Renewable Energy: The Backbone of Our Energy Strategy

HanesBrands has a long history of integrating sustainability initiatives into our business model by using biomass-fired steam boilers in our textile manufacturing facilities, a practice dating back over four decades and continuing into the current era. Beginning in 2008, HanesBrands launched a significant new round of investment in biomass boiler technologies to help meet our textile manufacturing operations’ high energy demands. About 80% of the company’s total energy use occurs on textile manufacturing, so it only made sense to prioritize these large energy use areas first.

Today, we own and operate two state-of-the-art business facilities, one each at our large textile manufacturing sites. The first produces steam at our circular knit textile manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic, and the second produces steam to support our El Salvador textile and sock manufacturing site. The El Salvador system, which began operations in July 2015, meets the vast majority of the site’s process thermal needs. Combined, these two manufacturing locations produce well over half of HanesBrands products.

Both biomass-fired steam boilers consume a mixture of solid biomass fuel comprised of woodchips, king grass, sugarcane bagasse, coconut shells, coffee bean husks and other scrap wood and agricultural residuals. Our Dominican Republic site developed an on-site biomass plantation that can support a significant portion of the fuel requirements.

Biomass has served us well over the years by saving millions and millions of dollars and by reducing the price volatility nsk of energy costs when compared to conventional petroleum-based fuels, all the while mitigating the environmental impacts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

All told, our biomass operations save about 70,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to taking 14,830 cars off the road or planting 1,138,060 trees. We continue to work with our facilities teams to ensure we’re properly maintaining these plants and getting the most out of this source of renewable energy.

All told, our biomass operations save about 70,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to taking 14,830 cars off the road or planting 1,138,060 trees.

With an ambitious goal to manufacture using 100% renewable electricity by 2030, we have also made great strides in recent years in our use of solar power. In 2021, we began work to significantly enhance our use of solar power in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Thailand. These projects will not only drive greenhouse gas emissions down significantly, but are predicted to save $16 million over the next 10 years.

Our Surin, Thailand sewing facility brought a roof mounted direct investment solar project on-line in September 2022 which powers about 50% of the site with renewable solar electricity. This system represents the company’s first, large-scale direct investment solar system.

HanesBrands has also completed the installation of company-owned solar panels at our Choloma and Villanueva parks in Honduras. The roof-mounted panels provide 50% renewable energy to power the manufacturing of bras, sportswear, T-shirts, screen-printed and embroidered clothing.

Since November 2022, the Dos Rios plant has been operating almost entirely on renewable solar energy supplied through a Solar Power Purchase Agreement (SPPA) with a local solar park. This SPPA represents the largest solar electric agreement to date for HanesBrands and will supply nearly 100% of the electrical needs for the facility for the next ten years. Dos Rios is our largest t-shirt fabric plant.

We continue to make great progress in the advancement of renewables and are committed to getting to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

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