We want our shoes to leave the smallest carbon footprint possible

"At Nunn Bush we understand that everything we do has an impact on the world around us. As a family-oriented company, knowing that our decisions directly impact our children's lives affects us on a very personal level. We believe it's our responsibility to leave behind the best possible world for future generations to enjoy. We're working hard to make that happen."
- Tom and John Florsheim, CEO/COO

At Nunn Bush we are just beginning our sustainability journey. From the materials we use to our factories, distribution center, and office, we're looking closely at every aspect of our supply chain to identify areas that can be addressed and improved.

As we set out on this mission, we have pledged to never "greenwash" or simply pay lip service to the cause. We are committed to this holistic, transparent, and authentic approach to sustainability, and to setting and sticking to concrete goals. At Nunn Bush we are determined to reduce our impact on the environment, and ultimately reach our goal of producing shoes that leave the smallest carbon footprint possible.

Our strategy will focus on each step of our supply chain: materials, factories, distribution, and offices.

Materials

We are currently working to estimate the environmental footprint of all the materials we use. Using this information, we will set chemical standards in our shoe production, source more sustainable materials, and increase our use of bio-based materials. Part of this effort includes creating a sustainable materials library to promote transparency in our supply chain.

For example, at Nunn Bush we are incorporating 20% BLOOM Algae-based footbeds in style groups for our Fall 21 season. Although this is just a first step, it means BLOOM will be able to return 32 liters of clean water to habitats and clean 20 cubic meters of air.

The featured image shows machines in a factory.

Factories

We are in the process of working with each of our partner factories to better understand their water use, chemical certifications, and waste policies. This will allow us to establish a baseline and create a sustainable system for producing our footwear. Our strategy is to work with those factories that have environmental certifications and adhere to restrictions on hazardous chemicals and other environmentally friendly standards for the production of Nunn Bush shoes.

The featured image shows shelved boxes in the Weyco Group warehouse.

Distribution Center

Though we still have a long way to go, in our distribution center we have taken some significant steps toward sustainability. These steps include using 85-90% recycled paperboard, soybean-based inks, and natural glues in our packaging. We are also analyzing ways to decrease our overall energy use and waste in our warehouse facility.

The featured image is an aerial view of a building with rooftop solar panels.

Office

We are actively analyzing our energy use in the office and researching any possible energy efficiency and demand reduction improvements we can make. So far, we have installed rooftop solar panels which supply 30% of our energy and we are replacing the majority of lights with low energy-use LEDs. We have also committed to sourcing 50% of our energy for the office and distribution center from renewable sources by 2025 and 100% by 2030.

single pair shipping

Sustainability is a journey. As companies work to reduce their impact on the local and global environment, each must make choices to prioritize the projects with the greatest impact on their overall goals. At the moment, we at Weyco Group are focusing much of our efforts on measuring and reducing our carbon emissions. One of the most significant contributors to carbon emissions for a shoe manufacturer is the transportation of shoes from our distribution centers to our customers.

In the search for a better system, we found that we would save significant amounts of shipping space if we stopped using two boxes to package each pair of shoes. We ship our single-pair boot orders to customers using 100% recyclable shrink wrap. This helps reduce our cardboard waste by 50% and reduces the shipping volume by 30%, resulting in fewer trucks on the road and fewer emissions in the atmosphere. Each box comes with a QR code sticker which will show you where to recycle your shrink wrap. Learn more about your options here.