At Pentland Brands, we’re committed to working with our brands, people and partners to build a positive legacy for people and our planet. Our new Positive Business report, published today, shares how we’re working towards these goals.  

In 2022 we supported over 19 million consumers live positive, active, sustainable lifestyles, supported 190,000 people in our communities and continued our journey to net zero.  

We caught up with Sara Brennan, our positive business director, to explore our progress so far and what’s coming next.  

What does positive business mean at Pentland?  

The essence of positive business at Pentland is pioneering brands that make life better. It’s our holistic approach to caring for people and our planet as a business alongside our brands and the legacy we want to leave.   

I’m really proud that we’re working towards some big 2032 goals – to help 100 million consumers live positive, active, sustainable lifestyles, better the lives of 1 million people in our communities and become a net zero business. 

How do we prioritise wellbeing?  

Wellbeing is a thread that runs through our positive business strategy, from our products to the positive impact we have on people’s lives by helping them to swim, cycle, play sport and get outdoors.    

This year alone, Speedo expanded its Swim United programme to include pop-up pools so that more kids learn to swim. Berghaus also released its first hiking hijab to help more people enjoy all the benefits that being outside brings. 

We’re also proud to join other sports brands in supporting World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI)’s memorandum of understanding with the World Health Organization. 81% of adolescents worldwide aren’t doing enough physical activity and this memorandum’s aims to try change that.  

What are some of the ways we’re addressing consumers’ climate concerns? 

We know consumers are choosing sustainable brands, so we need to think of ways to help our consumers with their own climate anxieties. That could mean producing lower-impact products, reducing our packaging or offering consumers takeback schemes – all things we’re continuing to look at and support our consumers with. 

Kickers first launched its first takeback scheme with Reskinned in 2022. And Berghaus re-launched its free repairs programme, Repairhaus, which has so far repaired 12,000 products free of charge. 

How important are our people in realising the strategy?  

Our people are vital in helping us reach our positive business goals. We believe everyone can play a tangible part regardless of their role. This also extends to our partners, supply chain and customers.  

Activities include employee give-back days, charitable donations and supporting community projects. We have four employee networks that drive change across our business. Underpinning this all is our culture of doing the right thing, which helps us achieve these goals. 

What are some of our biggest challenges?  

Data can be challenging, whether that’s measuring carbon emissions, our supply chain or diversity, equity and inclusion targets. Working with complex data and then communicating it in simple, understandable terms can be challenging. But it also allows us to make decisions that drive a bigger impact. 

What are the next steps in our positive business plans?  

For 2023, we’re excited about the investments we’ve made from a data perspective. We’ve just partnered with Segura on our supply chain mapping tool, a big step forward that will help us to reach our goal of 100% transparency. We can then have better conversations with our vendors about their environmental and ethical performance. 

By continuing to link our ESG targets to bonuses, we’re showing that we take it as seriously as our financial performance. Our people need to achieve both to unlock their annual bonus.    

We’re really proud of Berghaus achieving its B Corp accreditation – our first brand to do so – and that’s something that we’re keen to continue exploring with some of our other brands. We’re also proud of our strong history of charitable work and will continue to focus on that in the year ahead. All these things help move change forward and we’re excited to see what the year brings. 

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on our latest sustainability news and updates. Read our 2022 Positive Business report here.