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Victoria's Dirty Secret

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I was reading Business Week online and noticed this interesting piece on Victoria’s Secret. Limited Brands, the parent company of VS, has been publically indicted for its blatant use of virgin fiber in their catalog production that reaches quantities as large as 395 million produced anually. This paper ends up in the garbage, or if we’re lucky, in the recycling bin.

The destruction of the forests of the Southern U.S., where nearly 6 million acres are logged annually, and the continuing decimation of the endangered Canadian Boreal Forest has generated concern internationally. The organization largely to blame for bringing this flagrant deforestation to the fore is Forest Ethics, a group who seek to hold corporations accountable for the destruction of, yep, you guessed it, our forests! 225 protests took place accross the U.S. on April 11th of this year, putting pressure on the company to terminate its contract with International Paper, who have been criticized for destroying endangered woodlands. Since the campaign began, VS has begun using 80% recycled content for their clearance catalogs but their current contract is still largely using pulp derived from endangered species.