One of our goals in running a profitable, strong, and performance-based company has always been to make the world a better place. We operate with integrity by managing resources sustainably, caring for our people, and uniting around our values.
Energy & Emissions
As a multinational retailer with a global supply chain, we are committed to energy efficiency, supplier engagement, and preferred raw materials.
Our Goals
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has set a long-term Science-Based Target and a short-term carbon-neutral goal. Our goals are:
- By fiscal year end 2025, reach carbon neutrality in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operations (Scopes 1 and 2) (2019 baseline)
- By fiscal year end 2030, reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions 50% and Scope 3 emissions 14% (2019 baseline)
We're implementing strategies across our operations and value chain to drive progress toward our emissions reduction goals.
Our Operations
Across Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operations, our strategy centers around driving energy efficiency and adopting renewable energy.
We are implementing multiple strategic levers to reduce emissions: green power (electricity produced from renewable energy sources), power purchase agreements, solar power, lighting retrofits, and efficiency improvements.
Our Value Chain
We created two primary strategies to reduce value chain greenhouse gas emissions: a supplier engagement plan and the adoption of preferred raw materials.
We are partnering with our suppliers to implement emission reduction strategies at their factories. Additionally, we are increasing the adoption of lower-impact materials in our product assortment.
Assessing Our Impact
We report our fiscal year greenhouse gas inventory and progress to our goals annually in our Impact Report.
Raw Materials
Our focus on sustainable products adds value to our business and is a competitive advantage. Based on product sales and customer surveys, we know that our customers prefer high-quality, sustainable products that last.
Through responsible sourcing practices and lower-impact materials, we are implementing positive solutions through our products.
Our Goals
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has made commitments to responsibly sourced materials across all our brands, including:
- 100% responsibly sourced cotton since 2021
- 50%+ responsibly sourced wood since 2021
- By 2030, 75% of products represent one or more of our social or environmental initiatives
Responsible Wood & Cotton
Wood and cotton are two materials used extensively in our products. We have maintained our longstanding commitment to responsibly sourced wood and cotton across all Williams-Sonoma, Inc. brands. By using responsibly sourced wood and cotton in our products, we support healthy forests and ecosystems.
Preferred Raw Materials
We continue to explore opportunities to adopt lower-impact material alternatives in our products. Guided by our Preferred Materials Framework, we are driving efforts internally with product teams and upstream with suppliers to transition conventional materials to lower-impact alternatives.
Waste & Landfill Diversion
Our Goal
At Williams-Sonoma, Inc., we are diverting waste from landfills across our retail stores, distribution centers, hubs, and corporate offices.
- By 2025, 75% of waste diverted from landfills
No single, simple solution exists to reduce waste across our business, so we are implementing targeted solutions across our core business functions to create the highest impact.
Additionally, we prioritize the production of high-quality, durable products that are crafted to last.
Packaging
We use protective packaging to deliver products safely and without damage to our customers. By reducing unnecessary packaging volume and shifting to lower-impact materials, we are improving our environmental impact.
Ethical Production
Vendor Code of Conduct
Our Vendor Code of Conduct and accompanying implementation standards detail the principles and practices that we expect our manufacturing suppliers to uphold.
Audit Process
To ensure the factories we use are safe, secure, and fair places of employment for workers, factories in our audit scope are audited each year through semi-announced audits within a three-week window. Audits are conducted on-site for one or two days, by qualified auditors from independent third-party audit firms who are trained in-depth on WSI audit standards and protocols.
Through a complete factory tour (including production and non-production areas), document and record reviews, and worker and management interviews, the auditors review the factory’s compliance against set standards for Transparency, Labor Practices, Health & Safety, Ethical Conduct, and Environmental Protection. The violations identified during the audit are ranked according to severity, which determines the factory's Corrective Action Plan. WSI has a zero-tolerance policy and monitoring process to ensure there are no egregious human rights violations in our supplier factories. The audit results in a social rating, from A to D, based on the number and severity of the non-compliance items identified on site. This social rating allows us to benchmark factory performance and measure factory improvement over time. Non-performing ‘D’ factories are given ample time to support and improve, failing which an exit plan is executed. Factory rating is integrated into our supplier scorecards and business decisions.
Remediation & Continuous Improvement
We work directly with factories on continuous improvement plans and to support remediation. We support them identifying root causes of non-compliance, building time-bound action plans, and implementing solutions that prevent recurrence and are validated through a timely follow-up audit.
Beyond the audit process, we partner with suppliers to help build long-term management systems. We deliver targeted training and capacity-building programs that directly address organizational priorities, such as factory health and safety. We train factories around our third-party monitored enterprise-wide ethics hotline to ensure transparency while protecting anonymity. Our social compliance program and progress are subject to oversight by our Board of Directors.
Worker Wellbeing
We go beyond compliance to offer programming that supports and enhances the well-being of the workers in our supply chain.
Our Goals
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. set ambitious goals for Fair Trade Premiums, Nest Certified Ethically Handcrafted products, and programs for workers.
- By 2025, additional $10M paid in Fair Trade Premiums
- By 2025, $50M invested in Nest Certified Ethically Handcrafted products
- By 2030, 75% of product purchases from suppliers who offer worker wellbeing programs
Fair Trade Certified™
We were the first home retailer to offer Fair Trade Certified products in the home sector and we offer thousands of them across our brands. Customers recognize the Fair Trade Certified logo and support fair and safe factory conditions for workers around the world through their purchases.
Fair Trade Certified factories are audited against rigorous social, economic, and environmental standards. Not only must Fair Trade Certified factories meet these criteria, but workers in those factories gain access to additional financial benefits through the premiums earned from each Fair Trade Certified purchase. Premiums received from the sale of Fair Trade Certified products are pooled into the program’s community development fund, and workers vote together on how to spend these funds to address pressing needs in their community such as water filtration, health clinics, access to affordable and healthy foods, and transportation.
Nest’s Ethical Handcraft Program
We celebrate and preserve craft traditions around the world through our support of ethical handcraft and the Nest Ethical Handcraft Program. We were Nest’s founding partner on its Ethical Handcraft Program and the first retailer to feature the Nest Seal of Ethical Handcraft on products.
Nest’s Ethical Handcraft Program advocates for safe and viable conditions for homeworkers. It measures social compliance across hundreds of indicators to prove that products have been ethically handcrafted in a home or small workshop.
Nest’s Ethical Handcraft Program stands apart for its focus on artisans, working hand-in-hand with home-based businesses to promote greater transparency and inclusivity in the largely decentralized trade.
Additional Worker Wellbeing Programs
We partner with many different organizations to address the needs of our supplier base, and we evaluate new programs as needed. Please see our Impact Report for further details on all our worker wellbeing programs.
