We believe that those who work in our global supply chain should be provided with the rights and protection of international labour standards, as set out in our Code of Conduct. The Code covers a number of provisions, including no child labour, safe working conditions, a living wage, no excessive hours and protection of the environment. The Code forms part of our overall Ethical Trading strategy which also includes monitoring and auditing of the supply base.

Our approach to Ethical Trading is to work in partnership with our suppliers based on transparency, co-operation and continuous improvement. We recognise that suppliers may sometimes face complex challenges in upholding our code standards. Where this is the case, we assist them in making ongoing improvements and regularly follow up with them to ensure satisfactory progress is achieved. We firmly believe that this is in the best interests of the workforce, as it is important that their livelihoods are protected.

We have a dedicated Ethical Trading Team located in London and China who work closely with the brands and suppliers to progress the strategy and ensure this remains effective.

The brands are closely involved in the development and implementation of the Ethical Trading strategy through the Ethical Trading Working Party. The group includes senior managers from all the brands and its role is to provide an oversight of the strategy, develop policy, review the audits and support other Ethical Trading projects. The group ensures the brands share best practice.

In 2008 we held two supplier Ethical Trading conferences in China and Turkey, supported by local country experts. These enabled us to explain, in practical terms, what our policies mean and how they should be implemented. The conferences also covered relevant areas of local employment legislation and raised awareness of other key labour issues in the garment industry, including Uzbekistan cotton.

As well as our Code of Conduct on labour standards, we have adopted a number of other CSR policies which are contained within our supplier terms and conditions. These include:

• Ban on cotton from Uzbekistan owing to ongoing concerns about forced labour, including forced child labour.
• REACH policy complying with EU regulations which aims to protect human health and the environment from dangerous substances.
• Animal welfare policy which bans real fur and animal testing on cosmetic or hygiene products.

In 2009 Warehouse launched its Fairtrade range of on-trend clothing using Fairtrade cotton. The cotton is both sourced and manufactured in India. Warehouse continues to extend its collection as a commitment to Fairtrade. https://www.warehouse.co.uk/fcp/content/warehousecares/content