Within the last 24 months we have conducted 217 factory audits which provide us with the most up to date position of our supplier base across all regions.
Ethical sourcing is a complex matter, that reaches the global retail environment and requires a commitment from world organisations and factory owners themselves to achieve systemic change. At Best&Less, the movement of ethical sourcing is not new, and something we have worked towards for over six years. Our Ethical Sourcing Code (ESC) outlines our code of conduct and policies in relation to social, environmental and standards of compliance that we require from our business partners. The ESC covers thirteen points and each one represents the values of our business. Our code is translated into Chinese and Bangla and is displayed in our factories for all workers to read. Our Ethical Sourcing Code can be viewed here.
Best&Less employs responsible sourcing policies and maintains stringent supplier selection and onboarding practices. This requires all suppliers to sign and agree to abide by our ESC prior to working with us. Best&Less conducts a global auditing program carried out by an independent third party certified company – this specifically covers ethical, social and environmental factory conditions and mandates alliance to our Ethical Sourcing Code. Within the last 24 months, 217 direct suppliers were audited across ethical, social and environmental parameters by a specialist independent third party. Our aim was to audit all second-tier factories during 2020 which has been put on hold due to COVID, and has started again in 2022.
The factories we work with are additionally certified with Social Compliance Initiatives and have passed many other audits such as BSCI, Wrap, Sedex, Disney and Walmart.
In order to ensure compliance of our standards we regularly conduct in-line and final inspection in the factories. We conduct final inspection by a third party on all baby and toddler order. Our teams regularly visit and audit factories to ensure these standards are maintained, and we seek to retain long-term supplier partnerships.
B&L continually provided training and support for their suppliers and teams through COVID, with the help of the China office and via video conferencing. We supported our suppliers and their workers through COVID by honouring orders and payments and continued to place new orders.
We hold a zero-tolerance policy for the use of child labour, forced labour or prison labour in the manufacturing of our garments. We strive for full transparency and do not allow outsourcing or subcontracting unless sub-contractors are audited and approved also. We manage our purchase orders at a factory level to ensure visibility of where our products are produced and to ensure all factories are audited.
We initiated a Workers Grievance Hotline in all factories through a third-party organisation in December 2020.
All workers have access to a VOIP toll-free hotline with multiple methods of contacting the hotline in their own language, the worker remains anonymous but reports to B&L on any conditions in the factories that are not acceptable as part of our Ethical Sourcing Policy. Posters are setup in all factories and individual cards handed out so that they can easily access the hotline and anonymously report any wrongdoing ensuring worker’s rights and safety is respected at all factories. Listening to workers voices and experiences and going beyond a regular ethical audit. Allowing us to re-act to any practices in the factories that go against our Ethical Sourcing Code.
The majority of our products are produced in China, followed by Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Cambodia. Please note: We ban the use of cotton from Uzbekistan and working with factories in the province of Xinjiang as they don’t comply with our code in human rights.
View our merchandise supplier list which is updated regularly here.