WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Richard A. Noll, executive chairman of HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI), has been named CEO of the Year by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for his decade of leadership in advancing the company’s corporate social responsibility program, including an industry-leading environmental and energy-management practice.

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Richard A. Noll, executive chairman of HanesBrands, has been named CEO of the Year by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for his decade of leadership in advancing the company's corporate social responsibility program, including an industry-leading environmental and energy-management practice. (Photo: Business Wire)

Hanes also has won a 2016 Responsible Business Award for best employee engagement from London-based Ethical Corporation, an organization that promotes responsible business practices around the globe.

Noll accepted the CR Magazine award Oct. 19 during the closing dinner of the magazine’s Commit!Forum, a two-day event focusing on building a responsible culture and supply chain.

“Hanes and its 70,000 worldwide employees should be extremely proud of the great things accomplished during the past decade,” Noll said. “Corporate responsibility is good for business, but it is not easy. At Hanes, we make a commitment, live our values and set metrics to measure our success."

Announcing Noll’s award, CR Magazine noted that Hanes has an industry-leading robust corporate responsibility program that advances the highest standards for ethics, environmental practices, employee workplace practices, community philanthropy and community building, and vendor/contractor compliance with company standards.

Under Noll’s leadership, Hanes – unique in the apparel industry because it owns the significant majority of its manufacturing operations – quickly became an international business leader in ethics, disclosure, social compliance and environmental protection. Since 2007, the company has:

• Reduced energy consumption by 25 percent, carbon emissions by 21 percent, and water use by 31 percent, and established renewable energy sources for 25 percent of its worldwide energy needs.

• Set more ambitious goals for 2020, calling for a 40 percent reduction in energy use and carbon emissions, 50 percent reduction in water use and sourcing renewable energy for 40 percent of the company’s needs.
• Won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star partner of the year/sustained excellence award for seven consecutive years.
• Voluntarily begun disclosing environmental data to the Carbon Disclosure Project.
• Earned accreditation of the Fair Labor Association, working with the independent workers’ rights group based in Washington, D.C. on factory evaluation worldwide.
• Earned a superior grade of A for supply chain and labor practices from Free2Work, an independent assessment of 300 apparel and shoe manufacturers. Only three brands earned an A based on policies, traceability, transparency, monitoring, training and worker rights. Hanes earned an A- for its practice of purchasing nearly all of its cotton for worldwide apparel production from the southeastern United States where advanced farming practices and low- to no-irrigation practices make the cotton grown there some of the most responsible and sustainable in the world.
• Earned a grade of A from As You Sow, an environmental and social corporate responsibility advocacy group. Hanes is ranked as one of the best for social and ethical supply chain compliance programs, with high marks for its code of conduct, auditing, remediation and transparency.
• Placed No. 172 on the Newsweek magazine’s 2016 U.S. Green Rankings list of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States.

Hanes employees play an important role in both environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility programs. The Ethical Corporation awarded Hanes with a 2016 Responsible Business Award for best employee engagement, honoring the company for its innovative Viviendo Verde (Green for Good) philanthropic program.

Viviendo Verde, which operates in Central America and the Dominican Republic, mobilizes three of Hanes’ corporate social responsibility pillars – environmental commitment, employee volunteerism and community improvement. The program utilizes savings from energy-management and landfill-diversion efforts to fund community projects focused on education, health, environmental protection and disaster relief that are conducted by employee volunteers.

Since 2010, more than 11,000 Hanes employees have donated 400,000 hours to complete 67 projects supported by $2.5 million in company funding. Projects have included school and hospital refurbishments, medical clinics, clean water projects, tree plantings and beach cleanups.

HanesBrands is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe and Asia under some of the world’s strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Playtex, DIM, Bali, Maidenform, Bonds, JMS/Just My Size, L’eggs, Wonderbra, Nur Die/Nur Der, Lovable, Berlei, and Gear for Sports.

For more information about Hanes’ corporate social responsibility achievements, including environmental sustainability, visit www.HanesForGood.com.

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