Social Responsibility

On a daily basis, Kinco pushes itself to deliver the highest quality product and the best value to our customers. In order to do this successfully, we rely on our employees to practice the company’s core values, and on our partners in business to lead with the same strong integrity – whether it’s deciding on where to buy raw material or where Kinco’s products are being sold. It is essential to us that every business relationship we foster is a mutually beneficial partnership in which all involved have a clear understanding of the values that Kinco represents.

We realize the importance of constant open communication to achieve this transparency. Our Purchasing Team in Portland works diligently to build and maintain strong relationships with our employees and manufacturers on the ground overseas. This collaboration helps to ensure good ethics are being followed, production is meeting deadlines, and consistency and high-quality standards are met. We have a code of conduct for our vendors which has only strengthened our valuable relationships, some of which have flourished for nearly 50 years. Similarly, our Sales Team throughout the United States is continuously connected with our headquarters in Portland to ensure the company’s standards and goals are being accurately portrayed and shared with our customers.

As a US-based second-generation family run company, Kinco has a strong commitment to treating its employees, manufacturers, and customers as our extended family and stands behind them 100%. 

We believe that creating dependable, long-lasting products is the most powerful lever we can pull to minimize our environmental impact. We maximize performance and durability through thoughtful, in-depth consideration of intended use, and by selecting proven materials that endure the test of time.

In addition,

• We utilize leftover leather pieces (also known as “fringes”) of our adult-sized gloves to manufacture some our kid-sized gloves, ensuring that our kids product utilize the same great materials as our adult styles and mitigates waste of even our smallest scraps.
• We offer modular, multi-purpose displays. Most of our displays use interchangeable components, ensuring that we can cut down on die-cuts, versions, and disparate pieces. Many of our display shipping cartons are upcycled as they convert into the display's base when placed on the retail floor.
• We make volume and material choices for our purchases in the most economical way to reduce excess waste and reduce transportation pollution.

We believe that a sustainable workplace and green office initiatives create a positive work culture that improves the health, happiness, and productivity of our employees. It also helps us reduce waste, increase productivity, and speeds our method of execution. All of these activities have meaningful impact on our customers, our community, and the world.

In addition, 

• From an employee’s first day of work with paperless onboarding and enrollment to hosting virtual meetings with digital handouts, we practice a paperless environment every day. In fact, we estimate that 90% of our work is paperless. Our communication, customer service, and project management softwares mitigate the need for printing - and long ago - we ditched large filing cabinets full of paper in favor of cloud-based digital storage and access.
• Kinco supports fully-remote and hybrid work models. We also provide employee discounts for mass transit to help cut down on transportation pollution.
• When we do need to print, we choose to work with local vendors that exclusively use plant-based and soluble inks, 100% recyclable aluminum printing plates, and recycled/FSC-certified paper.
• In break rooms and at company-provided meals, we offer plant-based, compostable, and reusable flatware, tableware, and drinkware.
• We live in the great state of Oregon that recycles just about everything. We have recycling bins at every desk and in every common space throughout our office including break rooms and near every printer.
• We offer paint, Styrofoam, scrap metal, and battery collection and recycling for our employees.
• We team with Ridwell to offer a solution for employees to recycle items that are not accepted by their at-home recycling service. This helps prevent hard-to-recycle items from entering landfills.
• We house an on-site donation bin for employees to drop-off home goods and clothing, and we deliver the goods to a nearby charitable organization for rehoming.

We believe that sustainability is only part of a broader concept of social, ethical, and safety considerations. We look for every opportunity to play a part in reducing global greenhouse emissions and this includes evaluating our warehouse facility and processes.

In addition, 

• We recycle and repurpose most of our shipping boxes instead of using new ones whenever possible.
• We use rechargeable electric handheld scanners instead of printed picking tickets to fulfill orders.
• We have invested in multiple battery-powered and rechargeable electric forklifts.
• We compact and recycle all non-reusable cardboard and plastic.
• We repurpose and recycle our product packaging.
• We use overhead motion-sensing, energy-efficient lighting throughout our entire warehouse.
• Instead of utilizing thermostats or air conditioners, we use our garage doors to bring in fresh cool air in the mornings and allow our employees to start earlier in the day during summer months to avoid excess heat in the afternoon. Similarly, we use focused radiant heaters over specific work areas and directed heaters in enclosed work areas to prevent heat loss.
• We have implemented a streamlined single point of contact waste & recycling service that has a recycle-first mantra. This drives materials away from ending up in a landfill on an ongoing basis.