Sustainability

Developing the first FLINCK sock took about a year and a half, because we raise the bar continuously. Not only during our daily workout, but also during the development of our products. Our goal: to make a sock with the perfect fit, made from beautiful and responsible materials and one that can cope with the harshest workouts imaginable. All this without losing sight of quality and design. At FLINCK, design is just as important as functionality.

Sports is no longer an activity you undertake on a Saturday morning in your old swimsuit, an 'ancient' t-shirt or worn down shoes. Sports has developed into a lifestyle. A social activity that you enjoy and quickly can't do without. It's part of your daily routine and social fabric. Sportswear has developed as well, with nicely designed items, but one part has been sorely overlooked: the sports sock. We at FLINCK want to make this a thing of the past. But if always in a responsible matter.

Sustainability
Earth is the basis of our existence, so we must all ensure that it remains as healthy and fit as we are. That is why we try, wherever possible, to manufacture our products in a sustainable and responsible way.
Our socks are made from high-quality vegan materials. To guarantee quality, we decided at an early stage not to have our socks produced on the other side of the world, but close to home where we can regularly observe the production process.

Approximately 50 percent of FLINCK’s production chain takes place in our home base in Amsterdam. In our nation's capital we design the prints and apply it to our socks with water-based ink. The labeling and packaging is also done in Amsterdam. The knitting process takes place in our factory in Portugal. The factory has been awarded the OEKO-TEX STeP certificate for sustainable textile production and is also in the possession of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) seal of approval.

Sustainable Textile Production (STeP)
STeP by OEKO-Tex is a worldwide certification system for environmentally friendly and socially responsible production facilities in the textile and clothing industry. The certificate is only issued to factories that work under very humane conditions and that can minimize its impact on the environment to or below the point that meets the requirements for the certificate. For example the use of solar energy and avoiding working with harmful substances.

Better Cotton Initiative (BCI)
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a collaboration between non-profit organizations (such as Solidaridad), environmental organizations (such as the WWF) and the business community. BCI looks at cotton cultivation to minimize use of pesticides, an efficient use of water, attention to soil health, care and attention to fiber quality and humane working conditions.

In addition to our socks, our packaging is sustainable as well. For example, all printing in the Netherlands is done by an FSC-certified printer, which also has the Sustainable Procurement certificate. The FSC quality mark guarantees that all paper comes from responsibly managed forests. The entire chain - from forest to end product - can be checked for sustainability. Next to this we choose to send our socks in envelopes made of recycled cardboard, and during the printproces we use paper with a thickness of 20 gram instead of the conventional 50 gram. This to reduce our residual waste with more than 50 percent.

Naturally, greater steps can be taken in the area of sustainability, so we keep a close eye on developments and will implement these wherever possible and relevant in our production process.