Beyond Threads Webinar: Bleckmann’s sustainability journey

Choosing the right 3PL partner

Navigating your brand’s sustainability journey alone is a tough task, particularly when not every logistics partner has the expertise or capabilities to make sustainability a core business priority. Selecting a 3PL partner that’s already invested in the necessary sustainability infrastructure, advanced data systems and comprehensive compliance frameworks can accelerate your progress significantly. “What started as a moral imperative has become a competitive necessity,” says Ron. “Brands increasingly evaluate logistics partners not just on speed and cost, but on commitment to sustainability and an ability to help them achieve their environmental and social goals.”

The key pillars of sustainable logistic

As an extension of your brand, your 3PL must understand your approach to sustainability and be positioned to help you achieve your goals. Successful partnerships require alignment between your logistics provider and your brand’s values. There are two main areas to evaluate: environmental stewardship and social responsibility.

Environmental stewardship focuses on areas such as carbon footprinting, transparent reporting and greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies. Your goals may require adjustments to transport and last-mile delivery methods, so ensuring your 3PL can accommodate these changes while maintaining service excellence is vital. Social responsibility addresses how companies interact with groups such as communities and employees, as well as the broader societal impacts of their activities.

Sustainability as an ongoing journey

As regulations evolve and new technologies emerge, sustainability represents a continuous journey of improvement, adaptation, and innovation for forward-thinking brands. The fashion industry’s waste challenges didn't develop overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight either. However, the logistics companies now leading transformation prove that with the right approach, being part of the solution is possible.

Many brands that were ‘early adopters’ in sustainability early have been able to establish themselves as recognised front-runners in the industry. And while it’s important to celebrate success, it’s equally important to acknowledge the significant work that remains. “We want to be recognised as the most sustainable logistics service provider in the fashion and lifestyle space,” concludes Ron. “But we also know it’s not going to happen overnight – we have to keep working hard and improving in order to help our brands deliver sustainable solutions.”

Press play on this Beyond Threads webinar to find out more about Bleckmann’s corporate social responsibility strategy and how we’re helping more of our clients to accelerate their own sustainability journeys!

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Transcript

Ron Thijssen:


Hello and welcome everybody to the Beyond Threats webinar.
My name is Ron Thijssen, Manager Corporate Social Responsibility at Blackman.
Today, I want to tell you a little bit about our sustainable journey: where we started, how we did it, and where we are at this moment.


First of all, we have been part of the problem for many years, dating back to 1862. Over time, we became more and more efficient in shipping out items—clothing and fashion. However, statistics show that every second, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of fashion items is being burned or sent to landfill. That is something we want to change.


Instead of being part of the problem, we want to become part of the solution. So, years ago, we started a department called Corporate Social Responsibility. At first, you want to change the world—but that is not going to be possible. Then you ask yourself: what do you want to achieve? You want to be the best, the most sustainable company, but at the same time, it’s not a race and it’s not a competition.


What we want to embody is to be recognized by our peers as a sustainable logistics service provider. But how do you do that?


We started by asking internally what is important to us. What do we, as a company, find important? What do we have influence on, and what has influence on us? We simply asked our colleagues to rate different topics. From that, we created a chart showing what is more important and what is less important. Everything is important, of course, but it’s all about choosing and creating balance.


Secondly, we had discussions with our clients, stakeholders, NGOs, governments, banks, and investors. We asked them what they think is important for us and what we should be working on.


So, we knew what was important to us—what Blackman employees thought was important—and we knew what our stakeholders deemed important for us and for themselves. By putting those two perspectives together, we created what we call a matrix. On the horizontal axis is what is important to Blackman, and on the vertical axis is what is important to our stakeholders. This helps us align and focus on topics that matter to both parties.


To make this internationally recognizable, we also adopted the Sustainable Development Goals—five of them, not all seventeen. There’s only so much you can do in this world.


From there, we went one step deeper. We looked at the three pillars: environmental, social, and governance. Within those pillars, we asked ourselves which topics we can realistically work on.


So where do you start? First of all, you have to gather data—a lot of data. If you want to achieve a goal, you first need to know where you stand and what the current situation is.


We started gathering information on our carbon emissions, waste, electricity usage, and other topics across different teams. Together with external parties, such as electricity suppliers, and internally with our business intelligence team, we built several dashboards. These helped us understand our position and identify the most critical areas to work on.


It wasn’t just our idea to start measuring. The European Union also introduced an initiative called the Corporate Social Responsibility Directive. This means companies have to disclose information on non-financial topics—what they impact and what impacts them.


We started this project in 2023 to be able to report according to these directives by 2026. Luckily, the timeline shifted, and reporting is now required by 2028. However, this huge project gave us valuable insights into what is truly important, in addition to what we already knew, through a double materiality analysis.


Based on these insights, we are now building further on these specific themes to form our own Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. We are not waiting another two years to start disclosing information—we are moving forward now to report on the topics that are important to us and that we are able and required to report on.


To conclude: at Blackman, sustainability is not just a commitment—it is a continuous journey. It is about the ambition to lead in sustainable logistics. It is about carbon footprinting, reporting, and reduction. It is about a commitment to circularity and waste reduction, as well as sustainability-driven and data-driven innovation.


We started this journey five to six years ago, and our goal is to be recognized as one of the sustainable logistics service providers. Did we succeed? Well, we did win some prizes across different areas, so I think we did—but it remains a journey, and there is still a long way to go.


Thank you for watching this webinar.
My name is Ron Thijssen, and I hope to see you again in our next Beyond Threats webinar, where I will tell you all about EU legislation in the fashion and lifestyle industry.


Thank you very much.