PRODUCTION

We do not own and operate the factories that make our products. Therefore, it is important that we evaluate all partners before beginning collaboration so that the producers we work with can ensure a safe workplace with fair working conditions and a living wage. We work with various independent producers based mainly in China, but also with producers in Hungary, Turkey, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Traceability

We are working hard to increase traceability in the supply chain. It is an important part of our sustainability journey to ensure transparency, the origin of materials, responsible working conditions and minimize environmental impact throughout the entire production chain. Achieving full traceability requires information on exactly where all the components of a product come from, from the name and address of the production facility, right down to the raw material. And this for all products in our line of goods. Currently, we can trace all suppliers who finish our products, as well as the majority of their material suppliers. We can also trace some other subcontractors, such as suppliers of certain zippers and other details. But full traceability of all the details and raw materials is still lacking, and above all we lack a system to measure traceability. We hope to develop a system for this in 2025 in order to measure our progress towards our goal of reaching 80% traceability by 2030.

Human rights

All our partners must sign our code of conduct. The code of conduct is in line with international standards and contains basic requirements for respecting human rights, working conditions and environmental protection according to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. All producers are regularly audited on the basis of social and environmental criteria by an independent third party. In addition, we put special requirements on producers to offer a minimum wage equal to the living wage for the area. Living wage is a better measure of decent pay and indicates what a family in a given region needs to earn to afford a nutritious diet, clean water, decent housing, education, health care, clothing and other essential needs, plus a little extra for savings and unforeseen expenses.

    Chemicals

    All factories that manufacture our products comply with the European chemicals legislation REACH. We always inspect the factory's handling of chemicals during audits to check compliance with the requirements. Today, about half of our partner factories, and most of their textile suppliers, are OEKO-TEX® certified. The test criteria include not only substances that are prohibited or that have legally established limits, but also other substances that have been scientifically proven to have or are suspected of having adverse health effects. We continue to seek OEKO-TEX® certification for those producers who are not yet certified to drive change in the supply chain.

      Energy consumption

      We are actively working to get our suppliers to measure and report energy consumption in factories to improve the quality of data collection on which our climate calculations are based. By having reliable data, we can identify opportunities to reduce emissions and support the transition to more sustainable energy sources. Transitioning to renewable electricity is critical to reducing carbon emissions, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and helping fight climate change. That is why we have chosen to focus on this and set a target of having 100% renewable electricity in the factories of our largest suppliers by 2030.