Code of Ethics

A sustainable or green business is an enterprise that has a minimal negative impact on the environment, community or society. Rohje strives to meet the triple bottom line. The triple bottom line is a business concept that posits firms should commit to measuring their social and environmental impact, in addition to their financial performance, rather than solely focusing on generating profit or the standard “bottom line.” It can be broken down into “three Ps”: people, profit, and the planet.

Carbon Neutrality

Rohje is committed to become carbon neutral in 2021. This is achieved by calculating and reducing the emissions from all stages of production and logistics. At present, the carbon footprint of one Rohje watch is around 4kg CO2e, which is equivalent to about one and a half hamburgers. Rohje compensates 100% of this carbon footprint every year through a Finnish carbon sink.

Sustainability

Every year a huge amount of usable and recyclable material is being trashed. This is where Rohje comes in to play. Reindeer leather was an excellent example of this, it is a very high quality material that has had too little use-cases in the past.

Vegetable-tanned leather

Vegetable-tanned leather is the most environmentally friendly leather in the industry. It is also the oldest and most involved tanning method, and evidence for it can be found in stone coffin ornaments dating back to the 4th millennium BC in Egypt. The word tan, referring to dyes and types of hide preservation, is from the Celtic use referencing the bark of oaks (the original source of tannin). Tannins from trees such as oak, chestnut or mimosa are popular, but hundreds of tree types and other plants are known to have been used.

The vegetable-tanning process results in leather with a distinct appearance and unmatched durability. Only 10–12% of all leather is vegetable-tanned. Due to the processes involving several weeks of treatment, vegetable-tanned leather has a much longer life than chrome-tanned leather and, most importantly, it does not produce heavy metal minerals that damage the environment, animals and people. The end product is breathable, and vegetable-tanned products such as our Rohje leather straps get more comfortable the longer you use them. We believe this is not only the sustainable way, but the right thing to do.

Reindeer leather

Reindeer are not raised for the watch straps or their leather; they are a source of people livelihood for other reasons. Reindeer leather is therefore sustainably produced, as the raw material is a by-product of reindeer herding. In addition, our traditional leather tanning method uses the minimum amount of water during the work stages.

Packaging

Our watches are packaged in mostly recyclable materials, and our goal is to end the use of all fossil-based materials such as plastics from all stages of production.

Sapphire crystal

Sapphire glass materials are popular in high quality products with a long lifespan. Sapphire glass is made synthetically and is not actually considered a glass, but a crystal. Sapphire crystal can withstand scratches very well and can only be scratched with certain materials, basically diamonds and especially hard rock types. All Rohje watches have sapphire crystal glasses. This leads to the fact that Rohje watches have a longer life and they won't be thrown away due to damaged glass. Read more about differences between watch glasses here.

Recycled materials

Our goal is to use as much recycled materials as possible in our logistics and delivery processes. In the future, we intend to create a special watch model made entirely of recycled materials, with total emissions that are even lower than at present.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Rohje wants to be involved in doing good. Here're some examples of Rohje's social responsibility:

In honour of the 200-year anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica and in celebration of science and the bravest explorers, we released a limited 200-piece watch edition called Rohje Antarctica and donated a portion of the sales to the University of Turku in Finland.

We have also participated in a campaign to donate 10% of our Black Friday week sales to MIELI ry, an association that helps and supports people in need of mental health care. MIELI is the world's oldest non-governmental organization dedicated to mental health.

Shipping and logistics

As part of our carbon neutrality goal, we calculate and are committed to minimizing the emissions impact of transportation together with our partners.

Peace building and mediation

It goes without saying that fewer wars and armed conflicts is something we would all like to see. Whole world would absolutely benefit from a more predictable world that is based on clear and common rules.

Finland is well known for its rich history of helping to resolve conflicts around the world.

The private sector has incredible power to support and influence the thinking of both the government and wider society and can exert its influence to advocate for peace and support mediation efforts. Building peace is a long-term commitment, and we at Rohje want to further the goals and take part in coalitions to create better opportunities for more effective peace-making around the world.

In practice, this can already be seen, for example, in how we have directed funds to research projects at the University of Turku and in our search for responsible partners to help build long-lasting peace and rebuild economies by sustainably sourcing components or raw materials.