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Black Hill is a brand with high quality requirements and is mainly found in the product segments bags, backpacks, caps and knitted hats. We always design our products with the user's needs in focus and high functionality is an important issue with us. Innovative solutions, good design and stylish details have been our hallmark ever since the company started in 1983. We are constantly working on product development and all our products are designed by our experienced design team in Sweden.
Sustainability and environment are incredibly important to us and we know that we have a great responsibility in our work. Therefore, our products are tested carefully to ensure that they meet our requirements for quality, durability and environmental friendliness.
Together with our producers, we manufacture products with smart solutions that should function as a convenient aid in everyday life. Our products must last for extensive use over a long period of time in order to be a sustainable choice that takes the environment and people into account.
We also help our customers with special design - from idea to finished product - and can also develop trading products in many other product segments.
RPET (REC YCLED PET PL ASTIC)
Today, we humans consume much more of the earth's resources than it can regenerate.
In order to limit this consumption, we supply bags and caps from materials produced
by recycled plastics from, among other things, PET bottles, avoiding them ending up in
the sea. You can find these products in the catalogue by looking for the RPET symbol.
You can also search for these at blackhill.eu, where new ones may also be added during
the year.
NÄRINGSLIVETS PRODUCENTANSVAR (PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY)
The producer responsibility introduced by the Swedish government (since 1994) for
packaging and newspapers means that those who produce a product have an environmental
responsibility and that the producer is obliged to take care of the product even
after the consumer's final use. We fulfill our producer responsibility.
FAIRTRADE
If you choose Fairtrade-labelled products, you create opportunities for change. You
contribute to farmers and employees being able to improve their working and living
conditions. Fairtrade is an independent certification with the stated goal of combating
poverty and strengthening people's influence and agency with the aim of creating
change and development. We are Fairtrade licensed and have Fairtrade knitted hats in
organic cotton.
LYOCELL
Lyocell is made from cellulose, which is a plant-based material from nature. The manufacturing
process is environmentally friendly, better than for example viscose, modal
and recycled cotton. We have produced a cap in Lyocell material and you can find it on
the page.
SEAQUAL INITIATIVE
Black Hill is today a licensed SEAQUAL INITIATIVE member and can offer products made
from materials partially made from recycled plastic debris fished out of the ocean.
SEAQUAL INITIATIVE works with the waste management and recycling industry to
transform marine debris into SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC, allowing leading brands and
manufacturers to create inspiring sustainable products.
Black Hill cares about the environment and its future! At Black Hill we have long experience in producing products in Asia and constantly continue with measures to improve the environment with special focus on material development. In our cooperation with our suppliers, we try to continually find and develop methods of production, processing and materials that are better for the environment.
We are far ahead with environmentally friendly materials. All of the products we develop are manufactured in accordance with the EU REACH regulations, but with GREEN LINE we special order all materials to be free from all the harmful chemicals that are listed on the SVHC list (Substances of Very High Concern) in REACH Annex XIV. As many of the chemicals on this list are still allowed in many products we choose to take them all away to help our future environment to grow better. This is GREEN LINE!
As of 2018 all our bags are produced with GREEN LINE materials and in not long time all
our bags will also be GREEN LINE certified.
We also work with recycled and organic materials, both for our caps and beanies as well as bags. We are certified GOTS supplier and Fairtrade licensed. We can offer many different products in environmentally friendly materials - just ask us!
We put a lot of time in developing our cooperation with our suppliers and strive for as good conditions as possible for the workers. We also have a close cooperation regarding environmental challenges and we regularly visit our suppliers and follow personally the development and ensure that our demands and requirements are met. We also perform third-party inspections of suppliers to make sure that good morale and working conditions are maintained.
At Black Hill, we see our social responsibility as an important part of our work. We have deliberately chosen work in regions where social responsibility is at a higher level than some other parts of the world. It is to us very important that the working conditions are good and follows the local laws, that wages are on a proper level and illegal child labor does not occur.
We are constantly working to influence the improvement of working and environmental conditions and the benefit levels of the workers in our factories and in recent years there’s been a clearly noticeable improvement of the wages and worker’s values have improved.
In our Code of Conduct we make demands on our suppliers and also see the cooperation as an important part of together helping to become better in this work. We regularly visit our suppliers and follow personal development and ensuring that our requirements and wishes respected. We also carry out third-party inspections of the suppliers.
It all starts with an idea that either comes from someone in our design team
or from one of our customers requesting a specific feature.
By compiling our different experiences of different functions, materials and
colours, we can quickly decide whether we should continue working with
a certain project. We don't just want to repeat already existing products
in new variations, but instead add some new function or feature that
motivates us to start the manufacturing process and put the product on the
market. It's about small details that can make a big difference for the user.
Each bag must have a clear purpose that makes it suitable for a wide range
of customers and that works well in everyday life for those who will use it for
work, travel, exercise, etc.
CORRECT PRODUCT PROFILING – NOT A MATTER OF PRICE
With many years of experience, we know that good, durable products
that have been manufactured according to laws and regulations are not
always a cheap story, nor should they be. Good design and good quality
must come at a cost - otherwise someone else will have to pay.
By using Black Hill products, you make a choice in what is actually a rather
narrow jungle where you can be offered what you are looking for at a
much too low price, at the expense of the quality as well as someone's
working conditions and often means it will have a negative impact on the
environment.
SMART FUNCTIONS AND HIGH QUALITY
When you order a product from Black Hill, you can feel safe
knowing that it has passed many tests before finally earning
its place in our range. We sketch, develop, make careful
drawings, reassess, sketch again and adjust before finally
reaching our goal.
From an idea, it takes a long time before we hold the
finished product in our hands. Along the way, the product
has been involved in many different tests to ensure that it
lives up to our requirements for quality, sustainability and
the environment. It involves tough physical quality tests
and advanced laboratory tests before the product is finally
released on the market.
OUR OPPORTUNITIES TO INFLUENCE
We produce products that are adapted to suit the user in the best possible way and at the same time adapted to have the least possible
negative impact on our environment. Our advice to you is to always demand that there are environmentally friendly materials,
both for higher and lower priced products. In this way, we can together influence the market and reduce emissions of hazardous
substances and at the same time improve working conditions for those who work in the manufacturing industry.
MANUFACTURERS, SUPPLIERS AND BUYERS
There is today a great awareness among our suppliers. They are very positive towards change and improvement. We share the knowledge
we have in Sweden and within the EU so that our producers, regardless of whether they are located within or outside Europe,
can easily follow our environmental requirements and make them their standard. We also work to spread the message to customers
and buyers so that we can work together for a more sustainable future.
RESPONSIBILITY AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CSR
We place high demands on all suppliers of Black Hill products. The social responsibility at the factories is important and it is of course
important to us that working conditions are good, local laws are followed, compensation is at a correct level and that e.g., no child
labour occurs. Our suppliers have approved BSCI Audits or equivalent. We are regularly on site ourselves to personally follow developments
and improvements.
WE WORK WITH ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY MATERIALS FOR A GREENER WORLD
Within the EU regulation REACH there is a list of chemicals that are considered harmful to humans and/or nature, the SVHC list (Substances
of Very High Concern). What applies to the use of these chemicals in products is governed by REACH Annex XVII. However, many of
these substances are permitted in products if they are considered safe to use.
We however go further because we are working hard for a
more environmentally friendly world. We have therefore chosen, with our special Green Line certification for bags, to take our environmental
work a step further. This means that all current substances that are stated in the SVHC list are excluded at the time of production.
All materials we use for our products are thoroughly tested in laboratory tests before they are used in production.
All production of Black Hill bag products are produced with Green Line certification!
Feel safe with Black Hill!
