Press release concerning report from SwedWatch

Today, the Swedish independent non-governmental organisation, SwedWatch, that writes reports on Swedish business relations with developing countries, has released a report in cooperation with the Swedish environmental protection organisation, Naturskyddsföreningen. The report examines the environmental impact related to the production of clothes imported to Sweden.

The report concludes, among other things, that several companies, e.g. Vero Moda (Bestseller) do not wish to comment on the environmental impact related to the production of their clothes.

We would like to emphasise that we have made a clear choice to be open towards the press in relation to environmental questions. We have already informed SwedWatch that the Head of Bestseller’s CSR activities was not contacted about this matter. The inquiry was sent to the Reception at our main office in Denmark, who unfortunately, by mistake and against our guidelines, did not send the request on to the person in charge. We regret this because it is our wish to be open regarding environmental issues, and because we believe that we can contribute to the discussion.

We have a trustful relationship with DanWatch, the Danish counterpart to SwedWatch, and we have invited them for a dialogue later this month as part of our involvement in DIEH (The Danish Ethical Trading Initiative).

However, in this press release, we would like to elaborate on some of the questions that SwedWatch raises in their report.

Bestseller’s Code of Conduct
Bestseller recognises that legislation and cultural characteristics vary from country to country, which results in different working conditions for our suppliers depending on their global location

In 2002, we chose to write down our Code of Conduct - an ethical set of rules that clarifies to our colleagues, suppliers, and customers, the minimum standards concerning the working conditions in Bestseller’s supply chain.

We do not own any factories ourselves but about 375 independent suppliers produce Bestseller’s products in about 900 factories around the world. Most of these are located in China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Italy.

Bestseller’s Code of Conduct is an integrated part of our daily activities and the decisions we make. It is not a perfect world, and our Code of Conduct is no guarantee, but we are constantly working hard to use our influence to contribute to the improvement of the conditions on the factories.

More than 20 Bestseller employees work exclusively with our Code of Conduct in the countries where we are producing products. In 2007, we conducted 1100 audits at the factories, many of which were unannounced. The audits were conducted by both internal and external auditors.

Chemical Restrictions
In September 2005, Bestseller set down demands on the limitation and prohibition of chemicals in all products manufactured for us and in the process of producing our products. Bestseller’s Chemical Restrictions are based on the latest scientific research and are formed according to a principle of caution. This means that our restrictions include substances that might have damaging consequences to humans or the environment, as well as those that have been proven to have a detrimental effect. To view Bestseller’s Chemical Restrictions, click here

A particular challenge for the environmental work in our chain of suppliers comes from the fact that the majority of the suppliers we cooperate with and the factories that are a part of our present audit system only conduct the customisation itself (cutting and sewing) and is not involved in e.g. the dyeing and print making process related to our products.

Since the start in 2008, we have therefore worked with extending our environmental work to include mapping and control of the environmental considerations further down the supply chain. As an important element is to ensure and control that effective wastewater decontamination is established.

Certifications
In order to clarify to our customers how our products are made, we are working on obtaining certifications for a range of our styles. This is an ongoing process parallel to our work with our Code of Conduct and Chemical Restrictions.

In the spring of 2007, Bestseller launched a line of baby products certified with the EU ‘Eco-Flower’. The flower testifies that the styles have been made with consideration for the environment and with a strictly limited use of any additives in the production process.

In November 2007, Bestseller’s jeans brand Jack & Jones launched JJ ECO - an ecological collection of Max Havelaar certified cotton. This means that farmers producing the organic cotton for the JJ ECO collections will be guaranteed a minimum price and a fair-trade bonus.

Read more on www.name-it.com and www.jackandjones.com

I 2008 our women’s brands Vero Moda and ONLY also launched organic collections certified with GOTS – Global Organic Textile Standard (read more on www.veromoda.com).

Contact:

Tina D. Larsen, Head of CSR activities: +45 25 51 33 31 / tina.d.larsen@bestseller.com 

Bo Terp, Head of Communications: + 45 25 51 48 78 /
bo.terp@bestseller.com