Eco-friendly
Ecology Harmonization
As LC Waikiki, we act with the philosophy of "Everyone deserves to dress well" and bring our products to our customers at affordable prices and high quality in 47 countries including Turkey. We are resolutely moving towards an ambitious goal of "to become one of Europe's three most successful fashion retailers by 2023". We believe that everyone deserves to breathe good air, access good quality water and work in good conditions, as well as dress well.
We want to leave a better future for tomorrow.
We are aware of the humanitarian and conscientious importance of leaving a good future for our children, the future of tomorrow. With our first store opened abroad in 2009, we started to operate in various geographies of the world. Now, as a global brand, with our ecology adaptation processes, we continue to do our part in combating the climate crisis, which is at the top of the agenda of the world.
We carry out all our activities under the umbrella of "ecology harmonization" through a process that we consider from a dual perspective, both environmental and chemical. Since 2015, we continue our ecology adaptation process in our producers with wet processes. In this context, we regularly inspect our producers and work for the environmental and chemical compliance of our producers. We provide guidance on the work to be done with the "Ecology Harmonization Handbook" that we have prepared so that our producers can easily access and benefit. We aim for continuous learning and improvement through online and in-class trainings.
We ensure a sustainable production with our ecology adaptation processes.
We continue our works, which are shaped at the center of the sustainable use of natural resources and in which we include all our stakeholders, to produce in harmony with ecology. By sharing data-based information with our producers, suppliers and sub-suppliers and carrying out awareness-raising activities, we improve their production performances with LC Waikiki criteria, and we are moving forward to our 2023 targets together. We take special measures to minimize the use of natural resources and to protect the balance of human and nature. We take the precautions we take and the rules we set beyond the legislation and aim to ensure the natural transfer of the world's resources to the next generations.
We evaluate our manufacturers and suppliers in two main categories, namely environmental compliance and chemical compatibility, and identify their aspects open to improvement, and provide the necessary incentives and support for them to achieve improvement. We organize comprehensive trainings to inform our manufacturers and suppliers in detail about our ecology adaptation processes and to raise awareness. We supervise our producers and suppliers, with whom we provide guidance on aspects that are open to improvement, during the time we work together, and make sure that the operation is carried out in accordance with our brand standards and processes.
In our audits, we use the standards we have established based on various regulations and international initiatives in our spheres of influence, and we give certain scores to our producers based on these standards. With the help of our scoring system, we carry out various studies to bring all our producers to the optimum level of harmony in the first stage and then to the level of excellence.
Environmental Activities
Elements such as the rapid depletion of natural resources, difficulty in accessing clean water resources, air pollution and declining soil fertility provide vital information about the necessity of an ecological life. At this point, important duties fall on all segments of society. Designing a sustainable system by considering future generations while producing, not damaging the ecosystem during production activities, undertaking the mission of leaving a livable world to future generations is one of the issues that companies think and focus on a lot today. Among the biggest risks that companies will face in the next 30 years are climate change, global warming, loss of fertile lands and water scarcity. It is also known that a significant amount of water is needed to collect cotton from the field, turn it into a fabric and turn it into a final product, in the textile industry.
In line with our environmental compliance activities, we deal with water-energy management, waste management, ZDHC/Detox waste-water analysis and compliance with environmental legislation. Close monitoring of consumption values of resources such as water, electricity, natural gas and coal is among the main things we expect from our producers. Within the scope of our environmental compliance policies, we expect our suppliers to meet the requirements of legislation and standards, to monitor their consumption to continuously improve their performance, and to reduce their carbon and water footprints. We closely follow the works done. In the measurement processes at this monitoring stage, we carry out activities to reduce consumption by determining the processes that cause excessive consumption, and we continue our research and inventory studies uninterruptedly.
We proceed with the principle of preventing and reducing the wastes generated as a result of production from the source, and we share information with our producers and suppliers in order to eliminate or recycle the wastes generated in accordance with the legislation. We contribute to the businesses we work with to establish their own environmental management structures in order to operate in accordance with environmental regulations. At this stage, our main expectation is to dispose of wastes in accordance with legal regulations, to send them to licensed institutions and to record waste inventories. Within the scope of our zero waste policy, we aim to spread practices such as reducing and recycling waste. We want our producers to be aware that waste is a resource and we work together to make the most effective use of wastes.
As well as resource consumption, wastewater analysis is among the indispensable standards of our brand. Waste and wastewater generated at the end of the production line constitute one of the most important items of our environmental compatibility criteria. The wastewater produced must meet the discharge criteria before it is discharged to the receiving environment. In addition, the parameters in the wastewater also inform us about the quality of the influent water and create an additional control point for the chemicals used. Thanks to the unannounced ZDHC wastewater analysis, we can determine whether the chemicals used in production pose a risk to our textile products and control the suitability of the wastewater discharge to the receiving environment.
While carrying out all these works, we provide the necessary support to all our suppliers in our value chain with trainings, and we dream of leaving a livable world to future generations. We want the final product that reaches the customer to be in a structure that will not harm human health. In order to keep the environmental damage of production processes to a minimum level, we make improvements on our "Ecology Harmonization Program" when necessary, and always work to do better.
Chemical Control Activities
In the process we live in, it is impossible to avoid chemicals completely, but it is possible to reduce the use and minimize their damages. As LC Waikiki, we base our chemical control and awareness studies within the scope of ecology adaptation to this purpose. Together with our experienced teams, we first examine the material and production conditions. Within the scope of our chemical compliance policy, we primarily aim to reduce our chemical footprint, and we are extremely careful about the chemicals we use to have ingredients that do not adversely affect the environment and human health. We track which chemicals are present in our productions, create inventory lists and prepare up-to-date tracking schemes.
Inventory tracking is our first step in the chemical traceability process. In the second step, we evaluate the suitability of the chemicals in our lists for human and environmental health and determine their risks. We provide continuous training to our producers and make mutual evaluations in order not to use chemicals that pose a risk. In the production facilities where there is a chemical operation, we also include our authorized personnel. While evaluating the chemical tracking and risks by authorized persons, we ensure that other employees who are in contact with chemicals receive the necessary basic training as a requirement of our inspection criteria.
We continue to work to make the lives of our manufacturers easier.
We shared the "Raw Material Control Tool", which we created by combining Oeko-Tex 100 standard, REACH, SVHC, ZDHC rule sets, with our manufacturers. Our manufacturers can easily check the compliance of the ingredients of the chemicals they use to LC Waikiki standards on a practical panel. Thanks to the control tool, our producers can monitor the compatibility of the chemicals they use with the most up-to-date data for nature and human health.
The safe use and storage of chemicals as well as their contents are of great importance to us. Even if the chemical raw materials used do not have a direct harmful effect in production, we take the necessary protective measures by determining the risks that may occur for the health of the employees who will use these chemicals.
In the chemical part of our ecology harmonization audits, we also have standards regarding the management of chemicals, precautions for possible accidents and the correct storage of chemicals. In addition, during inspections, we inform our producers to ensure the safety of employees in the production areas where chemicals are used. As LC Waikiki, we provide special classroom trainings and distance trainings on the areas of basic ecology adaptation processes open to improvement to our entire dye house, printing and washing manufacturers with which we cooperate, thanks to the "Supplier Academy" we have established within our organization.
Good weather, good sea, good soil for future generations
We rely on our culture of success together, and we aim to create a transparent, ecologically compatible and environmentally friendly value chain by 2023. Together with our suppliers and sub-suppliers, we continue to manufacture products that respect nature and take care of human health. We are continuing our ecology adaptation studies at full speed in order to leave a good air, a good sea and a good soil to future generations.
Ecology
Our Clothes, Our Wearable Living Space
Our clothes offer us a living space that embraces our bodies in every second of life. It is of great importance that this living space is safe, does not pose a health risk and makes you feel comfortable in any environment.
What are we doing for your wearable living space as LC Waikiki?
The journey that started as yarn in the factory continues as a sanitary, cozy and comfortable fabric. It is designed to make you feel comfortable on you and by following current fashion trends; it is divided into unique collections with our wide range of products. As LC Waikiki, we prepare all our products with the support of our producers who undertake the production that will not harm human and environmental health, and we control them with comprehensive tests at every stage. We carefully produce the clothes that millions of customers love and offer them in our stores.
Everyone deserves to dress well.
Protecting consumer and environmental health is among our top priorities in this journey that we embarked on with the slogan "everyone deserves to dress well". We comply strictly with the laws imposed by Turkey, European Union and other countries where our stores are; we do not include chemicals that harm human and environmental health in consumer products. In addition to these laws, we impose restrictions on some chemicals that are not mandatory by international organizations and health organizations but are considered as recommendations, taking into account the situations that harm human health, and we do not use them in our products.
As LC Waikiki, we aim to ensure that the chemicals used in our products are lower than the amounts that are both prohibited by law and recommended by the advisory institutions, and we fully implement the requirements of the LC Waikiki Chemical Management and Control System. Thus, we ensure the control of chemicals harmful to health with the tests carried out at all stages before and after production, and we prevent products that harm human health and the environment from reaching customers.
We have done an average of 1 million ecological tests in the last year.
We regularly conduct ecology compliance audits on our producers as part of our solution at source strategy. We examine the production processes in detail by checking the chemicals used by our manufacturers. Thanks to these controls, we prevent the use of harmful chemicals from the first stage of the production chain and we do not work with manufacturers who do not comply with the existing criteria before production begins.
We do not allow the use of chemicals such as AZO, phthalate, heavy metals and allergic-risky formaldehyde, which are particularly known to be harmful to human health, at any stage of production. We also carry out all the necessary tests regarding APEO, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metal chemicals that pose a risk to environmental health. We follow all processes to ensure that our productions do not pose a threat to water, soil, air and therefore the health of living things. With over 1 million ecological tests we have carried out on 340,000 samples in the last year, we take and continue to take actions to protect human health, preserve the ecological balance and not harm biodiversity.
We do not leave it to chance with risk analysis.
While analyzing all our production processes with the risk assessments we regularly conduct, we determine actions according to the analysis results and take the necessary measures in advance for the areas deemed risky. Thanks to our risk assessments made on the basis of component and producer risks, we create a roadmap to control and solve the problem on the spot by turning to the right source at the right point.
We carry out all the necessary controls in order to bring our products that you can buy for yourself and your loved ones with peace of mind in our stores. We see it as our main goal to protect the environment that we will inherit future generations and to create a healthy, quality, comfortable and reliable living space in your most precious moments.
LC WAIKIKI COSMETIC PRODUCTS
As LC Waikiki, we take care to act consciously and sensitively on behalf of our company and our customers on issues such as health problems faced by people in the changing world order, rapid depletion of world resources, global warming, climate changes and environmental factors. We strive to prevent harmful chemicals that we are exposed to as a result of changing world conditions in our products; we follow the regulations for our cosmetic products and the directions of health institutions.
We act in line with Good Manufacturing Practices.
Cosmetic products undergo some chemical operations during the production phase. We know that harmful substances affect the employees and the environment negatively during the production of cosmetics and the consumers during their use, and we take care to act with this awareness. We care about the followability and traceability of technical details in cosmetic products.
We can track product health effects with production conditions tracking, product content information and tests. We show our customers a transparent approach and specify the chemical substances contained in the product. In order to make a healthy manufacturing, we shape our production areas in accordance with the reference of ISO 22716 "Good Manufacturing Practices" and accordingly we monitor our production areas. We care that our factories have ISO 14000 certificates in order not to harm the environment.
We carry out our production in enterprises that comply with good manufacturing practices standards (GMP).
We comply with all legal regulations applicable in Europe and Turkey. In addition to legal practices, we conduct additional tests against situations that we see as risky, and check the effects of products on human and environmental health. We voluntarily add additional tests to tests required in Turkey and Europe; we do not have chemicals such as phthalate, nonyphenol and nonyl-phenol-ethoxylate in our products.
We have our products tested in accredited laboratories that can apply cosmetic tests. We do not use banned chemicals particularly and paraben derivatives specified in clinical studies that cause breast cancer in our products. We also keep the records of all our products for the Ministry of Health.
We have “Product Safety Assessment” reports prepared for all our products in the name of consumer health. Thanks to these reports, we do examinations in the light of mathematical data; we highlight safe products and do not offer unsafe products to our customers. In the same reports, we evaluate the environmental impacts of our products and share the information that should be included in the product packaging.
We observe the environmental effects of product packaging as in our products; we control the chemical assets that can pass from the packaging to the product or to the environment. We apply the migration tests and heavy metal determinations required by the Turkish Food Codex, in our cosmetic product packaging and boxes. Even if it is not exposed to the cosmetic product, we pay attention to the fact that the outer packaging of our cosmetic products does not contain hazardous chemicals such as heavy metals and phthalates in order to prevent environmental pollution.
Our products are controlled at every stage.
As LC Waikiki, we control cosmetic product traceability within the framework of digital transformation with our own in-house programs. Automatically, we do not take products that are not approved by the Ministry or whose tests are not completed, to our warehouse. We follow our products in a transparent and traceable manner. In addition to all these studies, we carry out store inspections and periodically test the products on the shelves and provide intermediate controls. We print handbooks and guide documents in order to carry out regular control of our inspection mechanism and to stay up-to-date, we provide trainings to our producers at regular intervals and we participate in regular trainings as a company.
Considering the health of our animal friends, we do not allow our products to be tested on animals. We move forward by receiving written confirmations from all our producers, especially on this matter. We do not allow palm oil products to be used in our products in order not to cut down palm trees and to prevent natural balance for the protection of not only animals, but also biodiversity,
We are aware of the importance of waste management and recycling.
We care about our cosmetic packaging being recyclable and traceable. Working in cooperation with Çevko, we carry out all the necessary work in order to ensure that our cosmetic product packaging is sustainable and does not harm the nature. You can see the Çevko mark on all of our products. We have recycling marks in all our cosmetic packaging and we contribute to the recycling of our packaging.
As LC Waikiki, with the works we have done so far within the scope of Çevko;
• In just 3 years, we prevented about 350,000 trees from being cut down.
• We saved 95 million kWh of electricity and 500 million m3 of water.
• We have stored 130,000 m3 of waste and saved 2 million liters of fossil fuel.
Click to see the Çevko Report