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ENVIRONMENTAL AND CHEMICAL POLICY

Environmental policy
Our environmental policy has focus on reducing its CO2 impact. As a company we have a responsibility to influence the world around us, we are part of. We will continuously work to improve the internal and external environment by setting ourselves goals and integrate our attitudes in our daily work. Claire Group A/S and our suppliers strive to:

- handle chemicals in an environmentally safe manner
- handle, store and dispose hazardous waste properly
- contribute to the recycling of materials and products
- reduce waste and emissions to air, soil and water as much as possible

We work with our suppliers, subcontractors, authorities, customers and other stakeholders to promote environmentally responsible production without us thus wanting to compromise on quality. Because a portion of our production takes place in China and India, we will do everything possible to reduce the company's CO2 emissions due to transport to Europe. Reduced CO2 equals cost savings for us, so it makes sense to keep a sharp focus on using the ship rather than plane. It requires great planning and good cooperation between us and our suppliers.

Chemical Rules
It is an important part of our environmental policy, that we have a functioning chemical programme. To make clothes with optimal performance, it requires many chemicals, but we focus on ensuring that our clothes do not harm the environment or our customers' health. Chemicals from clothing may contaminate water or cause allergic reactions when using the garment. Claire Group wants to ensure that there is no chemical residues in the clothes, which can give 'allergy or harm the environment. We must adopt a precautionary approach to the use of chemicals, and we are working to be among the best in the industry. In several areas, we have stricter rules than the statutory minimum in the countries we sell to. The EU has developed a set of rules, REACH, which all must adhere to, but Claire Group's chemical regulations are drafted by Bureau Veritas and are stricter than the EU rules.

All Claire Group suppliers sign that all clothes made for us, adhere to our values, and that the supplier handle chemicals in an environmentally safe way. Bureau Veritas makes regular chemical testing of selected fabrics of our suppliers. We also test finished products in Denmark, if there is reason to suspect that chemical residues in the clothing. All suppliers get their production chemical tested at regular intervals, because we want to signal that we are serious.
Bureau Veritas handle our chemical tests completely independently of our social audits and they are not implemented simultaneously. As part of our internal supplier training programme, we help suppliers to get knowledge about chemicals by supplying a Restricted Chemical Fact Sheets with advice for management of chemicals in the production.

If we find harmful chemicals in a product, we will take all necessary steps to investigate the cause of the incident. We will repair the damage and prevent something similar from happening again. Violation of our chemical regulations will affect cooperation with our supplier, as this must not happen. We measure the test results and evaluate our progress each year in our annual UN Global Compact report.

Clever Care Campaign
Claire Group has joined the washing campaign Clever Care. The campaign appeals to all consumers, to turn down the temperature when washing the clothes, as studies have shown that washing at high temperatures and drying has a high negative effect on the environment. By means of the enzyme detergent and "cold wash" method, we can achieve exactly the same result. In all care labels from Claire Group, we urge our customers to seek more information on www.clevercare.info