We will achieve 100% remediation and safety training under the Bangladesh Accord.

We will have evaluated and redesigned our Productivity & Social Dialogue programme based on learnings from Myanmar and Bangladesh and further implemented improvements for management and workers in partnership with our key suppliers across key sourcing countries.

We will publish a list of our key material suppliers.

We will analyse and strengthen our Leadership Pipeline and initiate implementation of training for all manager roles.

We will complete the global rollout of our diversity and inclusiveness policy and the accompanying awareness programme.

We will complete the global rollout of our online engagement surveys and define common metrics to benchmark engagement across our markets.

We will train 4,000 people through our internal Academy to further develop and enhance their skills.

Workers and management in all factories in our Productivity & Social Dialogue programme will engage in social dialogue driving productivity improvements and greater shared social value.

We will support 100,000 women in tier 1 factories to achieve workplace empowerment and improved life skills.

We will have improved work and life skills for female workers in key sourcing communities through industry collaboration, partnering with HERprojectTM, and in accordance with the UNGC’s women’s empowerment principles.

We will support all tier 1 factories in implementing digital payment of wages.

Through industry collaboration, we will implement mechanisms to promote fair living wages.

All suppliers will have invested in fire, electrical and building safety and show continuous improvement.

At BESTSELLER, we have a responsibility to make a positive impact on the lives of the people who design, manufacture, transport and sell our products. As well as to the extended communities where we operate.

That is why the third point of our North Star commits us to work towards becoming fair for all.

Fair For All sets our direction and builds upon the learnings of decades of social sustainability work in BESTSELLER. It commits us to promote dignity, equality and safe working conditions for all people across our value chain.

Our Human Rights Policy and our Fair For All initiatives are aligned with our commitment to international standards.

These include the UN Guiding Principles, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the International Labour Organisation’s core conventions.

As is our Code of Conduct, which outlines the ethics and behaviour we expect from the suppliers and subcontractors we partner with. We also publish an annual statement on Modern Slavery.

Our supply chain is where we have the largest human rights risks, and the biggest opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s wellbeing. Learn more in detail about how we safeguard human rights, product safety and promote responsible environmental stewardship among our supply chain partners.

Our supply chain is divided into multiple tiers. Tier 0 are suppliers who we place orders with. Tier 1 refers to the production unit where the products are assembled and finished. Tiers 2-4 are indirect suppliers who we have a limited influence on.

Our primary tool for holding suppliers and factories accountable to our social and labour, environmental and chemical requirements – aligned with the OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector – is our Factory Standards Programme.

RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS ACROSS OUR VALUE CHAINS

BESTSELLER is committed to respect and promote human rights across its multiple value chains. This commitment is one of the core pillars of our sustainability strategy.

BESTSELLER commits to respect all human rights as defined in the International Bill of Human Rights and ILO’s core conventions. We commit to the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises as the authoritative frameworks for our efforts to respect and promote human rights.

In practical terms, our pledge to respect and promote human rights covers all dealings by our more than 17.000 people working for BESTSELLER in more than 100 countries as well as those of our business partners around the world. Where our influence on business partners and other stake-holders are limited, we seek to increase our leverage by engaging in initiatives that aim to develop and implement joint sustainable solutions.


While we consider human rights as being equal and non-discriminatory, universal and inalienable as well as indivisible and interdependent, we pay special attention to specific human rights issues where the risk for adverse impact is highest. This counts for BESTSELLERs own operations as well as for those of our business partners. To this end we work with partners, peers, experts, rights holders, their representatives and other relevant parties to continuously assess and address actual and potential human rights impacts in our value chain.

We are confident that this approach delivers the best results in terms of respecting and promoting human rights, we need to be vigilant and flexible in our approach when met by unforeseeable events such as global diseases or political turmoil in and between nations.

Unavoidably, operating extensive and complex value chains will lead to situations where people’s rights are either violated or are perceived to be violated. In such instances BESTSELLER commits to enter into dialogue with rights holders or their representatives to provide remedy commensurable with BESTSELLER’s responsibility.

Download our Human Rights Policy here.

We’ve introduced a Social and Labour Supplier Rating that measures our suppliers’ human rights performance. This rating incentivises suppliers to improve their social and labour performance across the indicators and help brands make informed purchasing practises. The rating will be key to meeting our goal of 75 percent of all product orders made with suppliers that are highly rated in our sustainability evaluation by 2025. Learn more here. 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. For example, we are a signatory to the United Nations International Accord and a member of ACT (Action Collaboration Transformation) – an agreement between 21 major global brands and IndustriALL Global Union, who represent the workers in the textile industry. We engage in industry initiatives, such as ACT and the International Accord, and we also enrol suppliers in a range of workplace programmes, such as BSR’s HERprojects, ACEV, LABs, and Quizrr. Find the stakeholder overview here. After achieving our Fashion FWD Goal of empowering 100,000 women in our supply chain, we have expanded the target in a commitment to support women to better understand their rights and advocate for their own concerns. By 2025, all women employed with our strategic suppliers are provided with and have access to the resources to make their own informed decisions about health and professional development. In general, a strong social dialogue is a key mechanism for empowering workers to address a wider range of human and labour rights risk, such as discrimination, occupational health and safety, sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Learn more here. It’s vital to have an inclusive environment with a diverse workforce to bring fashion forward. To succeed with our mission, we strive to link our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives to our business strategy. Our work in this area is defined and guided by our Diversity & Inclusion Policy and our Code of Ethics. Learn more and download our policies here.
The jury recognises our commitment in Direct-to-farm, a multi-stakeholder initiative that ensures responsible farming and trade of one of the fashion industry's essential raw materials; organic cotton
The International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry in Pakistan and Bangladesh has been renewed for six more years – the longest term yet.
Securing health and safety through multistakeholder collaboration.
The world’s four largest women’s empowerment programmes in the fashion industry have joined together to launch RISE, an initiative working to make it easier and more efficient to drive lasting impact on gender equality.
BESTSELLER joins leading fashion brands in affirming its commitment to the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry in Pakistan.
In the past ten months, a window of wider possibilities has opened for more than a thousand women working in BESTSELLER's supply chain in Turkey. The women joined the first women empowerment programme initiated by BESTSELLER at four long-standing Turkish suppliers.
In almost 100 pages, we unfold our latest steps in the right direction.
BESTSELLER has signed a new agreement to develop a women empowerment programme for our suppliers in Turkey, building on the success of reaching the Fashion FWD target of empowering 100,000 women four years ahead of schedule.
Climate Impact Preparing for a circular future