OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

Most of our suppliers are located in China. The balance is manufactured in other countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Europe. The full details on our suppliers are below.

See our world map.

Forever New is committed to having a positive impact on the environment. We do this by manufacturing our products using the principles of responsible sourcing.

Forever New’s ethical sourcing values are defined in the Forever New Supplier Code of Conduct detailed below. The Forever New Supplier Code of Conduct is based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code, International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.

Forever New has been working in a partnership approach with our suppliers for as long as fourteen years. With this being said, we frequently visit our suppliers around the world to assess the working conditions, processes and monitor adherence to our Supplier Code of Conduct. Underpinned by the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, this forms the minimum expectations about the labour standards and workplace conditions of our supply chain partners.

This means that we can work collaboratively with our suppliers to understand, measure, report on, and help improve their organisation’s social and environmental performance.

Our goal is to drive continuous improvement within our supply chain and help improve the lives of the workers that create our products. Forever New employs dedicated in-house ethical compliance teams in our main manufacturing countries. Our auditors are highly experienced and qualified to conduct audits against BSCI, SA 8000, ICS, and SMETA methodologies. In addition to checks by our own auditing teams, many of our factories commission independent audits conducted by a variety of third-party auditors including Elevate, Accordia, Algi, Bureaux Veritas, Intertek, SGS, and UL.

Many of our factories are also Sedex members. Sedex is a platform that allows audits and corrective actions to be shared between multiple retailers. Sedex takes on a multi-stakeholder approach which allows for greater transparency of the factory’s objectives, the progress and reduces audit fatigue.

In partnership with an established NGO, we have implemented a confidential worker hotline in strategic factories in China to accompany existing factory-level grievance mechanisms. Findings from this program inform our supplier engagement strategy.

For those suppliers who fully embrace our Code and Values, we commit to a continuous improvement approach over time, whereby we use our commercial leverage to influence and support any necessary improvements. Whilst we will always prioritise this approach, Forever New reserves the right to terminate relationships with suppliers who do not commit to our values or demonstrate meaningful change when gaps in adherence to our Code of Conduct are discovered.

At Forever New, we value our suppliers as they are essential to our work towards increased supply chain transparency and ethical trade.

Forever New does not accept bribery or corruption in any form and expects transparency from all suppliers at all times, including during audits conducted by or on behalf of Forever New.

Forever New does not tolerate discrimination in any form, including on the basis of gender.

Forever New is committed to addressing any gender inequality in our supply chain. Our compliance program monitors gender profiles across permanent, temporary, and migrant workers. This provides a special assessment of homeworkers [if applicable].

Forever New forbids the use of child, forced, or bonded labour. View our policies here:

The legal wage requirements are assessed as part of our factory audit and monitoring programs. Forever New monitors the national minimum wage increases in the countries in which we operate and engages with our suppliers and buying teams. Beyond these minimum requirements, Forever New is committed to delivering living wages for all workers within our supply chain.

A living wage should be earned in a standard workweek (no more than 48 hours as a maximum) by an employee and be sufficient to afford a reasonable standard of living for the individual and her or his family. Elements of a reasonable standard of living include adequate nutritious food, housing, healthcare, clothing, transportation, energy, water, childcare, education, other essential needs including some discretionary money and provision for unexpected events.

A living wage should allow individuals to work and thereby lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

We understand that there is no globally agreed living wage methodology, however, we acknowledge and benchmark our wage data against the Global Living Wage Coalition (Anker) calculations. We agree to complete this benchmarking and gap analysis for the first tier of our supply chain by Q2 2022.

We will use learnings from the implementation of the Responsible Purchasing Policy and rollout of staff training, along with best-practice industry initiatives, to inform the development of our living wage strategy and discussions with suppliers. Forever New is committed to working with our suppliers to itemise wage levels in price negotiations. We will include all direct and indirect labour cost components in costing calculations. We anticipate executing this change to our costing templates by the end of Q2 2022.

We remain committed to promoting freedom of association, collective bargaining, and effective wage management systems. Forever New understands that a multi-stakeholder approach to living wages is crucial. We continue to work together with industry organisations, NGOs, peers, and initiatives working towards best practice approaches to living wages.

Forever New has worked with suppliers with an open dialogue for over 12 years. We hold direct relationships and do not use agents nor engage in price bidding.

We are committed to responsible sourcing and acknowledge that purchasing behaviour can play an important role in influencing working conditions for those making Forever New Products.

In order to build internal capacity across our design, planning, and buying teams, in Q2 2019 Forever New executed comprehensive guidance on responsible sourcing through the development of a Responsible Sourcing and Purchasing Policy, guidelines, and staff training. Ongoing, all-new design and buying teams will receive this training and must align their practices accordingly. Staff are also required to complete and pass an online e-learning module.

Implementation of this policy across all functions of the design and buying cycle at Forever New includes a commitment to participate in correct forecasting, mutually agreed lead times, capacity assessment and reservation, fair negotiations and payment terms, delivery flexibility, sampling accuracy, order placement consistency, and responsible exiting.

Senior Management is responsible for implementation and compliance with this policy, which includes regular evaluation reviews.

We are a signatory to both the 2013 and 2018 Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accords and fully support all efforts towards factory safety for workers in Bangladesh.

In 2021, Forever New signed the new International Accord for Health and Safety in the textile and garment industry. A full list of signatories and details of the International Accord for Health and Safety can be found on the International Accord website.

Forever New is proud to say that we collaborate with this multi-stakeholder coalition to raise awareness of this very serious concern and press for its elimination. As a signatory to this pledge, we are stating our firm opposition to the use of child and adult forced labour in the harvest of Uzbek cotton.

We commit to not knowingly sourcing Uzbek cotton in the manufacturing of any of our products until the Government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced child and adult labour in its cotton sector.

Until the elimination of this practice is independently verified by the International Labour Organization, we will maintain this pledge.

All suppliers are expected to comply with relevant environmental laws and regulations, including obtaining necessary permits and licenses. Environmental Management Systems, which consider water treatment, waste reduction and disposal, air pollution, carbon emissions, and the management of chemicals must be maintained. Our audits monitor the handling and storage of hazardous substances, safe disposal of waste as well as the treatment of wastewater.

Our obligation to mindful materials extends to the highest animal welfare standards. Our Animal Welfare Policy strictly prohibits the use of real animal fur in any Forever New products or trims. Forever New requires all suppliers to meet the prerequisites of our Animal Welfare Policy.

We expect the highest level of animal welfare as per best practice industry standards and require all animals be afforded the Five Freedoms, as recognised by the RSPCA:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst
• Freedom from discomfort
• Freedom from injury or disease
• Freedom to express normal behaviour
• Freedom from fear and distress

Any animal material used in Forever New products must be a by-product of the food industry. We do not use real animal fur, angora rabbit hair or exotic skins.

We are a member of the Fur Free Retailer Program, an initiative of the Fur Free Alliance. By joining this international initiative, we are reinforcing our commitment to sourcing alternatives to animal fibers. To be fur-free means not to sell or promote any products that contain real animal fur.

During these intensely challenging times arising from COVID-19, we have worked hard to reduce the impact on our supply partners by honouring our commitments and prioritising the safety of the workers in our supply chain.

The steps are as follows:

• We have committed to take completed orders and all orders in production and continue to pay in full at originally agreed prices.
• Orders which were not yet in production have been rephrased according to market demand and supplier capacity rather than cancelled.
• Where we have been able to redistribute seasonal products to other global regions where our product is sold, we have done this to honour purchase orders.
• We are working through commitments to raw materials which were purchased for rephased orders to assist with supplier liabilities.
• Re-ordering has already recommenced, taking into consideration factory capacity and reflective of customer demand.

The health and safety of workers remain paramount and we continue to work with our suppliers to ensure safety measures are in place across all factories including the provision of training material relating to PPE, social distancing, and hygiene. This will be ongoing as more factories resume production.