“A key requirement in our philosophy of quality in terms of design, product, service and people is our aspiration to trade in an ethical and moral way throughout our business”
Simon Jeffreys, Chief Executive London, August 2019
We have an aspiration and a commitment to trade ethically throughout our business, and as examples of this we have the following strategies in place:
We are committed to reviewing our supply chain, from the initiation of product through to the disposal of our packaging material, in a way that enhances the environment for our suppliers, and our customers wherever possible.
All our people are tasked with dealing ethically with everyone they meet in an honest, open and collaborative fashion. Secondly like our suppliers we source products from around the world but only deal with suppliers who have a similar ethical ethos. We visit every supplier and take a great deal of time inspecting their base of operations, their work force and their manufacturing processes. We subscribe to Sedex and all suppliers that we deal with where relevant are registered with SEDEX. As well as inspecting all manufacturing sources at the outset, we regularly revisit.
We favour larger mills that are able to support proper working conditions and we ensure there is no child labour or any other unacceptable exploitation.
The majority of our products, particularly fabrics and papers are made from natural fibres and are recyclable. We recently introduced a fully upcycled cotton yarn collection, one of the first in the industry, which utilises no hydrocarbons in the manufacture. From a safety perspective, our suppliers accord with COSHH regulations and we source ethical alternatives to an extensive list of banned chemicals. This commitment extends to effluent control directives and the full life cycle of resources.
Our Head Office and Distribution and Logistics Centre are designed to be as energy efficient as possible using natural light and low energy lighting options.
We have introduced state of the art recycling equipment in accordance with Pure Planet Recycling, so that all cardboard and paper packaging is compacted and recycled, all plastic is separately recycled and all wooden pallets etc. are also separately recycled. All waste produced is turned in to a solid fuel, RDF.
All computer equipment is recycled, as are all redundant mobile phones through a charity.
View our Eco & social responsibilities on our Eco Policy page here.