Sears Sharper Image Spiegel Top Forest Naughty List

Forest Ethics and its Catalog Cutdown campaign have released its annual Naughty and Nice list which grades catalog senders on environmental paper practices.

Chicago-based Sears Holdings Corporation, with catalog offerings including Sears, Lands’ End and the recently acquired K-Mart, ranks among the top catalog producers in North America. Forest Ethics says that the catalogs are made up of trees cut from endangered forests and have “little to no recycled content.”

The group has had a number of successful campaigns against catalog companies. Limited Brands (parent company of Victoria’s Secret, Express, Bath & Body Works, and The Limited), for example, signed a new forest policy following a long Forest Ethics’ campaign.

In its Naughty and Nice list, 21 companies were evaluated according to four criteria: whether or not endangered forests are cut to produce the company’s catalogs; whether the company uses Forest Stewardship Council Certified paper; the amount of post-consumer recycled content in the company’s catalogs; and the extent of the company’s efforts to reduce overall paper consumption.

Patagonia, Williams-Sonoma, Victoria’s Secret (see link above), Dell, Timberland, Crate & Barrel, REI, L.L. Bean, and J. Crew ended up on the nice list.

JC Penney, Macy’s/Bloomingdales, and PC Mall made the checking twice list.

Neiman Marcus, Talbots/J. Jill, OfficeMax, Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, School Specialty, Sharper Image, Spiegel, and Sears follow up on the naughty list.

Forest Groups Target Sears Catalogs

ForestEthics, and its network of environmental activists and consumer advocates from across North America, put the Board of Directors of Sears Holding Corporation on notice last week with in-person visits announcing the launch of a new campaign challenging Sears/Lands’ End to clean up its catalog practices.


Sears/Lands’ End introduced the first ever catalog dating back to the company’s beginnings in the 1880s. Today, it is the largest catalog company without responsible paper standards, mailing out more than 425 million catalogs a year that contain almost no recycled content, and using paper sourced from vital ecosystems and endangered forests, including Canada’s Boreal Forest.

Lands' End sends more than 270 million catalogs annually.

“Sears/Lands’ End was once an innovative American icon – the problem is when it comes to the environment, they are stuck in the past instead of leading the way into a greener 21st century,” said Ginger Cassady, Senior Paper Campaigner for ForestEthics, who has been in ongoing meetings and negotiations with the company over its environmental practices. "In an era of increasing competition and growing concern about corporate responsibility, companies must demonstrate their values and protect their brand by implementing better environmental policies.”

More information visit Catalog Cutdown - which is running a feature on the "Destructive Side of Sears"