Sustainability and Environment | Nien Hsing Textiles

Government Pensions Fund Global of Norges Bank terminates its observation on Nien Hsing, recognizing the Company's ESG development

DC — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 09:14:56 +0000

After 4 years of effort on internal transformation, the Government Pensions Fund Global of Norges Bank terminated its observation on Nien Hsing in March 2022, based on a recommendation by Council on Ethics (COE), recognizing Nein Hsing's breakthrough in sustainable development.

In July 2018, the Council on Ethics (COE) recommended placing Nien Hsing under observation due to a systematic human rights violation, based on the report produced by Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). The finding identified violations such as sexual harassment, workplace harassment and other health and safety issues across the factories in the Lesotho region. A joint agreement between Nien Hsing, customers, local NGOs and trade unions was signed in August 2019 after a series of negotiations, followed by the establishment of the programme office Workers' Rights Watch (WRW), to implement projects to strengthen the internal system and correct issues identified in the report. The project consists of GBVH education and awareness training, anti-GBVH campaigns, revision of internal policies, as well as setting up grievance mechanisms, for the Company to tackle the problems step by step.

Provide education and awareness training to enhance employees' knowledge of GBVH

Lesotho has long been suffering from its sluggish economy, with 49% of the population living below the international poverty line and the majority of women having to work to contribute to the household. 85% of Nien Hsing's employees are women, how to create a fair and equitable working environment is the main task for the Company. We believe education is the key to success; therefore all employees in the region received two-day anti-GBVH training, covering topics such as prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace, gender equality and complaint mechanism, offering views on gender and equality. Extra training on case handling and advocacy were provided to the senior management to enhance their ability to promote anti-GBVH within the factories.

GBVH Training

In addition, the Company had partnered with the consultancy firm Re Mmoho, providing training to 500 supervisors to enhance their management skills such as communication, employees relation and emotion management, and the knowledge of sexual harassment prevention and case handling. The Company also worked with local government organization - Help Lesotho, inviting youths whom the organization have trained for factory tours promoting anti-GBVH and gender equality via drama, dances and speeches, internalizing the concept of female empowerment and gender equality among employees.

Audiences for Help Lesotho's Performances

Help-Lesotho Performance

Improving the grievance mechanism to protect labour rights

Through the project, we have also established a fair, confidential and systematic mechanism for the lodging and handling of GBVH complaints. The first step is to start an information line handled by a local NGO; cases received by the information line are then referred to the programme office for an independent investigation, ensuring the privacy of the complainants and the fairness of investigation procedure and determination. We have found that employees became more vocal about their rights and those of their peers, which is a milestone in improving communication between management and employees.

African Women's Month

More than that, the Company has worked with KC Research and Consultant to set up an independent hotline to provide multiple channels for employees to file their grievances other than internal suggestion box or grievance form. Grievances relating to wealth and benefit, working conditions, harassment or health and safety are reported directly to the factory management and ESG Department via hotline and handled promptly; ensuing complaints and concerns of each employee are properly heard and solved.

Adequate internal HR policies are an integral part of the process of improving the system. The programme office has also revised relevant HR policies such as Disciplinary Rules and code of conduct, harassment policy, GBVH Policy to strengthen the internal structure. The training was given to the management and HR personnel to ensure the implementation of the new policies and efficiency in handling the cases.

Human right is one of the most important indicators of corporate ESG. Protecting labour rights is what Nien Hsing is committed to and its major goal, so that all female employees can work in a safe and empowering environment. It is worth mentioning that according to employees satisfactory survey conducted in 2022, the satisfaction rate regarding workplace friendliness and the relationship with supervisors was over 90%, we are glad to see the positive feedback from our employees, which proves the Company is on the right direction, and we will keep improving by understanding the needs of the employees. As mentioned in Council on Ethics recommendation, "The follow-up investigation in 2021 indicates that the workplace culture at Nien Hsing has improved, that incidents of GBVH have declined, and that the grievance mechanism has gained most employees' trust."

As stated in the WRC report in August 2019, "Given the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the global workplace, the most meaningful measure of corporate responsibility is not whether the problem exists in a company's operations but whether the Company is, or is not, pursuing bold and innovative means to address it. To their credit, Nien Hsing is doing so. "The Company does not fear obstacles and mistakes, setting goals and constantly looking for innovative ways to combat them is an important part of Nien Hsing's approach to sustainable development. We will carry on strengthening the Company’s internal sustainable progress, gaining the recognition and trust of our employees, investors, customers and other stakeholders.

For the complete COE’s recommendation to terminate its observation on Nien Hsing,

please visit: https://etikkradet.no/nien-hsing-textile-co-ltd-4/

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Making plastic reduction sustainable, Nien Hsing collects over 300 pairs of jeans as part of a plastic-free campaign

DC — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 02:08:33 +0000

Plastic reduction has been the key environmental topic, and the global movement envisioning a future free from plastic waste has been going on for a long period.

But how to make it sustainable and hassle-free is what society needs to explore and pursue. To make sustainable production and zero waste into reality, Nien Hsing and eco campaigner GX Foundation have collaborated on a recycle denim bag project.

The Company collects old jeans and denim from the employees, then send them to the Eco-fashion brand Story Wear to redesign into denim recycle bags. Like courtesy umbrellas, GX Foundation will distribute these bags to partner bookstores and other outlets throughout Taiwan, for customers to borrow when they forgot to bring their shopping bags then return after use. The initial goal of the project is to produce 1,000recycled bags; Nien Hsing has already collected over 300 pairs of jeans from our employees in the first week.

Reducing energy consumption and production waste has been a long-standing goal for Nien Hsing. Reducing energy consumption, reusing materials and recycling are three key principles to sustainable production in the garment industry, which are the basic corporate social responsibilities and commitment to our customers. Apart from developing a more eco-friendly and sustainable production, Nien Hsing supports brands and designers that share the same vision. In 2021 Taipei Fashion Week, Nien Hsing had the opportunity to support Story Wear by providing stock denim fabrics for the show, taking part in creating a more sustainable and circular garment industry.

Nien Hsing sincerely invite you to join us and being part of the campaign.

For more information about the project, please visit:

Website Link

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A Spark to Ignite the Heart of Service of Nien Hsing

DC — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 07:04:51 +0000

Sustainability has always been the vision and commitment of Nien Hsing. In 2019, Taipei Headquarters took the lead to launch a series of EMPOWER Classes on handcraft patchwork teaching, responding to the focus on underprivileged families and women issues by co-partnership with Neihu Women and Family Service Center for ten months.

In addition to sponsoring four desktop sewing machines for the course uses, Nien Hsing coordinated its textile mills to donate fabrics reuse and course materials. Also, over 30 volunteers from different departments of the Taipei headquarters take turns assisting the courses with up to 25 service hours which had helped more than 30 women/family (underprivileged ethnic groups, financial difficulties, single-parent women who independently raising the family and children) to provide learning opportunities to cultivate hands-on skills to empower more possibilities in the future employment.

Internally, it would show the stand of Nien Hsing to all subsidiaries the importance and determination on provoking women‘s rights and gender equality in employment, and would gradually take it as a part of operations and corporate DNAs. On the external side, hopefully, it would be a spark to ignite the chain reaction of the industry to partake in more skills/technical public education programs. And hope that more corporate will respond, engage, and implement more diverse social care programs to light up more possibilities!

2019-2020_Community Service Report

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Nien Hsing shares its devotion to tackle energy wastage

DC — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 07:03:06 +0000

Nien Hsing is proud to share the groups achievements in tackling water usage by implementing new washing equipment and technology in its jeans production, echo in line with Goal 6 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals – sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, and the firm's objective of final integration of our fabric mill and laundries to offer the textile market sustainable products from fabrics and final finish of each pair of jeans.

The two – year project, led by the Group's Chairman, Mr Richard Chen, has surpassed USD 4.5 million in washing and gyring equipment, by renewing the laundries of the group with the most sustainable washing machines in the market. As a result, the total amount of water saved in 2018 is equivalent to 1059 Olympic pools. More than that, during the past year and a half, the Group has increased laser capacities at all facilities, reducing 50% of manual process at the laundries by the end of 2019, targeting a total reduction of 8% by the year 2020, which the Group has surpassed USD 8.5 million.

To be able to monitor the outcome of water usage and saving, the Group also utilized the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index, submitting our validated Higg water and electrical metrics each year to the buyers comparing against 2018 baseline. So far, there are 6 factories across 3 continents under NH Group to have done the Higg Index evaluation, which a step toward transparency on our energy reduction. The Group also is implementing a process control and standardization for washing recipes at it laundries, to elevate the profile of NH laundries to compete on Textile Market as better organization in terms of innovation and sustainability, and one of the methodologies it uses is to achieve Water Leadership Project, developing a strong technical team on the floor to support project, including production scale-up, optimization of water, chemical, and loading capacity.

As a manufacturer to world-leading chains, Nien Hsing is aware of its responsibilities in making our products more sustainable and innovative. Water usage has been one of the biggest issues that our planet is facing, and the move paved the way to the Group's long-term goal of reducing water usage. It is understood that although the UN's Sustainable development goal by 2030 is still a long journey, however, we also know that we are making the correct decisions to place ourselves in the textile industry as an upright and highly innovative manufacturer, serving the textile business sustainably and professionally.

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Cut the Plastic Bottle

DC — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 09:11:49 +0000

In May this year, our head office in Taipei issued a policy discontinuing the purchasing of water in plastic bottles.

July is plastic free month with the challenge to everyone to choose a minimum of one single-use plastic item, and avoid using it for the entire month. With many countries and businesses already shunning plastic straws (and even plastic cup lids) there are still a number of other possibilities to contribute to plastic-free oceans.

One such area with huge plastic generation and wastage is the use of bottled water. Over the years, this has become such a standard establishment that many of us cannot fathom a world without bottled water in plastic containers. Or could we?

We at Nien Hsing know we can. Our head office took the first step in May in preparation for Plastic Free July by implementing a strict policy on the prohibition of serving water in plastic bottles. To reduce additional waste, we have also prohibited the use of paper cups. The only exception on the paper cups when we have visitors.

#plasticfreefuly

For the office personnel, everyone now uses flasks, mugs and cups and obtain their fresh drinking water from the water fountain.

This month we focus on what we can do for a plastic-free ocean. We believe that each and every positive action counts to powering the momentum for more cleaner and greener opportunities within our offices, our facilities and onto our own homes and communities.

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Sustainability Outside the Box

DC — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 08:20:04 +0000

Sustainability Outside the Box

Sustainability is the word of the millennium, and what makes it so challenging is all the various fields it covers. One interesting aspect I found recently was something called, Humanium Metal.
In this article, we share some information on this product as a great effort in thinking outside the box when it comes to sustainability.

What is Humanium Metal?

IM Swedish Development Partner was founded in 1938 and has vast experience of working in countries struggling with armed violence. Humanium Metal by IM was initiated in the spirit of goal 16 in Agenda 2030, recognizing how illegal firearms is undermining a sustainable and democratic development.
There are hundreds of millions of illegal firearms in the world. As a result, someone is shot every minute. Armed violence is a global epidemic that hits developing countries especially hard. Humanium Metal is a new material made of recycled metal from gun destruction programs. The metal is melted and molded into units, which are then made available for commercial production.

The first weapons destruction program dedicated to Humanium Metal was held in November 2016 in El Salvador. Working closely with the Salvadoran authorities, IM produced 1 ton of Humanium Metal. The latest weapon destruction dedicated to Humanium Metal took place in November 2017, melting 1825 illegal firearms. A new destruction program is planned in Guatemala in early 2018.

Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year:

How is it used?

By using Humanium Metal, brands can help the world become a more peaceful place. Anything made out of any metal today can carry a message of peace tomorrow. Destroyed firearms can be recycled into components for buildings, machines or furniture; items of jewelry, buttons, utensils, tools, nails, screws, or even bicycles.

Companies interested in producing products using Humanium Metal can find more details HERE.

Forever Spinning Top

Remember the closing scene from the movie Inception, with the top spinning on the table, not knowing if it’s going to continue spinning forever, or topple over?

Well, a kickstarter initiative is up and you can get your hands on a spinning top like this—made from Humanium Metal!

For information on this, click here.

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