WORKING AGAINST MODERN SLAVERY

Modern slavery: the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain. Unfortunately, it’s all around us but it’s often out of sight. Vulnerable people can become trapped into making clothes, serving food, picking crops, working in factories, or working in houses as cooks, cleaners or nannies.

As part of our commitment to our people, we’re working to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking from happening within our operations and our supply chains. Our latest Modern Slavery Report sets out exactly what actions we are taking to do this.

This report is a legal requirement in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act 2010. But this isn’t the only reason we publish it each year. By staying transparent, it means we know exactly who makes our products as well as where and how they’re made. It means we can find and fix issues, make sure workers are respected, and protect their rights.

It means you can be confident that you’re making an informed choice when you buy from us.

You can read the report in full here.

How we deal with allegations of modern slavery

We’ve developed a set of indicators for signs of modern slavery, to help identify people who might be at risk. They range between definite and strong and are based on the International Labor Organization (ILO) indicators of Forced Labor. Depending on how many of these indicators we find, we have different actions that we take. Then, every time we carry out a visit or commission a visit to our supply chain partners, we create a modern slavery report using these indicators.

Depending on what we find, these are the stages our supply chain partner has to go through.

Escalation

This is started if a modern slavery indicator is found, either through a third party report, our own visit, a whistleblowing call, an external partner, or an internal team raising a concern. This stage has two levels of escalation, with time frames attached to each level to prioritise any issues.

Remediation

Any modern slavery indicators need to be addressed by the factory. If they refuse, we’ll either not onboard the supplier or we’ll lock existing orders and trigger a responsible exit process. Potentially, a civil society organisation will get involved.

Responsible exit

Exiting a supplier is a big decision, with potential consequences for the workers. If it’s a zero-tolerance issue or if a supplier refuses to address the issue, we follow a timeline for exit. This gives the supplier enough notice so they can arrange alternative work. As a last step, we send them a questionnaire to record the impact.