Human rights are something that affects all of us. As a global business, we accept social responsibility for the people at our own locations as well as within our supply chain. And in doing so, we support people around the world in overcoming social challenges.
Our Riskmanagement System
To identify and minimize human rights and environmental risks in our supply chain at an early stage, we apply risk management system based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines, and the requirements of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act. In doing so, we proceed in four steps: We analyze the risks in our supply chain, implement preventive measures wherever necessary to prevent risks from occurring, and take remedial action where damage could not be prevented. We also talk publicly about what we are doing and make the risks in our supply chain transparent through reporting.
Fulfilling our Standards: Code of Conduct and Auditing
Compliance with our Code of Conduct for the procurement of goods is a prerequisite for the start and continuation of a business relationship with our suppliers. Among other things, this code clearly prohibits child labor and forced labor and sets out requirements for wages and working hours, health and safety at the workplace, the freedom to unionize for all workers and environmental and animal protection principles. Our regulations are based on the core labor standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO). To ensure that the standards and guidelines set out in the Code of Conduct are observed in our supply chain, we conduct regular audits at our suppliers' production units to monitor compliance with our standards and identify potential risks. As part of the German Supply Chain Duty of Care Act, we have set up a reporting system through which people in our supply chain can anonymously and confidentially forward complaints and information about violations of our standards to us. We record these reports and follow them up consistently.
Our audits are an important element in our risk management system and ensure compliance with our social and environmental standards. However, it is difficult to achieve sustainable improvements in working conditions in the long term. That is why we have been working with the Fair Wear Foundation since 2022 to build a strong social programme. Our aim is to promote fair working conditions and support people in our supply chain in standing up for their rights. We proactively minimise risks and strengthen compliance structures in the factories through social dialogue training in the supply chain, which we carry out together with the Fair Wear Foundation.
In the last Brand Performance Check by the Fair Wear Foundation, we achieved ‘Leader’ status. You can find the report here.
