Dive Brief:

• PVH Corp. on Monday announced its corporate responsibility strategy, dubbed "Forward Fashion" to increase transparency and sustainable practices, according to a company press release.

• The company aims to "reduce the company's negative impacts to zero, increase positive impacts to 100% and improve over one million lives throughout its value chain," per the release. PVH's strategy addresses climate change, the use of waste and hazardous chemicals, worker safety and programs for women.

• PVH Chairman and CEO Emanuel Chirico plans to further detail the company's goals at the 2019 Copenhagen Fashion Summit. The fashion conglomerate announced the launch of a new website, also titled Forward Fashion, to address its ambition for creating a sustainable business.

Dive Insight:

PVH revealed a highly ambitious plan to address sustainability and transparency throughout its corporate structure. The program is broken down into three focus areas with 15 separate targets that address hot topic issues such as eliminating carbon emissions, reducing landfill waste and eradicating single-use plastics by 2030.

The outlined plan also addresses its supply chain and aspiration for products and packaging to become 100% sustainably and ethically sourced. This includes the promotion of safe workspaces, with workers at key suppliers having "democratically elected representatives" by 2025. It also includes specific language regarding the education and empowerment of women through programs, childcare services and teacher training. The goals include providing access to clean water, starting with five collective action projects in some of the most water-stressed sourcing communities by 2025.

These large scale announcements come at a time when many retailers are addressing sustainability in stores and throughout the supply chain. Walmart, for example, announced in February its intention to significantly reduce plastic packaging waste and has been working to dramatically reduce emissions through its Project Gigaton.

Patagonia also renewed its efforts to address climate change through a multi-tiered approach and a mantra of, "We're in business to save our home planet." Target has also worked on reducing carbon emissions and has launched more sustainable products for shoppers. This past January, dozens of major brands including Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Unilever and The Body Shop partnered to introduce a reusable and refillable packaging model. 

But, enacting sustainable practices can be complex, even as consumers are drawn more and more to businesses that exhibit an element of corporate responsibility in their mission. Packaging itself accounts for almost half of plastic waste, and even though eliminating it sounds productive, substituting in other materials can cause other environmental problems. 

"Corporate responsibility has always been fundamental to how we conduct business. Forward Fashion represents a renewed sense of urgency to use the collective power of PVH to achieve transformative change at scale," Chirico said in a statement.