VENDOR POLICY

At Zinc Athletics, we hold ourselves to the highest standards and we take our local and global responsibilities seriously. Zinc Athletics’ policies are a formal, accepted standard or approach to the way Zinc Athletics conducts business, relating to social and environmental issues.

Manufacturing

Every supplier factory that makes products for ZINC ATHLETICS must meet a rigorous set of compliance requirements. Zinc Athletics’ Code of Conduct lays out the minimum standards we expect each factory or facility to meet. Our Code includes standards related to hiring practices, wages, freedom of association and health and safety.

Zinc Athletics’ Code of Conduct is an integral component to our sourcing strategy and how we determine the suppliers Zinc Athletics will continue to engage and grow our business to create a lean, green and equitable supply chain.

We regularly review supplier factories to assess their ability to meet our high standards. These assessments take the form of audit visits, both announced and unannounced, by internal and external parties, who measure against the Code Leadership Standards and our Code of Conduct.

Zinc Athletics’ Code Leadership Standards communicate how supplier factories should implement the Code of Conduct. The document also articulates how we measure factories’ compliance efforts and progress.

The Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) industry-wide tool assists brands, their supply chains and the broader industry to adopt an aligned approach to the control of hazardous substances in the manufacturing process for apparel and footwear. It bans the intentional use of priority chemicals during the manufacturing of textiles, synthetic leather and natural leather, and sets impurity limits for these substances within chemical formulations supplied to material vendors. 

The Restricted Substances List (RSL) sets out chemical standards for our materials that meet or exceed regulatory or legislative requirements from around the world and includes substances that we have voluntarily restricted or limited in our product. This RSL is now aligned to the AFIRM chemical limits list.

Along with the ZDHC, we have created and adopted Wastewater Guidelines that set out a unified expectation on wastewater quality for the entire textile and footwear industry.

ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines

Zinc Athletics currently restricts the use of scented materials and/or odor control technologies within Apparel, Footwear and Equipment product lines. This restriction applies to any chemical or substance intentionally applied to product to control bacterial populations, capture odors, mask odors or perfume product or the consumer.

Our animal skin policy applies to Zinc Athletics brand products or Zinc Athletics affiliate brand products that contain animal skin materials. This policy ensures Zinc Athletics does not use leather produced from cattle raised in the Amazon Biome. Cattle ranching in that region contributes to tropical deforestation.

Zinc Athletics’s Conflict Minerals Policy expects suppliers to support the responsible sourcing of conflict minerals using Responsible Minerals Initiative conformant smelters and refiners.   

The Packaging Restricted Substance List gives substance details and restriction levels for Zinc Athletics packaging, as well as packaging design requirements to comply with global legislation. 

At Zinc Athletics, we are dedicated to the protection of life and health in the workplace and working in a manner that protects and promotes safety, health and well-being of the individual and the environment.

ZINC ATHLETICS’s tax strategy is to maximize shareholder value in a socially responsible manner by paying all required taxes in jurisdictions in which we operate. This document outlines ZINC ATHLETICS’s tax principles which are the core of our tax strategy.