Author:

LVMH teams up with Beyoncé on American ‘whisky’ brand SirDavis


SirDavis whisky. Credit: LVMH

Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) has entered a partnership with entertainer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter to launch American whiskey brand SirDavis.

The SirDavis whiskey is a blend of 51% rye and 49% malted barley finished in sherry casks.

While the whiskey is produced and sourced from a distillery in the state of Indiana, the final product is finished, blended and bottled in Texas. It is being marketed as a ‘whisky’ with no ‘e’.

The Hennessy Cognac and Glenmorangie Scotch whisky maker said it had been exploring ways to “deepen” its presence in the US whiskey market and called the Beyoncé Knowles-Carter partnership timing “kismet”.

“I’ve always been drawn to the power and confidence I feel when drinking quality whisky and wanted to invite more people to experience that feeling,” SirDavis founder Beyoncé Knowles-Carter said in a statement.

“When I discovered that my great-grandfather had been a moonshine man, it felt like my love for whisky was fated. SirDavis is a way for me to pay homage to him, uniting us through a new shared legacy.”

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles
on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free
sample

Your download email will arrive shortly

We are confident about the
unique
quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most
beneficial
decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by
submitting the below form

By GlobalData







Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

SirDavis is being marketed in the US, Japan, France and the UK. Its retail price is $89.

LVMH tasked Bill Lumsden to create the blend. Lumsden had previously worked on the group’s Glenmorangie and Ardbeg Scotch whisky brands.

In the first half of 2024, the luxury-goods producer’s Wines & Spirits unit saw revenues drop 9% organically to €2.8bn ($3bn). The division’s profit from recurring operations was down 26% at €777m.

LVMH’s group first-half revenues declined 1% year on year to €41.6bn. The group’s net profits were down 14% to €7.2bn.

In its full year 2023, LVMH generated revenue of €86.2bn ($93.63bn), which amounted to an organic increase of 13%.

Profit from recurring operations stood at €22.8bn for 2023, up 8%. Group share of net profit amounted to €15.bn, also an increase of 8%.

However, the revenue from LVMH’s wine and spirits division fell 7% in 2023 to €7.1bn and was down 4% organically.




Source link

Certified Angus Beef honors Glen Dolezal for industry achievements


With notable contributions to academia and trade, Dr. Glen Dolezal has made his mark on the meat science world — its people, the science and implications for all sectors of the beef industry. He was presented the 2024 Certified Angus Beef Industry Achievement Award at Feeding Quality Forum on Aug. 20, 2024, in Dodge City, Kan.

Stepping stones

Born into a family with its own packing plant in Hallettsville, Texas, Dolezal was brought up in the trade. That gave him a personal familiarity with protein processing, with the kill floor as an early memory. 

His family’s farm, ranch and packing interests helped open doors to educational opportunities. In high school FFA, Dolezal judged everything from dairy cattle to poultry, livestock and meat. But it was the latter that really captured his imagination. 

: Dr. Glen Dolezal, 2024 Certified Angus Beef Industry Achievement Award winner. Courtesy of Certified Angus Beef

 

Dolezal looked to Texas A&M University for collegiate judging. Dean of Agriculture, Dr. Richard Potts, advised Dolezal to match his judging interest with an education in science – and to work with legendary meat scientist Gary Smith.

Dolezal began undergraduate studies while on the meats team under coach Daryl Tatum, who would go on to an iconic career in the field. Following meats, Dolezal joined the livestock judging team, then graduated and asked, “What’s next?” 

Still at A&M, he worked with Smith and department head Zerle Leon Carpenter on a master’s degree while coaching the meats team. 

On the academic path, he continued to Colorado State University to work with past judging coach Tatum and begin work on a doctorate. Not long into that program, Oklahoma State University called in need of a faculty member to teach meat science and coach the judging team. An agreement was forged, and after completing his doctorate, Dolezal moved to Oklahoma for a 16-year career there.

Boxed beef calculator

Dolezal considers the boxed beef calculator his chief accomplishment at OSU. From cutting tests on many cuts with known percent yield and yield grade, his team back-calculated a price. The result? A calculated carcass value different than values seen in the cash market or any other form of trade. 

At Cargill Meat Solutions, Dolezal’s team still relies on the formula daily, proving the enduring value of that research and the scientist’s foresight in creating a much-needed tool.

Outside of packing, Dolezal collaborated with Nebraska Angus rancher Bill Rishel on additional real-world use for the boxed beef calculator. 

The rancher wanted to evaluate his own sire evaluation program, but he needed Dolezal’s help. Using Rishel’s progeny information that included carcass merit, Dolezal ran ribeye area, yield grade, back-fat thickness, marbling and quality through the boxed beef calculator. The results were favorable, pointing to sires with the potential to sire calves that would yield more dollars in a value-based marketing system. 

The scientist has certainly earned his stripes in the beef community, especially its ranchers. With the drive to study what matters on the ranch and the skillset to explain results, Dolezal became a fixture at producer events. Often speaking on trends and current research, he keeps putting those educator skills to good use. 

And though he’s years past his actual professor days, colleagues still call him “Doc.”

Quality

Quality has always been at the top of Dolezal’s career interests. Research on tenderness and palatability led to a “snip and shock” process to improve the eating experience. As a result, Cargill became the first major processor to earn USDA tenderness certification, on the heels of its groundbreaking offer of “guaranteed tender” beef for retailers. Cargill launched brands with Kroger and Harris-Teeter in 2002, followed by a guaranteed and certified tender program with 13 divisions at Safeway.

Alongside Cargill, Dolezal patented new processes and worked with USDA to change quality grades, upgrading a high-quality “hard bone” carcass to the greater value it deserved. 

“Glen Dolezal is an icon in the industry,” Rishel said. “And one of the main reasons is that Glen is always about proving something to be really valuable,” not just for packers but as a meat scientist to all. 

In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Dolezal pioneered instrument grading at OSU, testing it in labs and figuring out how to make it work at line speeds. Once at Cargill, he pressed for instrument grading because of variation in calls between graders. He led Cargill’s move as one of the first companies to make the switch.

“I think it’s created better brands, a more consistent product within those brands, and I think Doc’s done an excellent job of pushing the industry to move toward these cameras,” said Bill Thoni, beef industry consultant and Cargill’s former vice president of cattle procurement. 

Camera grading has become an industry standard, he said, largely thanks to Dolezal’s foresight and efforts to create a more consistent system. 

Dolezal also leads as a voice for animal welfare and sustainability, advocating for Beef Quality Assurance and BQA Transportation. This all leads up to quality beef production. 

“We’re more focused on carcass quality than ever before, and it’s a good thing,” Dolezal said. 

According to Brad Morgan, vice president of research and development at iQ Foods, quality means something a bit different to Dolezal. Morgan nods to weight and efficiency as anyone in packing would, but said Dolezal expects more. It’s not just pounds, but “quality pounds.” 

“He wants something that, from a carcass-weight standpoint, can be merchandised at retail or foodservice,” Morgan said. That is Dolezal’s leadership style: setting the example, doing more than just punching the clock and ultimately influencing change. 

Legacy forward

“Doc” places a lot of weight on developing the next generation of meat scientists, drawing passion from what’s mattered to him. His pride is in those he’s mentored, educated or coached. Seeing their successes, jumpstarted by an extracurricular like competitive judging, is a bright spot in Dolezal’s own long list. 

The positive difference in students’ lives is part of Dolezal’s legacy, alongside his own lasting contributions to meat science, packing and the greater beef industry.

“You contributed and you contributed in multiple ways,” he said. “It could be human resources; it doesn’t have to be science. It’s just to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Source: Lindsay Graber Runft, Certified Angus Beef director of producer communications



Source link

Posted on Author Categories Protein

Walmart wants big food companies to lower their pricing



BENTONVILLE, ARK. — Large food manufacturers can expect more pressure from Walmart to bring down pricing as the world’s biggest retailer pursues further price rollbacks.

Price inflation in center-store food categories has lingered despite relaxed inflation in food overall, particularly in fresh foods, said Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer of Walmart, in a conference call last week on the company’s second-quarter results. As a result, Walmart aims to push food manufacturers to ease pricing and to counteract potential increases, he noted.

“In dry grocery, processed food consumables are where inflation has been more stubborn,” McMillon said. “As we mentioned, we still have slight inflation even in the last quarter in the food categories. So I’m hoping that what we see from our branded suppliers is investment in price, and we’re seeing that from some of them and not others. We have less upward pressure, but there are some (suppliers) that are still talking about cost increases. And we’re fighting back on that aggressively, because we think prices need to come down.”

Walmart US now has more than 7,200 price rollbacks in effect across categories. Though Walmart’s private labels have gained as consumers become more price-sensitive, McMillon said the retailer would like to see name brands sharpen their value offer to shoppers.

“We want to sell brands,” he said. “It’s important to Walmart to sell brands and show a value. So we’re hoping that our branded suppliers do the right things with both quality and price to get to the value that our customers want to see. I would guess that private brand continues to grow, although it’d be OK with us if the percent of total leveled out for the reason that I just mentioned. Our teams are doing a better job with private brand as it relates to both the development of the product, the quality of it and the value. So that’s good and helpful for customers, and we’ll keep doing that.”

At Walmart US, second-quarter net sales rose 4.1% year over year, with comparable sales excluding fuel up a better-than-expected 4.2%. Customer transactions gained 3.6%, up from 2.9% a year ago, and average ticket size edged up just 0.6%, compared with 3.4% a year earlier.

Walmart’s strong quarterly results, however, present a “good news/bad news” scenario for “Big Food” companies, said TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow.

“While it’s usually a good thing when a big customer is performing well, Walmart continues to pressure food vendors to improve their value proposition through price rollbacks,” Moskow said in an Aug. 15 research note. “This may pose a challenge to a company like Hershey, which recently announced a price increase to help offset higher input costs.”

As a group, the “Big 9” food companies — Campbell Soup, Conagra Brands, General Mills, Hershey, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz, McCormick, Mondelez and J.M. Smucker — have seen retail tracking volume decline 1.6% this year through July 27, based on NielsenIQ data, compared with a 0.7% uptick for the total food market and a 2.8% gain for private label, TD Cowen said.

“(Walmart) management said that food inflation has decelerated to 0.6%, but they continue to call on branded suppliers in dry grocery to invest more in price,” Moskow said. “In addition, they said that there are still some vendors ‘talking about’ cost increases (we suspect Hershey) and that they are fighting back aggressively.”

The second-quarter performance led Walmart to raise its fiscal 2025 guidance for net sales, adjusted earnings per share and operating income.

“So far, we aren’t experiencing a weaker consumer overall,” McMillon said in the earnings call.

But that doesn’t necessarily bode good news for packaged food vendors, Moskow said.

“In theory, Walmart’s strong overall trends should flow through to Big Food,” he said. “However, we expect pressure from Walmart for deeper price rollbacks to continue, especially in categories where Walmart can flex its private label merchandising (up 60 bps of share). Companies with muted cost baskets, strong productivity savings or limited private label exposure may have a competitive advantage in this backdrop.”

Walmart is “advocating for our customers,” John David Rainey, chief financial officer, said during the call. “We want to drive everyday low prices, and we’re not intending to achieve any of our margin performance by passing this along to our customers and (Sam’s Club) members in the form of higher prices.” 



Source link

Is Amazon Working on Something Big in Virtual Restaurants and Digital Food Halls?


What is Amazon up to now?

That was my first thought upon reading a LinkedIn update from Nick Avedesian, a longtime ghost kitchen and virtual food hall executive (and a speaker at The Spoon’s ghost kitchen virtual event in 2020). According to Avedesian, he has just taken a new position at Amazon titled Senior Program Manager, Industrial Launch & Execution, where he will “be supporting projects across our Fresh Food Productions and Amazon Grocery Logistics initiatives!”

Before Amazon, Avedesian held roles at several startups in the ghost kitchen and virtual restaurant space, most recently as the Head of Growth for Byte Kitchens, a startup that raised $6 million in 2022 to build out a digital food hall business. Before Byte, he was with Local Kitchens, which raised $40 million this June to expand its virtual food hall business. Prior to Local Kitchens, Avedesian was the Head of Development and Operations for DoorDash Kitchens.

So, Avedesian, who has spent the past five years overseeing the physical build-out of kitchen spaces tied to onboarding new restaurant brand partners for virtual food halls, is now going to work for Amazon to support projects across Fresh and grocery logistics. Could this mean Amazon plans to launch its own multi-tenant, multi-brand food halls? And if they do, how will those food hall restaurant brands be presented to customers?

While it’s still too early to be certain, I suspect there’s a strong possibility that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. One potential scenario is that Amazon might be planning a combination of in-venue buildouts for new restaurant menus and food offerings from licensed partners at Amazon Fresh stores—similar to what Wonder is starting to do at Walmart. Given Avedesian’s expertise in building both new and retrofit kitchen facilities for multi-brand food halls, I can easily imagine these kitchens, along with customer-facing food hall offerings, being implemented at Fresh locations and possibly other sites as well.

It’s not as if Amazon is entirely new to the idea of ghost kitchens or virtual restaurants. The company was an early investor in Deliveroo, a ghost kitchen and virtual brand pioneer. They are also an investor in Grubhub and recently announced that Amazon Prime users get free Grubhub+ and can order directly from within the app.

Naturally, one update isn’t a guarantee of a new project within Amazon, but there are other small indicators that something is afoot. One of Avedesian’s new coworkers is Kaitlin Garton, a project launch specialist at Amazon, as well as Gavin Worsdale, a manager for industrial launch and execution for Amazon’s worldwide grocery business division.

Amazon’s grocery business has been scrutinized closely as of late, partly because the company hit the brakes earlier this year on the expansion of its Fresh stores and the use of its Just Walk Out technology. However, the company has signaled that they are not getting out of or downsizing their food initiatives, and now you have to wonder if they see an opportunity in using their own kitchens in a virtual food hall business as a growth driver, both in-store (at Fresh and possibly Amazon Go storefronts) and perhaps in centralized kitchens (such as those that produce food for Whole Foods).

The company also has a robust grocery and food delivery business and could begin offering a variety of new home delivery options featuring meals from chefs or restaurant chains.

Whatever they’re up to, we’ll be keeping an eye on things. I’ve reached out to Avedesian to see if he has any specifics on what he’ll be working on, but given Amazon’s notoriously secretive ways, my guess is he’ll likely decline to comment.



Source link

Ridley FY24 earnings lift, return to Tas milling announced


Ridley has added a feedmill in Carrick, Tasmania to its portfolio. Photo: Ridley

THE RIDLEY Corporation has unveiled the acquisition of a feedmill at Carrick in Tasmania, as well as the construction of a new ingredient-recovery facility and more than $10 million in plant upgrades in releasing its financial results for the year to June 30.

This announcement marks Ridley’s return to Tasmania after selling its Westbury pellet factory to Skretting Australia for $54.85 million in June 2021.

The mill, located 17km west of Launceston, will be purchased from Tasmania’s largest egg producer, Pure Foods Eggs, for $6.5M.

Ridley managing director and chief executive officer Quinton Hildebrand told shareholders the company aims to increase production at the site from a single shift to a three-shift operation.

Mr Hildebrand said Ridley currently supplies 20,000 tonnes of dairy feed to Tasmania via its Pakenham plant in eastern Victoria, and this will now be supplied from the Carrick mill.

“Then as we will have local-supplier status, we think that will support us gaining further market share of the dairy sector within Tasmania,” Mr Hildebrand said.

“The combination of growing our volumes in the Tasmanian market and having capacity to continue increasing our market share out of the Pakenham feedmill into the Gippsland market gives us a good return on this investment.”

Mr Hildebrand also announced the construction of a new leasehold facility to replace an existing ingredient-recovery plant at Timaru, on New Zealand’s South Island.

The plant came as part of the acquisition of petfood input producer Oceania Meat Processors, finalised in March.

He said the facility will be equipped with $9M worth of plate-freezing equipment which will result in the plant processing product in block form rather than in tubs.

Mr Hildebrand said this method was preferred by customers, would be more energy efficient, and would create capacity to grow output.

Commissioning is underway to upgrades at the Clifton feed mill. Photo: Ridley

“We’re very excited by the opportunity that this presents when it comes online before October 2025.”

In the bulk stockfeeds business, a $7.9M project to upgrade the Clifton site, south of Toowoomba, is currently in the commissioning stage.

The project will increase capacity at the site by 25 percent, and accommodate increased demand following the expansion of an existing poultry customer.

An increase in demand after the closure of the AJ Bush rendering business in Sydney has spurred investment in Ridley’s ingredient-recovery segment.

Mr Hildebrand said currently, extra material was being processed by the Maroota plant in north-west Sydney, with the company “now considering what investment opportunities there are to make better use out of those raw materials”.

“We’ve also had raw material growth into our Laverton ingredient-recovery facility and we’ve committed there to a $1.9M debottlenecking project just to give us some runway for that expansion.”

Mr Hildebrand also foreshadowed “a number of other initiatives and growth plans that we’re working on and that we will progress in [FY25], but at this point there isn’t sufficient certainty to elaborate on those.”

Minor earnings growth

Ridley reported a modest increase of 1.7pc to the FY24 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $90M.

Net profit after tax for the period fell 4.7pc to $39.9M.

The bulk stockfeeds business led the results, returning an EBITDA of $44.4M, an increase of 23pc on FY23.

“This was a pleasing performance, driven by a 12.7pc increase in ruminant volumes as we gain market share in the dairy sector, enabled by the capacity from our debottlenecking projects.

“We also enjoyed a few months of supplementary feeding during the dry conditions back in quarter one.

“The benefit from the high ruminant volumes was partially offset by the 1.2pc decline in monogastric volumes, which was mostly the result of the…broiler industry breeder limitations.

“However, we did gain through some customer acquisition in the layer sector.”

The packaged feeds and ingredients business reported a decrease in EBITDA of 9pc at $59.7M, attributed to reduced sales prices for tallow and meal, and lower domestic aqua nutrition sales.

The company also incurred costs in the second half from the restructuring of the “underperforming aquafeed business” and pivot to increase capacity in the packaged petfood segment.

In FY25, Mr Hildebrand said he was confident the bulk stockfeeds business would continue to record strong financial results from increased capacity at Clifton and Pakenham, growth in the Tasmanian market and increased broiler feed volumes following the recovery from industry breeder limitations.

The packaged and ingredients segment was also expected to rebound due to the full-year earnings contribution of OMP and increased volumes following the closure of AJ Bush.

Grain Central: Get our free news straight to your inbox – Click here



Source link

Posted on Author Categories Crops

First Watch fall menu brings back Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich



Fall is coming to First Watch as the breakfast, brunch and lunch concept rolls out its seasonal, chef-driven menu, available at restaurants nationwide through Oct. 28, 2024, with the exception of the Tampa Bay, Fla., area.

“This menu delivers on cozy fall flavors, including pumpkin and salted caramel, and seasonal produce, like brussels sprouts,” said Shane Schaibly, senior vice president of culinary strategy at First Watch. “We’re also bringing the heat with the return of the customer-favorite Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich, which uses Mike’s Hot Honey—a spicy-sweet partnership that dates back to 2019.”

First Watch’s seasonal menu includes:

  • Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich – Million Dollar Bacon, all-natural pork sausage patty, an over-easy cage-free egg, smoked Wisconsin Gouda, fresh arugula and Mike’s Hot Honey drizzled on a griddled English muffin. Served with lemon-dressed organic mixed greens.
  • Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast – Two cage-free eggs cooked any style plus one of First Watch’s signature spiced Pumpkin Pancakes and a Jones Dairy Farm all-natural chicken sausage patty.

“First Watch has regularly featured Mike’s Hot Honey on their menu over the last five years and we’re grateful for it,” said Mike’s Hot Honey founder, Mike Kurtz. “Each menu item that features Mike’s Hot Honey has been thoughtfully crafted and delicious … We’re excited for the return of the Million Dollar Breakfast Sandwich. It’s one of my personal favorites.”

First Watch’s seasonal menus embody the restaurant’s “Follow the Sun” approach to sourcing fresh ingredients of the season. Its menus change five times a year and have received national awards for their innovative, trend-forward approach.

Source: First Watch



Source link

Posted on Author Categories Meat

CGA by NIQ’s Reports Spirits and Beer Performance in North America


Photo Credit: iStockPhoto.com/portfolio/Kar-Tr

STOCKPORT, Eng. — CGA by NIQ’s new On Premise Measurement (OPM) service in Canada has opened up insights into the market not previously reported on, including valuable comparisons with trends across the border in the U.S., all under one consistent reporting to help tailor strategies to the two territories.

For nearly a decade, OPM has been the U.S. industry standard for brand owners to track their share of the channel. Now launched in Canada, CGA by NIQ brings a new data set for the beverage-alcohol industry to track sales out of the channel to consumers, capturing final purchases made rather than shipment reporting across select provinces all while including competitive information at every level of reporting.

The two OPM datasets are now aligned in the same monthly reporting periods, revealing similarities and differences between the two markets. Here are five data highlights:

More variety in spirits in Canada

  • Spirits volumes have declined in Canada by 4.1 per cent versus a year ago, which is slightly less than decreases reported in the U.S. (8.4 per cent). However, assortment of spirits categories in Canada present growth opportunities for suppliers.
  • In the U.S., vodka, tequila and whiskey make up 70 per cent of total sales, but the figure is notably lower in Canada at 51 per cent. This means volumes are spread across more spirits segments, with consumers choosing a greater variety. Despite Canadian and U.S. spirits drinkers having a similar amount of categories in their repertoire, sales patterns highlight differences in each market.

Tequila is the fastest-growing segment

  • Tequila has been the biggest growth category in both markets in the last year. But while it commands 22 per cent volume share of total spirits in the U.S., it only represents 15 per cent in Canada. Value sales over the last 52 weeks are up by six per cent in Canada, while in the U.S., the category is trending down 3.4 per cent. Over time, tequila consumption in the on premise has made its presence felt in Canada, following it’s fast-paced take-off in the U.S.

Growth in beer imports

  • Canada’s beer volumes have dropped slightly in the last 12 months, by 1.5 per cent and 6.2 per cent in the U.S. However, imports have bucked the downward trend in both Canada and the U.S. Imports now take 25 per cent of volumes in Canada, having gained 0.7 percentage points of share in the last 12 months, while imports in the U.S. takes 20 per cent of share and gained 0.8 percentage points. As CGA’s recent analysis of the market indicates, the appetite for imports correlates with a trend of choosing quality over quantity in the on premise, as well as the impression that this category offers excellent value for money.

Draft dominates in Canada

  • While draft beer has a 52 per cent share of volume in the U.S., it’s much higher in Canada at 70 per cent. As draft is a more popular serve in Canada, this also comes with the wider range of draft serve options that are made available to consumers compared to U.S. markets. Additionally, looking at CGA by NIQ’s On Premise User Survey (OPUS) across both countries, Canadians have an 11-per-cent increase in preference for beer served on draft (41 per cent) compared to U.S. consumers (30 per cent).

Gin and rum outperform in Canada

  • While the U.S. spirits market is top heavy with the three largest segments of vodka, tequila and whiskey, other options command a bigger piece of the category in Canada. These include gin, which has a 14 per cent share of total spirits volumes in Canada, much larger than the figure of four per cent in the U.S. Another being rum, which also has a 14 per cent share in Canada compared to 10 per cent in the U.S. While rum’s volumes are falling, it has been notably more resilient in Canada than the U.S., with respective volume declines of 2.1 per cent and 11.9 per cent over the last 12 months.

There are clear and distinct category performance differences across Canada and the U.S. While it’s easy to use the U.S. as a benchmark for performance in Canada, OPM highlights the need for Canada-specific market measurement to unlock market-level opportunities in the channel.



Source link

Adidas America faces almost $400K in fines over warehouse safety violations


https://res.cloudinary.com/dmgi9movl/video/upload/q_1/v1724244399/news/text_to_speech/adidas-america-fines-400k-osha-warehouse-safety-violations_ajt8vk.wav
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.

Adidas America is facing almost $400,000 in penalties for safety violations at an Orange County, New York, warehouse, according to an Aug. 9 news release from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The fine stems from a 2021 OSHA inspection that found a lack of guardrails and an unsafe ladder at one of Adidas’ warehouses exposed employees to potential falls of up to 10 feet. The government agency said it returned in early 2024 to inspect the facility again and found the safety hazards had not been addressed.

“When employers agree to correct a hazard, they must follow through and prove to OSHA that the hazards were addressed,” OSHA Area Director Rita Young said in a statement. “Adidas America Inc. failed to do so, continued to expose their employees to potentially deadly and disabling injuries and are now liable for additional and sizable OSHA penalties.”

The activewear brand’s American business has 15 days to respond to OSHA’s fine, whether they comply with or contest the findings.

“Adidas is committed to the health and safety of our employees,” an Adidas spokesperson said via email. “Our facilities fully adhere to OSHA compliance requirements, and we are working with OSHA to resolve the matter.”

The worker safety penalty comes shortly after Adidas posted a strong second quarter, with sales up 9% and the underlying business improving as it sheds off the final remnants of its Yeezy merchandise. While the company’s business is showing signs of strength after a tumultuous period, North America sales were still down 7% in the quarter due to the impact of Yeezy.

With the loss of that celebrity collaboration, CEO Bjørn Gulden has developed another plan to win in the region, which includes developing products that are more catered to the U.S. audience and leaning into more American sports like baseball and basketball.

“You have to be more American to be successful in America. You have to be in the American sports,” Gulden said on an earnings call in July. “There is a clear, clear, clear plan for how to be more American in America and our product pipeline and our marketing activities are lined up to do that … We have tough competition in the U.S. from American brands, and we have to be better than what we have been before to be successful.”



Source link

Fashion for Good with Georgia Parker: Making fashion packaging more sustainable | Podcast




2024-08-14T11:08:00+01:00

What are the fashion and textiles industry’s biggest problems when it comes to sustainable packaging and where do the solutions lie? To help answer these questions, Victoria Hattersley spoke with Georgia Parker, Innovation Director at Fashion for Good – an organization whose mission is to unite the fashion ecosystem to bring about positive change.



Source link

Exit mobile version