Remediation protocols & grievance mechanisms

Where a factory’s assessment reports show room for improvement, a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is created, and our local colleagues visit the factories and provide them with guidance and training to make sure the necessary improvements are made and implemented according to the CAP.

In cases where we find that factories are not meeting our minimum requirements, we have a clearly defined escalation protocol. In the rare case that a factory or supplier is not sufficiently committed to remediating critical issues we will – as a last resort – offboard the factory and possibly the supplier. It is worth noting that no factory is onboarded or activated for BESTSELLER production before all concerns rated as Critical or Major have been remediated.

In cases of labour disputes, our strategy is to handle complaints at the factory level by encouraging unions and factory management to negotiate. As per ACT guidance on industrial relations, we should not adjudicate disputes, but instead encourage, support and respect the outcome of fair and transparent grievance mechanisms.

BESTSELLER's escalation protocols apply universally across all markets in our supply chain. Alignment of escalation protocols provides more reliable data on concerns in our supply chain and will help us share these concerns with our stakeholders and develop stronger business practices internally and with our partners in the industry to address and mitigate these issues before they arise.

Through BESTSELLER's parent company, HEARTLAND, we have a whistle-blower system that is available to all colleagues and cooperation partners. All reports are received by a team consisting of a few people from HEARTLAND A/S and United Law A/S. The whistle-blower system is not managed by the Global Supply Chain department.