• A 1 Megawatt carport solar array. Over 4,000 solar panels will provide more than 50% of the building’s energy needs, preventing 440 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year
• 38 electric vehicle charging stations, free for Vans employees to use. The EV charging stations are powered by the solar array and encourage employees to reduce their carbon footprint and contribution to air pollution
• Cutting edge lighting, heating and cooling technologies that make the building 48% more efficient than building code requirements
• State of the art fixtures and equipment, making the new Vans headquarters 40% more water efficient than building code requirements
• Landscaping with plants native to Southern California that require less water
• More than 50% of the wood used in construction is Forest Stewardship Certified
• Comprehensive recycling and composting program with the goal to become a zero-waste facility

Our offices in Canada and Europe are also LEED certified and incorporate renewable energy, water efficient technologies and sustainable materials.

• By implementing LED lighting, this facility is in the top 25% of distribution centers worldwide for energy efficiency as rated by the Energy Star rating system
• In 2013, it became a zero waste to landfill facility. This means over 95% of waste from our distribution center is recycled. The remaining waste is diverted to a waste-to-energy facility. In 2017, we recycled over 97% of waste at this facility
• The employee led sustainability steering committee manages all aspects of the zero-waste program and continually looks for ideas and projects to reduce waste
• We recycle more than 11,000 lbs. of cardboard each day, saving enough energy to power the average American home for more a year
• We reuse as many inbound shipping boxes as possible for outbound shipping, saving more than 120,000 lbs. of cardboard a year

• Our Vans store in Charleston, South Carolina was certified LEED Platinum in 2017 by using water and energy efficient fixtures and recycling more than 50% of construction waste
• All of our retail stores are built with sustainability in mind. For example- we use Forest Stewardship Certified wood and low-VOC paint
• 100% of Vans stores in North America use LED lighting. LEDs use over 40% less energy compared to our previous lighting
• Since 2013, we’ve been selling a reusable shopping bag, with proceeds benefiting the A.skate foundation and Surfer’s Healing. To date, we’ve donated over $1.5 million to these charities through the sale of this bag and saved approximately 125,000 lbs. of plastic

• We use the factory environmental module to measure the sustainability practices of our supply chain
• The product module enables our teams to assess key apparel and footwear products. Through this process, we identify where improvement can be made and develop strategies for increasing the environmental performance of our entire product line.
• We complete the brand module annually and use the results in our strategic planning.

• We eliminated branded hangtags on several key apparel product categories, saving over 400 trees annually.
• Hangtags that we use on our Men’s apparel products are now made with 100% post-consumer recycled paper, printed using soy-based inks and use a jute cord
• Our shoeboxes are made with 80% post-consumer recycled paper, printed using soy based inks and use less ink than our previous footwear box
• Eliminated hangers and hang tags on surf footwear, saving hundreds of thousands of pounds of material per year as well as the fuel and emissions needed to ship these hangers around the globe

• In 2014, Vans worked with our supply chain partners to begin sourcing BCI cotton for our footwear canvas. BCI accounted for less than 5% of the cotton we sourced for our canvas in 2014. In 2017, we sourced 48% BCI cotton.. We are committed to increasing this percentage significantly in 2018 and beyond
• In 2015, we started sourcing BCI Cotton to make 30 apparel products including a selection of Men’s tanks and Boy’s shirts