We're committed to respecting internationally recognised human rights and the principles and guidance in the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as a basis for dialogue and action and we also support the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Our Code of Conduct, and supply chain-related policies are informed by the International Bill of Human Rights (as enacted in national laws around the world), the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. We recognise that while states have a duty to protect human rights, companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. This means acting with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others and addressing the adverse impacts of our global operations.
These documents seek to uphold the principles of good governance and social and environmental sustainability and convey such corporate ethical culture to all our stakeholders, promoting respect for fundamental Human and Labour Rights across our supply chain partners.
Supply Chain Policies
When a supplier is onboarded to our supply chain they must sign a supplier agreement, where they commit to upholding all BESTSELLER policies. All policies, including the Code of Conduct, have been designed to incorporate best practices outlined by the UN Guiding Principles (UNGP) on Business and Human Rights, the International Labour Organization, (ILO) and the The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The policies address specific human rights risks inherent in BESTSELLERs supply chain.
Find and download all policies below.
BESTSELLER’s Code of Conduct describes the ethics and behaviour that BESTSELLER promotes throughout the supply chain, and is directed at any supplier and their subcontractors and/or factories, who manufacture products for BESTSELLER A/S.
The overarching aim of the policy is to safeguard workers’ rights and provide some security when BESTSELLER move our production.
Under this policy BESTSELLER commits to consider how much of that factory's capacity we have taken up and give a corresponding notice period to make sure the supplier has sufficient notice to find customers to fill that capacity. Notice should be clearly communicated to the supplier and include a detailed timeline. In cases where the factory is not able to maintain capacity due to our offboarding, we will engage with the supplier on making sure all alternatives to employment termination are explored and that workers who are dismissed are treated fairly.
We're currently reviewing the efficacy of the policy and will make it public once this assessment has been completed.
Migrant workers (both internal and international) face heightened risk of discrimination in the global apparel supply chain. This policy articulates BESTSELLER's requirements and expectations on our suppliers with regards to protecting the human and labour rights, safety, dignity and fundamental freedoms of all migrant workers, regardless of their migratory status.
This policy articulates that the use of child labour is not acceptable, and we will not work with suppliers that use child labour in their facilities, or who do not have efficient systems in place to ensure that child labour cannot occur on the production premises.
This policy articulates BESTSELLER's belief that homeworkers are workers, who work from their home or other premises outside of the workplace.
Many households benefit from homeworking and this policy states that suppliers must declare the use of any small workshop subcontractors, temporary workers or homeworkers to BESTSELLER and these groups must be employed according to legal requirements.
Our suppliers must disclose all factories and subcontractors they will use for the manufacturing of BESTSELLER products. If a factory or subcontractor has not been approved and authorised, BESTSELLER has no certainty that conditions at the workplace comply with BESTSELLER’s Code of Conduct, therefore, production at unauthorised factories and subcontractors is a critical violation of BESTSELLER policy and prohibited.
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).
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.
