As part of our ambition to make social impact in our supply chain we engage in industry initiatives, and we also enroll suppliers in a range of workplace programmes. These programmes target industry-specific challenges, such as women empowerment, workers' rights and workplace health and safety.
Here are a few highlighted initiatives:
We wish to have a supply chain that safeguards the welfare of those working in the factories. To achieve this, we have our Factory Standards Programme, which monitors, assesses and mitigates various risks, alongside other initiatives that raise awareness of occupational health and safety (OHS) standards and equip suppliers to address risks as well as elevate industry-wide practices.
To advance these efforts, BESTSELLER is a signatory to the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, a legally binding agreement between global brands, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI Global Union. As a signatory, BESTSELLER supports the continuation of the health and safety programme in Bangladesh through the RSC, responsible for inspections, remediation, and workplace programmes since June 2021. In January 2023, we signed the Pakistan Accord, having worked alongside other stakeholders to establish this country-specific programme.
All BESTSELLER factories in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and their employees, are covered by this agreement. Factories undergo regular inspections by engineers, who issue Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) when concerns are identified. BESTSELLER monitors factory progress and informs the Accord Secretariat upon completion. Suppliers that do not agree to Accord monitoring and training are not onboarded into our supply chain.
In Bangladesh, BESTSELLER also supports the ILO’s Pilot on the Employment Injury Scheme (EIS), which provides social protection for garment workers facing workplace death or permanent disability. The aim is for the Bangladeshi government to adopt a law by 2026, ensuring long-term financing for worker protections.
Freedom of Association (FoA) is a fundamental right that enables workers to advocate for fair treatment and safe working conditions. Without effective worker representation and social dialogue, the risk of other human and labour rights violations increases, including discrimination, unsafe working conditions, unfair wages, excessive working hours, and gender-based violence.
At BESTSELLER, we are working to uphold FoA within our supply chain. Our Code of Conduct mandates respect for workers' rights to organise, and through regular monitoring, we ensure that worker representation is in place through trade unions and Workplace Coordination Committees (WCCs). We also work to ensure that workers who choose to join unions are not subject to discrimination.
Where WCCs are underperforming or we find concerns about respect for FoA, we enrol factory management teams in educational programmes to promote best practices for effective social dialogue. For example, in Myanmar, we partner with MADE's social dialogue training. Many of our gender equity programmes also include modules on addressing workplace concerns, such as reporting issues to management and ensuring workers' voices are heard. In Türkiye, BESTSELLER supports a social dialogue and workplace productivity pilot programme designed to demonstrate the benefits of effective worker-management dialogue.
We recognise that our sourcing countries have different cultural heritage and individual understanding of various topics.. Nonetheless, we are committed to achieving equal opportunities and responsibilities at our suppliers, regardless of gender and where they are in the world.
Since 2012, BESTSELLER has been working with HERproject – an initiative run by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) that develops tailor-made workplace education programmes that increase well-being, confidence, and economic potential of low-income women working in global supply chains. As well as giving women important life skills, our suppliers enrolled in the programmes report of improved workplace communication and higher productivity, and workers report feeling more self-confident entering dialogue with management to find common solutions to everyday issues.
Historically, BESTSELLER has worked with BSR to deliver women’s empowerment programmes in Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and most recently Pakistan. However, with BSR not covering Turkey, which accounts for roughly 15 percent of our sourcing volumes, we have partnered with local NGO, ACEV – to develop and implement women's empowerment programme for our suppliers in Turkey.
Our latest salient human rights risk assessment highlighted that migrant workers—both internal and international—face heightened risks of abuse and discrimination in the global apparel supply chain. This discrimination can take many forms, such as pay disparities, excessive wage deductions, poor working conditions, and forced labour. Given the well-documented increased risk for human and labour rights abuses, we are committed to enhanced due diligence to safeguard this group.
In 2024, we partnered with local organisation Upfront to pilot a two-phase project at five factories in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, India. The first phase involved a comprehensive study to understand the challenges faced by migrant workers, while the second phase focused on designing tailored solutions to improve their inclusion and well-being in the workplace. As part of phase two of the programme, 14 multilingual help desk facilitators were trained on social protection rights, and five help desks were established—one in each factory. This resulted in 394 workers applying for social protection schemes, unlocking over 11 million INR in benefits for individuals previously unaware of their entitlements.
Through our policies, we seek to uphold the principles of good governance and social and environmental stewardship and convey such corporate culture to all our stakeholders.
We work with numerous stakeholders to collaborate on managing our human rights, environmental and chemical risks in BESTSELLER's supply chain.
Our Social & Labour Requirements are designed to address the identified salient risks among our tier 0, 1 and 2 supply chain production units. Our assessment therefore covers over 150 indicators of risk during on-site visits.
Data from each factory assessment is fed into our internal information systems, as the basis for our Social & Labour Factory Rating and our Social & Labour Supplier Rating, which is provided to other business functions, including buying teams, to help brands make informed purchasing practices.
We identify and monitor environmental risks in our supply chain and use the insights from independent specialist consultants to upgrade our factory assessment methodology, policies, and environmental risk mitigation work going forward. And we measure performance through our Supplier Environment Rating and focus on environmental impact initiatives where they can make a difference.