It’s Not Just a Zip was created as part of EMEA’s commitment to sustainability. Within YKK we look at some of the issues faced by society and what YKK and the society are doing to solve them.

An enterprise is an important member of society, and as such, it must coexist with other elements of society. Its value will be recognized by the benefits it shares with society. Tadao Yoshida, YKK’s founder, carefully considered this need for mutual prosperity as he planned his business endeavors. He determined that contributions to society could best be achieved by the continual creation of value through innovative ideas and inventions.

The resulting business expansion would bring prosperity to consumers and trading partners, thus benefiting all of society. For example, if a more efficient machine can be developed, productivity will be enhanced; or, if the material loss rate can be reduced, lower cost in the final product will be attained while making the best use of limited resources. Also, Tadao Yoshida felt strongly that the fruits of these innovative ideas must not be retained by any individual. Instead, they should be distributed widely to society, thereby circulating the benefit. In this way, one can prosper while making a contribution to the enrichment of all humankind. Tadao Yoshida called this the “Cycle of Goodness,” and he made this idea his fundamental philosophy of business. We retain this concept as the ongoing business philosophy of YKK.

“YKK seeks corporate value of higher significance.”

Seeking corporate value of higher significance, YKK will pursue innovative quality in the seven key areas of society, customers, products, technology, management, employees and fairness .

YKK Group companies seek to delight our customers, earn the high regard of society and make our employees happy and proud. We are improving the quality of our products, technology, and management in order to achieve this.

We make fairness the fundamental standard for all YKK Group business operations, and this is the basis for our management decisions.

For further information and guidelines on logo use, please contact: functional@ykkeurope.com

YKK Europe Sustainability Seminars

Sustainability has become an increasingly important topic in the fashion industry. In response to the growing demand from customers and society in general to reduce negative impact on the environment and to contribute to the well-being of workers and local communities, YKK has constantly been acting to fulfil its responsibility towards stakeholders.

It is well known that the fashion industry is among those industries that generate the greatest negative environmental and social impact. Our mission is to be part of the solution to this problem. However, since the YKK Group operates across the globe with varying activities to address sustainability issues, it is important to gather this knowledge and convey it to employees.

It is essential that we both know what items we make that meet the increasing demand for sustainable products, and also to learn our endeavours to identify areas of improvement. It is also important to achieve a smaller environmental footprint in our production processes and assure our customers that we are striving towards a more sustainable future.
In January, YEU started conducting sustainability seminars for EMEA staff in order to raise awareness of sustainability issues and prepare our team to communicate our efforts to customers.