Company Statement on Modern Slavery 2016-2017

We recognise that quality, health and safety and environmental management are an integral part of our business. These are a primary responsibility of our management team and key to good business practice when it comes to adopting appropriate quality and ethical standards.

As a retail brand house that sources and distributes, works with factories in the Far East, we’re aware that there is a potential risk of the standards we would expect to find in the UK not being met by our suppliers. As such, we are a member of SEDEX and have a dedicated Ethical & Social Compliance Team based in China and the UK. They ensure that our factories are audited by our accredited third party partners to the ETI base code and that our ethical standards are being maintained.

We will not knowingly work with any suppliers or logistic partners that are involved in any form of slavery, human trafficking or exploitation and as such we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any act of modern day slavery within our supply chain.

To reduce the risk that our suppliers are in breach of our Company ethical standards and therefore the Modern Slavery Act (2015), we complete an ethical audit of our key factories as soon as reasonably practicable when commencing business with them, which monitors and records;

• That there is no forced or involuntary prison labour being carried out
• That workers are not required to lodge deposits or their identity papers with their employer
• That workers are free to leave their employer after giving reasonable notice
• That workers are entitled to breaks and free to leave the premises during ‘off hours’
• That there is no child labour taking into consideration the local law for minimum age for working
• Factory wages and benefits paid to staff for a standard work week meet the national legal standards or industry benchmark standards (whichever is higher)
• The amount of overtime undertaken by staff which should;
  • be at a premium rate
  • should not exceed the national legal standards set
  • not be demanded on a regular basis

We welcome all staff and workers to come forward if they believe there is any suspected violation of these standards without fear of retaliation in line with our Company Whistleblowing Policy.

We undertake all reasonable and practical measures to ensure that these standards are implemented throughout the businesses of our suppliers and will assess any instances of non-compliance on a case-by-case basis putting remedial measures into place appropriately and providing guidance to those factories who do not meet our ethical standards to enable them to make improvements for the future.

Our Company looks forward to working with our suppliers and other stakeholders to bring any necessary changes into effect, reviewing their effectiveness and taking into consideration any changes or additional measures which can be introduced to further strengthen our commitment to our Ethical and Social Compliance policy. In doing so this Policy will be reviewed annually by the Board and any changes implemented thereafter.

Date: 22nd December 2016.

Andrew Gossage
Managing Director