Influenced by the deliberations of the Rio environmental summit in 1992, Switcher set itself to convert the congress' global vision into a local initiative by adopting the well-known principle of sustainable development. It is clear that a company's long-term survival is ultimately in doubt if it cannot safeguard its continuity through respect for the environment and the community it operates in. In this interest, Switcher has applied the concept of sustainable development to its own situation, following the lines of Local Agenda 21.

Switcher operates, for the most part, within a network. It is of capital importance that all the partners in this network share a common vision as companies that take their societal and environmental responsibilities seriously. This is the basis for a first 'sustainability report' that Switcher is issuing on its own performance. Produced in association with Centre Info of Fribourg, the enquiry covers every aspect of Switcher's business.

Switcher believes that its societal and environmental obligations encompass work and environmental conditions in the plants of its suppliers and partners at large, wherever they are located. These obligations are met only if the consumer can buy the end product in total confidence, without any misgivings about the conditions under which a garment has been produced. At Switcher, sustainable production is the name the company applies to the normal good conduct of its affairs. It has nothing to do with defining a desirable market niche but means that every enterprise in its sphere is expected, as a condition of doing business, to measure its environmental and societal obligations and then put into practice an appropriate response.