8 March 2010 | Helen Gilbert

Sportswear giant Adidas has set tougher targets for suppliers in a bid to make improvements to supply chain operations.

The firm’s 2009 sustainability review outlined an aim for 80 per cent of direct vendors to meet “3C” standards or better by 2015 under Adidas’s social compliance key performance indicator rating.

The 3C target means that while suppliers may have minor non-compliance issues, they have the compliance management systems and effective practices in place to handle them.

At present, 50 per cent of the direct suppliers meet this rating. A quarter of these are in a self-governance compliance model – where they take responsibility for their own performance – including reporting of key social and health and safety indicators.

Adidas’s top 10 publicly listed suppliers will also be required to continue to independently produce sustainability reports.

The report said Adidas terminated agreements with nine suppliers for compliance reasons last year, but did not offer any further details.

Writing in the report, CEO Herbert Hainer said: “We have set short and longer-term social and environmental goals as benchmarks for those suppliers who wish to qualify as strategic partners for our core footwear and apparel business.”