Our supply chain has grown over the years and so has the priority we place on our relationships. Regardless of where we operate, we demand the same quality and standards, and expect all of our employees and partners to have safe working conditions, to be treated fairly and with respect. Our relationships enable us to ensure that employees can be paid fairly; we seek efficiencies where they make sense, but do not demand meagre savings, which might impact a factory’s ability to pay its staff well. It makes sense to us to have a rewarded, sustainable workforce, who understand our products and are committed to their work. We believe that long-term partnerships help to facilitate this.

“It makes sense to us to have a rewarded, sustainable workforce, who understand our products and are committed to their work.”

Whilst we recognise that manufacturing overseas can carry more risk in some countries, continuing to develop the skills, expertise and standards at overseas facilities is something we take very seriously. Removing our business for these communities would severely impact the economic viability of the area and would expose workers to exploitation by organisations with lower standards and fewer regulations than us. We are proud to create jobs in countries which are looking to upskill their workforce and which want to increase wages and living standards for the population.

All of our facilities are regularly reviewed to ensure they have relevant health & safety, environmental and social audits carried out by a third party meeting local standards as an absolute minimum. All of our manufacturing sites are also visited multiple times each year by our own employees. We speak to our key supply chain partners almost daily. It’s a very close partnership.

Each of our strategic supplier partners has received and adheres to our supplier handbook which covers key social, ethical, labour and health & safety topics. A clear mandate to stamp out any unauthorised subcontracting is included within our supplier handbook. We work hard to ensure these standards are maintained and to maximise transparency throughout our operation across our supply chain.