people

As a company with a global supply chain, we impact people globally. Our impact reaches from our suppliers, their employees, and their local community, all the way to our employees and our customers. We recognize the responsibility that comes with that impact and believe in doing business in a good way, with fairness for all those involved.

With a consolidated number of suppliers as well as few changes to the supplier base, transparency increases and brings various advantages, such as minimizing supply chain risks and ensuring that the suppliers we collaborate with are in line with our requirements signed in our contractual agreements. We always aim to have long term relationships with our suppliers and together with the production department a continuous purchasing strategy is set, which leads to a safe business relationship for both parties as well as a bigger impact in all aspects of sustainability.

"The backbone of our work around social responsibility is our local presence. we have colleagues on site in our largest production countries who continuously visit our suppliers and pay attention to their work, to ensure that the working environment for employees meets our standards," says Rebecca Watkins, Sustainability manager.

since we have responsible personnel on site in turkey, bangladesh and china, we have the opportunity to gain deeper insight into the supply chain, make visits further down the chain and take faster actions on things we discover. we collaborate with our suppliers and other members and work in line with the amfori bsci framework. within this framework, we implement amfori's code of conduct in our supply chain, improve working conditions and environmental performance in our global supply chain. through amfori bsci, our suppliers are audited regularly and systematically, which sets out our baseline and minimum requirements in the supply chain. these audits are based on 13 principles covering areas such as child labour, forced labour, fair remuneration, decent working hours and discrimination.

Gina Tricot also join forces with the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile Industry (the Accord). The Accord provides factory inspections, monitors remediation, carries out safety training, and resolves safety complaints at all our suppliers production units in Bangladesh. Through the Accord, we are committed –together with all our suppliers in Bangladesh –to improve building, fire, and electrical safety in factories. This is done by continuous auditing, follow-up visits and remediation plans focusing on, among others, building structure and fire safety.