Water

The source of life

Water supports our planet’s natural ecosystems and is essential to nearly every industrial process. It’s a precious and scarce resource. At VF, we operate in many water-stressed regions. Producing apparel and footwear can be a water-intensive process. Cotton cultivation, leather production and dye house operations are responsible for the most water use across our supply chain. Our Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers used approximately 156 million m3 of water in 2021. Using water sparingly and sustainably is integral to our strategy. 

01

Improve water efficiency and wastewater treatment across our supply chains.

02

All cotton purchased by VF is grown in the U.S., Australia or under a third-party cotton growing scheme that promotes environmental and/or social sustainability improvements by FY26.

Our water stewardship approach prioritizes three principles:  

  • Water Efficiency: We leverage the facility-level Higg Index FEM tool and support industry best practices through the Aii Clean by Design program, the IFC and other collaborators to improve water efficiency. Programs at 22 participating VF suppliers in Bangladesh, Taiwan and Vietnam project a reduction of 8.3 million m3 of water per year, on average. Capturing rainwater is also an important contributor to using water more efficiently. In total, 35 suppliers have established rainwater harvesting programs and report collecting over 1.2 million m3 of water in 2021.  
  • Water Quality: Supplier factories utilizing process water that is discharged to the environment must regularly conduct wastewater testing. Wastewater is independently tested by expert third parties to determine whether discharge water from our supplier factories meets our high standards for water quality. VF’s strict Global Wastewater Discharge Standards are applied to all Tier 1 and in-scope Tier 2 suppliers that use more than 50 m3 of water per day in their operations.  
  • Water as a Human Right: We believe access to clean water and sanitation is a basic human right that can be a challenge to access for communities near many of our supplier factories. Through our WCD program, we’re helping to bring safe drinking water to these communities. 

Understanding Water Risks and Opportunities

We take a rigorous approach to measure and understand water use in our supply chain. In 2023, VF completed a new water risk assessment of our global supply chain, covering 300+ Tier 1 and 700+ Tier 2 supplier factories. The assessment leveraged supplier data, the World Resource Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and the World Wildlife Fund Water Risk Filter to assess the following water-related potential financial and reputational risk indicators across the supply chain:  

  • Water Stress  
  • Groundwater Depletion  
  • Water and Sanitation Access  
  • Coastal Flooding  
  • Riverine Flooding  
  • Water Pollution  

The assessment resulted in country- and facility-level heatmaps for each of the above risk indicators across the supply chain. VF sourcing countries, including China, India, Mexico and Vietnam, were identified as the highest risk for baseline water stress. Moving forward, results from the risk assessment will be leveraged alongside our enterprise-wide climate risk assessment, which also evaluates water related indicators such as severe weather events, to inform sourcing strategies. 

Key findings from the water risk assessment will also be incorporated into existing policies, procedures and strategies related to water reduction, replenishment, quality and access. 

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