PWC review finds Limited Brands sources 88% of paper purchased for Victoria's Secret catalogs from FSC certified sources in 2009

Kendall Sinclair

SAN FRANCISCO , October 28, 2011 (press release) – Five years after making headlines by partnering with ForestEthics to raise the catalog industry’s environmental standards, Limited Brands has reported that 88% of the paper purchased for Victoria’s Secret catalogs is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), widely considered the most credible and rigorous certification for forest products.

That percentage, considered exceptional for a large direct mailer, comes out of an independent review conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers of Limited Brands’ paper purchasing through 2009. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers Assurance statement can be downloaded as a PDF here.

“When ForestEthics strikes an agreement with a company, whether or not it’s at the end of a confrontational campaign, we always hope that we’ll still be doing great work together five years later," said Todd Paglia, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “It doesn’t always happen, but then again, not every company is as sincerely committed to reducing its impact on forests as Limited Brands."

The preference for FSC-certified paper and the PricewaterhouseCooper review are core parts of Limited Brands’ commitment to forest protection and sustainable paper sourcing. Other important elements include avoiding fiber from endangered forests, using paper more efficiently, and using post-consumer recycled paper.

ForestEthics and Limited Brands’ work together continues to be an important case study of “transformation through collaboration” in the fields of Corporate Social Responsibility and supply chain management, with roots in the agreement struck between them in 2007, when Limited Brands agreed to cease sourcing paper from Endangered Forests.

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