Fashion brands not doing enough
AUCKLAND: An advocate for ethical fashion retail says top brands are not doing enough to protect workers in their international supply chains, despite attempts being made.
One hundred and fourteen companies — including 18 from New Zealand — were graded by relief and development group Tearfund on their ethical fashion practices, with three of five highestrated brands from New Zealand.
Icebreaker was found to be the most improved retail brand, jumping from a Dgrade in last year’s report to an A+, based on its transparency in regard to supply chains, worker rights, policies and practices in place.
The companies were assessed at three critical stages of the supply chain — raw materials, input production and final stage production.
Outdoors clothing retailer Kathmandu and Kowtow also rated highly.
Hallenstein Glasson Holdings, the owner of Glassons and Hallenstein stores, was given a B+ grade, Macpac a B grade and The Warehouse Group a C grade.
High fashion brand Trelise Cooper was the lowest graded New Zealand retailer — given an F grade, along with K&K Fashions and children’s wear company Tonkin + Taylor, all of which did not participate in the research.
Farmers was given a D grading and Ruby Apparel a D+.
Karen Walker received a C grading and menswear retailer Barkers received a C+ grading.
Dame Trelise Cooper said her brand received an F grading due to not taking part in the research, and it was not a reflection of its practices.
‘‘Like the women who wear my clothing, I am deeply serious about social responsibility and strong, ethical standards.
‘‘The reality is Tearfund approached us to provide information, and we did our best to cooperate but in the end we could not meet arbitrary deadlines set by that organisation.’’
K&K Fashions general manager Avi Korpus said K&K was contacted late in the year leaving it insufficient time to meet the deadline.
‘‘Obviously, we are disappointed with the grade. However, it is important to note that it does not reflect our measure of social responsibility but only that we chose not to fully engage with the research this year.’’
Max’s executive director Simon West said the reason for its D+ grade was because it did not participate in the survey.
‘‘We’re doing a lot of work in this area and have made our social responsibility programme information available directly to our customers and other interested parties on our website.’’
Ruby general manager Emily MillerSharma said the disappointing D+ grade in its first year of participation had highlighted what it needed to work on.
‘‘Ruby team members, including myself, visit all of our factories both in China and New Zealand regularly.
‘‘As it stands, our auditing process does not meet the requirements set by Tearfund, so right now, our focus is to redress this.’’
Independent audits on Ruby factories in China and New Zealand were under way and they were sampling and testing the use of recycled fabrics and working with New Zealandbased fabric suppliers to ensure all materials were ethically sourced.
Other companies with low ratings that were approached for comment did not respond last night.
Overall, New Zealand companies scored an average B grade in the report released yesterday, unchanged from the ranking given last year.
‘‘New Zealand has made great progress in the last year with seven companies publishing supplier lists, up from zero companies in 2017,’’ Tearfund ethical fashion project manager Claire Hart said.
‘‘However, many are yet to do this and stay on track with progress being made by the industry on a global scale.’’
Common Good, Icebreaker, Barkers, Freeset, Kathmandu, The Warehouse Group and Hallenstein Glasson Holdings published lists of their suppliers.
No company was found to be paying a living wage all the way down the supply chain, and just two companies were paying a living wage to workers in the final stage and input production facilities.
Kowtow, Icebreaker, Freeset and Common Good scored A gradings for their policies centred around worker empowerment.
‘‘We’re pleased to see some New Zealand companies becoming more aware of worker empowerment and intentionally considering how much their workers are being paid,’’ Ms Hart said.
‘‘It’s a step in the right direction, but from this year’s results, it is evident we still have a long way to go before we will see a major shift in the industry.’’ — NZME