At Deckers Brands, sustainability isn’t just a goal—it’s our guiding principle, especially during events like Plastic Free July. This employee spotlight we focus on Wallace Hao, our dedicated Director of Restricted Substances located in our Guangzhou office, who embodies this commitment with unwavering passion and expertise. Wallace embodies our commitment to sustainability with unwavering passion and expertise and plays a pivotal role in advancing our chemistry-related sustainability initiatives. Discover more about Wallace Hao’s journey and insights in our latest employee spotlight Q&A below, where we explore how we’re all together in purpose to create positive change.
When did you join Deckers and what does a typical day look like for you as the Director of Restricted Substances?
I joined the Deckers family in February 2015. Being gifted with the opportunity to work in a loving company has been the greatest motivation to do my best. As a restricted substance manager at Deckers Guangzhou, I witnessed the fast development of our brands and the vast extension of our restricted substance program and our sustainability goals with solid achievements. My journey started with tasks such as reduction or elimination of restricted substances that, if not controlled, could pose harmful health or environmental effects. My team and I support our suppliers with their chemistry efforts and drive our commitment to cleaner chemistries. The more I experienced at Deckers, the more I believe that we will thrive in doing good and great things.
My tenure at Deckers has taught me empathy, kindness, inclusion, and the power of collaboration. For example, the joint studies of microplastics with our supply chain partners, the searching for scientific articles associated with plastic hazards, the book notes we went through and discussed, and friendly competition in cleaning the plastic items during the AOK events. It is through these efforts that we see when we work collaboratively our impact is so much greater.
Deckers is celebrating Plastic Free July; within your role can you tell me what steps Deckers has taken to reduce plastic use within the company and its products?
On the supply chain side, we are continuously working with our partners to study microplastics and other plastic hazards. Just like our own employees, we have encouraged our supply chain partners to move away from plastic water bottles. In fact, one of the most meaningful results we observed is that the vast majority of our employees at Deckers stopped using plastic bottles, and increasingly more suppliers switched to using metal or glass bottles too. What an amazing result and a true reflection of the impact we as an organization can have! Our actions are creating a ripple effect and continue to reach even more people.
Can you share a memorable experience or project that has had a significant impact on your perspective on sustainability?
One of the biggest challenges in my career at Deckers was back in 2019 when we were working on remediating the Chromium VI (Cr.VI)* failure among one of our suppliers. Troubled with the lack of transportation and chemical preparation tools – as well as the inability to find another shipment date after remediation – we successfully remediated over 12,000 pairs of shoes without affecting the production and shipment. The experience taught me the importance of good planning, coordination, and crisis handling.
*Cr. VI is a chemical often used in the tanning of leather.
Can you describe the culture at Deckers Brands within the APAC region?
To be honest, Deckers is the best company with the best culture I have seen, and I am blessed to work for the company with great leaders. At Deckers Guangzhou, we always uphold our ESG values, especially the environmental protection, AOK activities, and doing good. Supported by our leaders, hundreds of employees volunteered in various AOK events and charity activities with genuine love and kindness, and these actions have motivated so many around us and our broader communities. These activities have become second nature among our employees in our daily operation.
How does Deckers engage with employees and communities in the APAC region and partner factory locations?
Fueled with energies and passion, Deckers employees have been tirelessly promoting Deckers AOK events with our supply chain partners. During the AOK activities, we can see how happy and supportive our suppliers are, the joy in their faces, the sincere attitude, their selfless efforts all connect with our Deckers values.
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