Amsterdam, 7 May 2012

G-Star’s Individual Action Plan to help lead our industry to zero discharge ofhazardous chemicals
Introduction
The G-Star group of companies issued on 09 March 2012 a press release announcing its commitment tozero discharge of hazardous chemicals. As part of this commitment, G-Star established a series of
unilateral obligations, including the issuance of an Individual Action Plan no later than eight weeks after
the publication of the press release. This document fulfills such commitment, and is G-Star’s individualcommitment that will outline the specific actions which G-Star will take, in order to move us towards zero
discharge of hazardous chemicals from all of our products by 2020. Our actions will further contribute to,and be guided by the “Joint Roadmap: Toward Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals”, an initiative
launched by the adidas Group, C&A, H&M, Li Ning, Nike and Puma in November 2011. G-Star is part ofthis joint effort since January 2012. The Joint Roadmap is an ambitious plan, one that sets a new standardof environmental performance for the global apparel and footwear industry relating to hazardous
chemicals.
G-Star recognizes that broad collaboration across all involved sectors of the industry, including NonGovernmental Organizations and other interested stakeholders will be essential in driving the necessary
business transformation required to enable reaching this extremely ambitious goal.
Joint Roadmap
The Joint Roadmap includes specific commitments and timelines to realize this shared goal. Thesecommitments include:•

Jointly communicating the mission of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals to all suppliers
beginning immediately;•Conducting pilot projects at major, vertically integrated and materials suppliers between 2011 and2013 to better understand the scope of use and discharge of hazardous chemicals;•Verifying that nine classes of hazardous chemicals are not currently used;•Initiating an inventory of all chemicals used in apparel manufacturing by the end of 2012;•Disclosing the results of all pilot projects and studies undertaken as part of this commitment;•Reporting regularly and publicly on our progress against this commitment (quarterly in 2012,annually from 2013 to 2020)

The Joint Roadmap is a living document: it will continue to be refined as the members gain additional
intelligence and insights through the initial pilot projects and research, as well as the collaboration withother brands and stakeholders. The group of brands commits to reviewing and updating the JointRoadmap at least annually and making the results public.
In releasing the Joint Roadmap, the members have asked SustainAbility, a well-known independent
sustainability agency, to solicit feedback from a group of key stakeholders. In addition, the members havealso accepted comments from the public. Based on the feedback, the members will consider refining theJoint Roadmap in 2012.
As members of the Joint Roadmap, we envision that this collaboration serves as a benchmark and thatmany more brands will join us in our efforts. Tackling and achieving the goal of zero discharge is acomplex challenge – one that our brand collaboration cannot solve alone. Ultimately, we want and need abroad array of participants to partner with us in this endeavor – chemical suppliers, academics, NonGovernmental Organizations, textile experts, entrepreneurs, policy makers and others. We understandthat we are setting out to change the way apparel and footwear is manufactured, globally, and are thus
casting our net wide for the best ideas and solutions.
In publishing this Joint Roadmap, adidas Group, C&A, G-Star, H&M, Nike, Li Ning and Puma call onothers from the global apparel and footwear industry to join us in this vital undertaking, which has one aim:
to safeguard the environment for future generations.
G-Star’s Individual Action Plan
In addition to the collaborative approach outlined in the Joint Roadmap, and as a complementary tool to it,
G-Star has developed an Individual Action Plan aimed at achieving zero discharge of hazardous
chemicals. As part of our commitment to transparency, G-Star will report on progress made through thecorporate responsibility section of our corporate website.
The defined actions are well in line with our existing corporate responsibility program and build on an
extensive record of experiences and achievements. Accordingly, G-Star can already report on progress on
several of these actions points. G-Star Individual Action Plan is therefore composed of the following action
points:◊G-Star started to conduct screening of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) linked to theREACH legislation as from 01 January 2009. Furthermore, as outlined in our March release of ourcommitment to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals, G-Star has already extended its Restricted
Substances List (RSL) and made this list publicly available through its website. The RSL will be
updated on a regular basis, and at least twice a year.

◊G-Star has updated and extended their environmental and social standards for all suppliers in thebeginning of 2011. We have communicated these new standards to all our suppliers and monitor
progress continuously.

◊Yearly increase in the percentage of sustainable materials (e.g. organic and recycled cotton, nettle
fibre and tencel) in our products. In 2010, G-Star has become an active partner of the Textile
Exchange, an industry-led non-profit organization committed to the responsible expansion of textile
sustainability across the global textile value chains, to accelerate the use of sustainable materials andenvironmentally friendly technologies. We are exploring expanding our active memberships in e.g.
Taskforce Content Claim Standard and Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

◊Since March 2011 G-Star has entered into a partnership with MADE-BY. This multi-stakeholder
organisation supports brands in implementing strategies to improve environmental and social
conditions in the fashion industry. MADE-BY verifies the implementation of G-Star’s Corporate
Responsibility policy and transparently monitors progress on the working conditions in the factories
that manufacture our products and the use of sustainable materials in our collections.

◊Acknowledging the ‘right to know principle’, G-Star is committed to encourage and support selectedsuppliers in publicly disclosing discharge data. However, the challenge of helping to lead our sectorand its global supply chains to improved transparency and disclosure cannot be tackled by anindividual brand alone. Therefore, as outlined in the Joint Roadmap, G-Star together with the group ofbrands will:•in 2012, convene a cross-sector group to explore the best ways to encourage sector wide supplierchemical disclosure. We will also deliver a study based on data collection from a selected group offacilities.

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in 2012 explore platform options for suppliers to disclose their chemical inventory under theassumption that disclosing their inventory will have a positive effect.

•On an ongoing basis, disclose the results of all studies undertaken as part of this initiative (withoutreference to specific facilities).

•in 2012, provide joint quarterly updates relating to project pilots/programs, and from 2013 onwards
publish annual performance updates on the Joint Roadmap. Each end of the year an update will
be open for comment and feedback from key stakeholders.

•in 2012, publish an updated Joint Roadmap, based on the experience we have gathered
throughout 2012 and on the input from all stakeholders.

•continue to update the individual brands RSL’s and associated testing protocols.

◊In cooperation with the wider group of brands, G-Star will conduct a benchmark study on whether thefirst nine (9) identified priority chemicals are in discharge to water or sludge, via on-site visits andaudits, inventories, and other analysis. G-Star has selected a number of manufacturing pilot projects
in Bangladesh where this benchmark study will be performed. The study involving pilot projects is tobe completed by 31 December 2012 at the latest.

◊As these nine priority chemicals are already restricted in our supply chain through the RSL, we willtake immediate and appropriate action to eliminate these chemicals. At the beginning of 2013 we will
be able to confirm if a complete elimination is realistic.

◊Regarding the remaining two identified priority chemicals, G-Star has communicated in February 2012
to all its suppliers the need to source APEO/NPE-free preparations. The members of the group ofbrands will initiate a project to identify a “positive list” of APEO/NPE-free detergents. We also
requested our suppliers to further communicate throughout their own supply chains and chemicalcompanies they work with the need to source APEO/NPE-free detergents. Beyond this, the “positives”
list referred to above will be developed and circulated in 2012.

◊Eliminate the major uses (scouring, degreasing and detergents) of APEOS by the end of 2013.
Depending on the availability of alternatives G-Star aims to phase out the remaining uses within thenext year.

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The use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) will be phased out of all G-Star products by 01 January 2015.

◊G-Star will continue to assist suppliers to reduce the emissions of dangerous volatile organic
compounds (VOC’s) and replace solvent-based adhesives with safe alternatives.

◊G-Star will continue to support further development to replace conventional polyurethane (PU) withwater based alternatives and thereby provide an alternative to the use of dimethyl formamide (DMF)
and ban dangerous emissions resulting from VOCs.

◊G-Star will start to use leather which is certified by the Leather Working Group as of 2014 in order to,amongst others, further limit hazardous chemicals used in production of leather and thereby promote
its sustainable processing.

◊Investigate methods to replace chlorine bleaching processes in denim production (e.g. with ozonebleaching, which does not require further chemical treatments or water consumption to achieve
desired washing effects).

◊As part of the Joint Roadmap, G-Star will identify and agree on a cross-industry screening tool forchemical hazards. This will require specialist consultant support, and a detailed briefing will take placein 2012 once a suitable partner for this work has been identified.

◊As part of the Joint Roadmap, G-Star will establish a plan to evaluate the chemical inventory byintrinsic hazard and to establish a sector-wide list of hazardous chemicals. Such work can only begin
once the generic inventory applicable to this group of brands has been identified, and a cross industry

screening tool for chemical hazards has been agreed on. The likely starting date for this latest phasewill therefore begin in early 2013.
◊Continue our programme with Solidaridad, an international non-profit network organisation with morethan 20 years of experience in creating fair and sustainable supply chains, aimed to support 6
factories with in-house textile dyeing and finishing activities by implementing environmental
improvements. This programme includes cleaner production training, environmental assessments andimplementation support.

The commitment of zero discharge represents in itself a significant challenge but offers the opportunity toeffect positive change. All of our individual actions together with our collaboration in the Joint Roadmap
should lead to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.