Distribution

Over 90% of the world’s eco footprint of footwear is created by the time the product leaves the factory but there are still many opportunities along our value chain where we can make a difference. One of those areas is in our USA distribution center in Camarillo, California, where our shoes ship to American customers.

In 2008 we took a closer look at our distribution center and made further process improvements that have had a positive environmental impact. These key improvements are identified through recycling and energy consumption.

Recycling

  • Recycle corrugated cardboard boxes by re-using the boxes we receive from our factories. By using the same boxes to ship product to our customers, we extend the life of the box and reduce the use of new boxes. Also, we are now using a new waste compactor that has a more efficient motor, and allows more volume by its ability to compress tighter loads. These actions have reduced the number of cardboard boxes used by more than 20%,
  • Actively work with a local waste company to pick up pre-sorted recycled materials on a regular basis. This enables us to recycle materials that might otherwise be disposed of as waste, and
  • We’ve also installed a trash chute from the upper levels of the Deckers distribution centers to help process consolidated cardboard for recycling. This has enabled us to improve the yield of our recycling effort by approximately 10%.

Energy Consumption

  • An added system of skylights and motion detectors are used in our distribution centers to minimize the amount of energy consumption by lighting the building naturally during daytime peak work hours and allowing lights only to be used when areas are in use. These developments have reduced our consumption of lighting by more than 10%,
  • Low energy conveyor system operates on 24 volts and its operation is segregated into zones so that only those zones being utilized are in operation,
  • Using multiple forklifts that share one battery reduces the required battery power to drive our equipment and the waste produced by battery disposal, and
  • By cross-docking in China, less energy and labor is used to unpack upon arrival to the Camarillo distribution center and then re-pack for customers. For orders that were able to cross-dock, we reduced handling and related expenses by 50% in our distribution centers.