Since its creation, sustainability has been part of the DNA of our textile manufacturing company. At every level of our organisation, we have always adopted lifestyles and working practices that promote the preservation of the planet. While our approach is always focused on customer satisfaction, we strive to integrate the principles of sustainable development into our activities as much as possible. We are constantly looking for new ways to protect the environment, while offering professional clothing and textile products at the best prices.
Our pragmatic approach to sustainable development: preserving the planet by multiplying small actions
To ensure that our environmental impact is as positive as possible, we identify actions that can be implemented quickly and easily. This pragmatic approach allows us to take concrete action to protect the planet. All this without compromising the efficiency of our organisation and while maintaining customer satisfaction in terms of the quality, price and availability of our textile products.
ALM has implemented a wide range of measures to improve the responsibility of our activities. Here are some concrete examples:
In our offices
- Complete digitisation of processes,
- Reduction in energy consumption: electricity, water, etc.,
- Improved waste management
- Recycling of consumed resources, such as paper or coffee grounds!
In our manufacturing workshops
- the use of recyclable cardboard boxes,
- the widespread use of standardised pallets (Euro type) with a deposit system, and the elimination of disposable pallets in most cases,
- the elimination of single-use plastic bags for our shipments.
Reducing our carbon footprint through careful fabric selection and optimised logistics
As a market leader in the distribution of professional textile products, logistics is a key activity for ALM. Implementing a responsible policy is a major lever for preserving the environment as much as possible. The actions we have taken have enabled us to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions:
- Since 2020, we have raised our standards when replacing our sales representatives' vehicles. In particular, we favour vehicles with low CO2/km emissions. We replaced 50% of our vehicle fleet in 2022-23, with an average consumption of less than 120g/CO2-km (class B: low emissions)..
- Every year, we ask our logistics providers to ensure that they are fully committed to working with us to reduce our environmental impact. Our main carrier, which is Lean & Green certified, has implemented numerous measures to protect the planet: eco-driving training, the use of route optimisation software, regular renewal of its vehicle fleet (every three years, with a choice of increasingly less polluting lorries), use of alternative fuels (NGV, BioCNG, LNG, Oleo 100).
Promoting recycling
For a company that manufactures professional clothing and textile products such as ALM, recycling involves creating a valuable raw material. This is then used to produce other professional clothing or textile items.
The ALM teams are strongly committed to promoting the conditions for creating an industrial, circular, ecological, social and collective response to the societal and environmental challenges facing the textile industry.
Our responsible purchasing policy
ALM's actions in favour of sustainable development also include a responsible purchasing policy, which involves:
compliance with the ILO (International Labour Organisation) Charter, signing a responsible purchasing charter and encouragement to obtain the OEKO-TEX® STeP label.
obtaining the OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 or Made In Green label and encouraging the acquisition of the Made In Green label.
By favouring:
- fabrics manufactured in France (particularly in the Vosges, Lorraine and Alsace regions),
- main fabric supplies from Western Europe (mainly Italy, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, etc.),
- a gradual or partial relocation of imported products (less than 0.2% of our items come from China!).
A range of reusable items
We also encourage the reuse of workwear and textiles. When a customer changes their collection, we offer to take back their textiles to give them a second life. Rather than being thrown away, they can be used to create a range of reused items offered at lower prices. When we are unable to distribute them to our customers, we entrust them to destockers (charities, social integration companies or wholesalers).