Production Standards

Jeanswest Australia is committed to ensuring that all our factory partners uphold the same high standards of social and quality compliance that we do as a leading retailer. We utilise an internal social compliance team, external 3rd party auditors and multiple factory visits per year by our product team to achieve this. Audits are carried out on new factories being considered for the production of Jeanswest merchandise. These audits are then carried out on a regular basis, including on-site visits, with reports provided to us, including areas of improvement required. All factory partners are bound by our Supplier Code of Conduct and provide signed acknowledgements of their commitment to our minimum expectations and brand values.

We are committed to continuous improvement towards ethical and transparent best practice and we take seriously our responsibility to our customers, our employees, our workers within our supply chain and the communities in which we operate. We make clothes we are proud of and want our customers to feel proud of the clothes they buy from us.

Responsible Sourcing Code of Conduct

Increasingly customers and business are taking an interest in the ethical sourcing and manufacture of goods. And in response to this Jeanswest have formulated a Responsible Sourcing Code of Conduct. Some of the basic principles applied are:

• No tolerance policy on child labor
• A quality of treatment
• Fair disciplinary practices, and a
• No tolerance policy on bribery

For full details of the Jeanswest Responsible Sourcing Code of Conduct click here.

Living Wage

At Jeanswest we recognize our social responsibility to ensure the factories we partner with can offer fair working conditions, and we are committed to ensuring the welfare of all workers in our supply chain which includes the right to a living wage.

Currently, we work with each of our factory partners to ensure wages and benefits meet locally benchmarked industry standards, national legal requirement, or collective bargaining agreements – whichever is higher.

While no universal methodology currently exists to measure a living wage, we identify the Global Living Wage Coalition as a trusted source for global benchmarking and they define a living wage as:

“The remuneration received for a standard work week by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and her or his family. Elements of a decent standard of living include food, water, housing, education, health care, transportation, clothing, and other essential needs including provision for unexpected events.”

Regarding the Global Living Wage Coalition; of the 6 regions that the methodology has been conducted in within China, we work with factories in 2 of these regions. Between these two factory partners, our audit report states that the wage paid is on average 28% above what the Global Living Wage Coalition determine as a living wage.

The Anker methodology of determining a living wage has knowingly only been completed in a few high-risk and poverty-stricken regions within China; none that we manufacture in, and therefore this is not a methodology we feel comfortable using.

While we are confident our trusted supplier network pays a fair wage, we have been on a journey towards full transparency in the supply chain since 2011 and, having published 100% of our Tier 1 supplier listing in 2019, we recognize the next step in our important journey is to determine a benchmark for a living wage and conduct a gap analysis.

We make the following time-bound commitment to affect positive change in our supply chain and in ethical manufacturing, in a sustainable way:

  • By mid-2021 we will determine a benchmark living wage within the areas we source from, identify a gap analysis to recognize any areas that require improvement, and publish this information supported by an action plan for change should it be required.
  • By mid-2021 we will publish a reasonable timeframe by which 100% of our Tier 1 supply chain will be paid a living wage, should the gap analysis highlight that this has not already been achieved.
  • By mid-2021 we will complete an analysis of Jeanswest sourcing and ordering strategies to identify areas of improvement, as we understand that these manufacturing processes can have an impact on the pressures within factories.
  • We will continue to update our detailed published 100% Tier 1 Supplier listing annually each January, which includes number of workers and gender split.

Environmental Responsibility

Jeanswest recognises the need to lessen our impact on the environment to ensure it can be enjoyed for generations to come. We are continuously reviewing our processes, both locally and offshore, to take steps to reduce our footprint as much as possible.

The Cotton Pledge

In addition to our own set of standards, Jeanswest has signed The Cotton Pledge with the Responsible Sourcing Network, along with over 160 of the world’s biggest retailers. The Cotton Pledge is an initiative to ensure that our cotton is not sourced from Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, this market uses a system of child and adult forced labour to harvest these crops.

You can read more about The Cotton Pledge here.

ETHICAL FASHION REPORT

Jeanswest recently voluntarily participated in the Baptist World Aid Ethical Fashion Report again this year. The report covers topics such as policies, traceability & transparency, monitoring & training, workers rights and more. Jeanswest received an overall Grade B+. Click here to view the full report.

ANIMAL WELFARE

ANGORA

Concern has been raised about the treatment of Angora rabbits during the process of fibre removal. Accordingly Jeanswest does not tolerate any angora in our supply chain until such time that an ethical source is indentified.

WOOL

Jeanswest supports the wool industries of Australia and New Zealand and is a proud stockist of Australian merino wool. We are aware of the animal welfare considerations of mulesing sheep to prevent fly strike and are committed to identifying sources of merino wool that are welfare friendly.

LEATHER

Jeanswest will only use leather that is the by-product of other industries. Animals must be treated in a humane manner to ensure minimum distress and in accordance with relevant national and international animal welfare regulations.