Responsible for people

All factories producing Esprit garments must comply with our Supplier Code of Conduct which is part of our basic supplier agreement that all of our suppliers must sign when they begin working with Esprit.

We have developed detailed guidelines to help our suppliers implement the Esprit Supplier code of Conduct. These guidelines describe the internal processes to be set up by our suppliers to meet our social standards. The guidelines also include remedial measures that suppliers must implement without delay in the event of failure to meet our standards. 

We take the working conditions within our supplier factories very seriously. In order to achieve industry-wide improvements, we are part of various multi-stakeholder and industry initiatives, such as Amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Better Work, ACT-Action, Collaboration and Transformation, the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, and the Dutch Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textiles. These initiatives allow us to work with other companies and stakeholders , to align our approaches and build collective momentum toward shared goals. Suppliers benefit from this form of collaboration since it allows them to work to a single set of requirements instead of many different ones. We also work with international and local unions and NGOs in order to improve the working conditions in our factories.

We continuously monitor our supply chain to understand how our suppliers work, to help them overcome challenges they face, and to ensure that they meet our requirements. Our Supplier Code of Conduct forms the basis of this monitoring, which is done by our internal teams and through partnerships with external auditing bodies. We have set the target of having 100% of our suppliers achieve a C-rating or above. While 100% is our aspirational goal and the actual number will constantly fluctuate slightly, we are proud of reaching 95%, with the remaining 5% of our suppliers still working on improvement plans, or new suppliers that have yet to undergo an approved audit to receive a score.

Esprit is member of Amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), a group of over 2000 companies that works to ensure that conditions in our suppliers’ factories are appropriate, safe, and meet legal requirements. We are also a Global Buyer Partner of Better Work.  Both Better Work and Amfori BSCI conduct independent, third-party audits on our behalf.

Esprit’s internal staff also conduct audits and follow-up visits as needed to ensure that factories make progress toward aligning with the Esprit Supplier Code of Conduct, as well as to verify the quality of the third party audits. In high-risk regions, we audit our suppliers’ factories at least once per year. The findings of each audit are used to create a time-bound corrective action plan so that the factory knows the steps they must take to address any problems found.

Apparel factories are well known for employing a largely female workforce.  Management positions, however, are still largely held by men. We strongly believe that women workers must have the same opportunities as their male co-workers to learn, thrive, and advance on the job.

In early 2018, Esprit set out to learn the exact distribution of women in our supply chain, and in particular to confirm the percentage of women in management positions.

We analyzed the gender distribution of the workforce in the factories we work with in Bangladesh and India, and we compared our findings  with data we gathered from factories in Ukraine, where women are more prominent in management than in other countries.

Our findings were not surprising: Women are underrepresented at all levels of factory management in all factories that we surveyed. However, we also discovered that there was significant variation among factories in the same areas, indicating a good deal of room for quick progress.  We are optimistic that improvements are possible within a reasonably short period of time, so we have set the goal of helping our suppliers achieve a percentage of female line supervisors that aligns with their overall percentage of female workers. Read more in the case study.

Freedom of association is a fundamental right and the basis for employees to participate in shaping their working conditions. While most companies include respect for workers’ freedom of association as a key part of their codes of conduct, brands often lack the tools to uphold this commitment in a meaningful way.

In order to support this important work, Esprit signed a Global Framework Agreement with IndustriALL Global Union. Under this agreement, IndustriALL and its affiliates in apparel producing countries will work with Esprit to support workers’ freedom of association in countries where such rights are all too often ignored. Currently, Esprit is one of five global apparel brands to have signed such an agreement. Information about Esprit’s agreement.

Esprit feels strongly that the workers making our products should be able to live on the money they earn. Low wages have been a problem in the apparel industry for many years.

Low wages are a long standing problem in the apparel industry for several reasons. The industry is highly fragmented, with multiple competing brands often sharing factories. This makes it difficult to bring about systemic change without cooperation among competitors in the industry, as well as with governments, labor unions, workers, and factory owners. Production is scattered across the globe, which makes calculating a living wage in myriad locations a complex task. Reaching a consensus on the understanding of fair wages presents one of the industry’s biggest challenges.

To overcome this challenge, Esprit joined with 18 other brands in signing a memorandum of understanding with IndustriALL Global Union to form an initiative known as ACT-Action, Collaboration and Transformation. ACT seeks to address the problem of low wages in the apparel industry by promoting industry-wide, nation-wide collective bargaining agreements in key apparel exporting countries. Through their union representatives, workers can negotiate higher wages within agreements that address a range of concerns about working conditions while preserving the competitiveness of their industry.

ACT members commit to supporting productivity improvements, and to reviewing our own internal buying practices and their potential impact on workers. As an initial step, in June 2017 Esprit’s buying team took part in a pilot self-assessment study which was the start of a larger process of reviewing our buying practices to identify what Esprit needs to change to support a living wage for factory workers.

This helped us identify significant opportunities to improve our company purchasing practices. We began by reformulating our training materials to focus order placement procedures, vendor selection, price calculation, and conditions of payment. An initial training was conducted in June 2017 for all sourcing and buying employees, with a refresher course offered during the summer of 2018.

Esprit compiles wage data for the areas where our products are made, in addition to knowing the local minimum wage. The goal is to understand how much workers actually earn and take home, as to understand the basic  cost of living in the their communities. Part of this data comes from the Fair Remuneration Scan that is part of BSCI audits.We are taking a special look at countries where a wage ladder is built into minimum wage regulation to find ways to move workers up the wage ladder as their skills and productivity improve.  

One way we can support our suppliers to achieve our standards, and support the industry to achieve better social performance, is to help streamline the auditing process. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) launched the Social and Labor Convergence Project (SLCP) to combine the different audit protocols that are in place in the industry and to align the them into one set of requirements. The Social and Labor Convergence Projects is currently in the final stages of developing what will become the Higg Facility Social and Labor Module. Esprit has piloted the SLCP tool in factories in Turkey and Bangladesh, and over the second half of 2018 will conduct final testing in China. When the tool is incorporated into the Higg Index in January 2019, Esprit will begin asking suppliers to use it.  Using the Higg Social and Labor Module will empower our suppliers take ownership of their social performance to be responsible business partners, with an increased understanding of what is sustainable, responsible and safe.

Esprit was one of the first companies to sign onto the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which was launched following the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in 2013.

In the last five years, we have worked within the Accord to improve building, fire and electrical safety in our factories in Bangladesh. The original Accord expired in May 2018. All participants recognized that, although the agreement has accomplished a great deal, much work remains. Esprit became a member of the negotiating team that successfully worked with the trade union signatories of the Accord to extend the agreement. Esprit is pleased to be part of the new three-year effort to finish the important safety work that the Accord set out to do.

Our YES Centers brighten the futures of young people in regions of the world where educational and economic opportunities can be hard to find.

In partnership with the YOU Foundation, a UN-endorsed organization in Germany, Esprit pledged a million euros to open five YES Centers, starting in Bangladesh in 2016. These centers not only provide education, but they offer young people hope and the opportunity to take control of their own destiny through economic participation.  

Each YES Center aligns its curriculum with local industry, local culture, and local needs, and aims to train young people in areas including English, computers, and fashion/textiles. The life skills curriculum helps to build self-esteem, educates young people about their rights, and teaches them how to handle their new world with confidence.  This is particularly valuable for the young women in the program, as they generally have fewer options, but have the potential to be a driving force for building stronger communities.

Esprit supports each center for two years before handing it over to local partners. The first YES Center in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, has provided training to over 300 young people, and has now transitioned to local ownership. YES Centers are also running in Pakistan, in Vietnam, and in a second location in Bangladesh (Dhaka). A YES Center in India will be inaugurated later this year. Every YES Center is supported by local partners to ensure that the needs of each unique community are met. 

Each month, a student interview is shared with the wider Esprit community. To strengthen this connection further, our team is currently exploring a new video conference-based skill share and mentorship program.