent men. 

The Planet

Tapestry is working in an attempt to minimize its impact on the planet.

By 2025, the retailer is aiming to reduce emissions, conserve water throughout the supply chain and up its usage of recyclable cardboard and other paper goods. 

In line with its efforts, Tapestry began supply chain mapping and worked toward its goal of achieving 95 percent traceability and mapping of its raw materials in the last fiscal year. 

Also, the company reduced emissions by 50 percent, compared with 2017 levels. It also lowered water consumption by nearly 9 percent, compared with 2018 levels. In addition, Tapestry now reports that its packaging is made with 50 percent to 80 percent recycled content. 

The Community

Tapestry’s humanitarian efforts include the communities in which it operates. 

In April 2019, Tapestry laid the blueprint for its 2025 goals. Among them was the company’s plans to donate $75 million in financial and product donations to nonprofit organizations by 2025. In the fiscal year 2019, the company gave away $22 million. In 2020, Tapestry’s charitable givings totaled another $28 million. That includes $10.5 million in financial support and product donations to COVID-19 relief efforts and another $350,000 in matching charitable gifts by the Coach Foundation and Kate Spade New York Foundation to more than 400 nonprofit organizations.

The company also completed another 4,400 volunteer hours by employees around the world. That’s on top of more than 5,700 hours the previous year. 

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to building our business for the future, balancing true fashion authority with meaningful, positive change,” Crevoiserat said. “In further strengthening our resolve, we will be unveiling new, bold commitments in the months ahead so that we can accelerate the work that we are doing.”