A word from our MD

Anders Carlsson – MD, AB Blåkläder

A CHALLENGING YEAR

2021 has been a challenging year, where the global pandemic continued to put everyday life to the test. Health and safety restrictions complicated not only cooperation with our suppliers but also caused substantial and long-term logistic effects worldwide. In parallel, we also achieved company growth and proceeded to develop our sustainability work. This report is an attempt to display where we are today and how we can further improve going forward.

Ever since the start back in 1959, our focus has been to keep our production in our parent organisation. This gives us full transparency and control of the manufacturing process. The health and safety of our employees have always been Blåkläder’s top priority, and the pandemic has undoubtedly added new dimensions to what this means in practice.

During the year, we have not been able to meet physically with our colleagues in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, where we base our production. Yet, we have kept providing our staff with Covid 19-vaccines and ensuring everyone can maintain their job. Ensuring a workplace and income for our employees must be our main goal, especially in Myanmar, prone to many years of hardships, with an escalation of the conflict in 2021.

Our continuous ambition is to keep running the local operations and make any necessary adjustments to ensure a secure income not only for our colleagues in the country, but also with positive effects throughout the supply chain. This is especially crucial in parts of the world where social security systems may not be in place. Outside our own direct operations, we contract relatively few suppliers. This enables a uniquely high level of transparency upstreams of our supply chain. Our firm ambition is for individuals working in Blåkläder’s value chain to be able to rely on fair wages and safe working conditions.

Blåkläder is a family-owned business built from a long-lasting perspective. Also, our products are made for long-term use, and as the models are more or less timeless, it enables us to use our products as staple goods. Our business model allowing buffer stock of both raw materials and readymade products, in combination with our ownership in the supply chain, has been key when maintaining the production flow. During 2021 we experienced a substantial sales increase, but although the increased demand led to a short-term imbalance in our logistics operations and material supply, we upheld the level of service to our customers.

Throughout 2021, we continued on our set pathway to decrease our global impact and improve our sustainability performance. An noteworthy progress is that all four factories in Sri Lanka are certified in accordance with STeP by Oeko Tex; a one of a kind compliance standard covering the whole “Environmental, Social and Governance” spectre. In 2021, 50 percent of all our woven textiles were produced in STeP by Oeko Tex certified manufacturing processes.

The importance of working closely with our suppliers is even further founded when, according to our recent carbon footprint calculations, it can be concluded that 96 percent of our carbon emissions are generated prior to the goods arriving at the Blåkläder warehouse. Again, our limited and close supplier base is a significant factor in the progress going forward. Longterm business relations generate trust and endurance, enough to motivate investments in low carbon energy solutions, which is a vital part of sustainable development. As we coordinate ingoing materials in our whole assortment, the effect when only a few of our major textile suppliers partly convert to renewable energy sources will still substantially affect our total carbon footprint.

I would like to sum up 2021 as yet another year which has demonstrated Blåkläder’s resilience to market fluctuations and rapid societal changes. Our solid financial performance enables us to make long-term investments in sustainable solutions, such as renewable energy, to keep advancing our goals to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. Our sustainability journey is in constant movement, and I look forward to our future progressions along with our colleagues and suppliers.

Anders Carlsson, MD Blåkläder