We work collaboratively with various stakeholders to identify and mitigate human rights, environmental, and chemical risks. Here are some of our key actions and initiatives:
Mother Child Education Foundation based in Türkiye. We partner with ACEV to develop and run a women empowerment programme for key suppliers in Turkey. https://www.acev.org/en/about-us/
BESTSELLER collaborates with Action Collaboration Transformation (ACT) – an agreement between 19 major global brands and IndustriALL Global Union, to support the development of an industry that prioritises decent work, based on freedom of association, collective bargaining and living wages.
BESTSELLER is a member of the AFIRM group whose mission is to reduce the use and impact of harmful substances in the apparel and footwear supply chain. https://afirm-group.com/
BESTSELLER became a member of the AWS in 2019 and is working with suppliers in water-stressed regions to apply AWS’ standard framework for major water-users to achieve sustainable water management within a river catchment area.
The EIS is a pilot scheme for Bangladesh’s garment industry and provides compensation in-kind benefits for medical treatment and rehabilitation services, and in-cash benefits for income loss – providing a social safety net to workers in the country’s garment industry. BESTSELLER is one of several brands participating in this pilot.
Environmental consulting company, specialised in wet-processing, aims to help customers reduce the environmental footprint from textile, leather, apparel, and footwear production. BESTSELLER commissioned BluWin to do an environmental risk assessment of its supply chain in 2022 and regularly consults with the team on updates to policies and processes.
BHRRC is a non-profit organisation drawing attention to the human rights impacts of international businesses. BESTSELLER engages with BHRRC on allegations of human rights violations related to BESTSELLER.
This is an independent non-profit organisation based in Sweden that advocates for substitution of toxic chemicals to safer alternatives. BESTSELLER engages with the organisation, and for example, took part in ChemSec’s No to PFAS (Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) Movement, which advocates for reducing the use of PFAS in the apparel manufacturing industry.
This organisation represents a network of NGO’s and labour representatives focused on improving working conditions in the garment industry. BESTSELLER works with the CCC in multiple forums, such as in the International Accord, where the CCC is a witness signatory.
ERI is a sustainability engineering company and our specialist third party implementation partner for the FWD>ENV programme in Bangladesh.
Ethical Trade Denmark is a Danish multi-stakeholder platform for responsible and sustainable trade. Bringing together private and public partners from companies, business and trade organisations, the trade union movement, civil society organisations, public institutions, and foundations. BESTSELLER is a member and board member of Ethical Trade Denmark. Ethical Trade Denmark is a sister organisation to the UK based Ethical Trading Initiative.
ETI is a UK Based leading alliance of companies, trade unions and NGOs that promote respect for workers’ rights around the globe.
In 2020 BESTSELLER joined the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar and have been working with other brands in the Garment Advocacy Group to support the sustainable development of the garment sector.
FNV is the largest trade union in the Netherlands. FNV is also engaged internationally in BESTSELLER’s sourcing countries. BESTSELLER consults FNV on various labour and human rights related topics.
In 2022, BESTSELLER committed to support an Employee Insurance Scheme pilot, which has been developed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and GIZ257. The pilot scheme aims to bring security to Bangladeshi export garment industry workers by providing a system for financial support for workplace accidents resulting in deaths and permanent disabilities in the export oriented RMG sector.
The BHive is an app developed by German-based fashion transparency company GoBlu, which brings a new level of transparency to chemical inventory management processes, helping suppliers share their inventories and us monitor chemical usage in our products.
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) is an industry-wide tool developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). It is designed for the apparel and footwear industry to measure performance across seven impact areas, environmental management systems, water use, wastewater, chemical use, waste management, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
BESTSELLER is also a signatory to the SCLP, which aims to reduce duplicative social & labour audits and audit fatigue, by offering one Converged Assessment Framework (CAF) that can be accepted across multiple brands. BESTSELLER accepts verified SLCP assessments, as equal to 3rd party audits and integrates the data into our own systems. BESTSELLER supports suppliers that wish to use the SLCP tools by accepting the SLCP verified data, but we do not require suppliers to adopt SLCP if they do not wish to do so.
IndustriALL is a global union federation, founded in Copenhagen and based in Switzerland. BESTSELLER works closely with this organisation in multiple forums, such as in the International Accord, where IndustriALL is a member of the Steering Committee, and ACT, where IndustriALL is a member of the Board.
BESTSELLER is a signatory to the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry. BESTSELLER also contributes to the governance of the International Accord Steering Committee.
BESTELLER regularly engages and takes note of guidance from the ILO on industry concerns. For example, BESTSELLER supports the ILO's Employment Injury Scheme initiative in Bangladesh.
In China, BESTSELLER cooperates with the Institute of Public Affairs (IPE), a non-profit environmental research organisation based in Beijing that monitors many aspects of environmental supply chain management and records suppliers’ performance on a public database.
In 2022, BESTSELLER joined the LWG, an NGO that provides industry’s most credible assessment methodology for leather production facilities. We rely on LWG to assess the environmental performance of leather manufacturing facilities, as well as basic social and labour performance, and factories’ operating permits, traceability, restricted substances list compliance.
Clean technology company based in Bangladesh. They are a partner with BESTSELLER’s parent company, HEARTLAND, with whom we have formed a SPV, Greener Garment Initiative, which is a power company that buys, installs, and maintains solar power plants atop the roofs of suppliers, who then purchase the power.
BESTSELLER has worked with this organisation since 2019. It has three components: the SMART Factories Programme, the Forum on Supply Chain Conduct, and the Centre for Women's Advancement. When relevant, BESTSELLER nominates suppliers and factories for SMART TAG training.
The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business is an initiative to encourage responsible business activities throughout Myanmar. The Centre is a joint initiative of the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR). We consult regularly with MCRB as part of our due diligence on emerging risks in Myanmar.
BESTSELLER engages closely with MICS in relation to development of social impact programmes in Myanmar in response to salient human rights risks in the country. The organisation has been consulted in the development of worker voice tools and grievance mechanisms.
The Danish Mediation and Complaints-Handling Institution for Responsible Business Conduct – also known as NCP Denmark – is the Danish National Contact Point of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. BESTSELLER engages with and seek advice from NCP Denmark, on topics related to Responsible Business Conduct.
BESTSELLER has partnered with Phulki, an NGO that specializes in setting up childcare facilities at workplaces, to pilot childcare facilities at two suppliers. Phulki’s role is to conduct a needs assessment and make recommendations to the factories on their childcare facilities and support caretaker training and provide operational supervision support to ensure the quality of childcare facilities is sustained at factories.
In 2023, BSR’s HERproject, Gap Inc., P.A.C.E, CARE, and Better Work joined to form a new initiative called RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality to scale impact and accelerate equality for women workers in global garment, footwear, and home furnishings supply chains. RISE provides country and language-tailored women empowerment programmes on a variety of topics including health, digital tools, financial planning, respect in the workplace, and advancement and leadership.
BESTSELLER continues the Accord’s occupational health and safety program in Bangladesh through the RSC. From 1 June 2020 onwards, the Accord signatories’ obligations with respect to inspections, remediation and workplace programs at their supplier factories have been implemented through the RSC.
Ulula is a technology company that provides multi-channel mobile platforms for brands to engage with workers in their supply chains. In partnership with Ulula and MICS, BESTSELLER has developed an assessment for workers to provide feedback to their workplace on areas for improving working conditions and employer well-being.
In 2022, BESTSELLER consulted the IOM in the development of a new policy to address the increased human rights risks facing migrant workers in our supply chain.
3F is the largest trade union in Denmark. 3F is also engaged internationally in BESTSELLER’s sourcing countries. BESTSELLER consults 3F on various labour and human rights related topics.
BESTSELLER works with this global union federation for the skills and services sectors through our work on the International Accord, where the organisation is a signatory representative.
An independent labour rights monitoring organization focused on protecting the rights of workers who sew apparel and make other products sold in the United States. BESTSELLER works with the WRC in multiple forums, such as in the International Accord, where the WRC is a witness signatory, and we work with WRC in identifying and resolving cases of labour rights abuses in our supply chain.
We are responsible for managing and mitigating risks in our supply chain. We develop and enforce standards of conduct to ensure our suppliers and their factories operate in accordance with safety and international welfare standards.
We manage and maintain the Factory Standards Programme, our primary tool for holding suppliers and factories accountable to our social and labour and environmental and chemical requirements.
Learn more about our general supply chain management - how we identify and monitor human rights risk, environmental risks, our social impact initiatives and much more.
BESTSELLER works with numerous stakeholders to manage and collaborate together on managing our human rights, environmental and chemical risks in this part of BESTSELLER's supply chain.
To be transparent about our supply chain, BESTSELLER publishes its public factory list once every two months. This list includes a full account of our Tier 1 business partners, related Tier 0 partners, as well as our preferred materials suppliers (Tier 2).
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’re committed to promoting dignity, equality, and safe working conditions for all people across our value chain.
As part of that commitment to generating positive impact 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.
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.
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.
