Spreadshirts Statement on Ethical Manufacturing

Some of you may have seen some news stories over the weekend questioning the ethical practices of some of the clothing manufacturers we use. We believe the accusations leveled at one of our suppliers to be inaccurate. We’re happy to answer any of your questions about this, and would like to reinforce again that our core values include social and environmental responsibility. You can read our official comment on this in the full post. You can also join the discussion in the forum
Recently there have been news stories regarding one of our vendors questioning their social and ethical practices in manufacturing clothing we use. One shop partner who has been leading questions on this said to me… I’m sure this has been difficult for you all, since it seems these allegations aren’t accurate. My response… You know, it is and it isn’t difficult. Socially and environmentally responsible production has always been part of Spreadshirt’s values, so we had vendors sign statements on their practices for that reason. Until now, we have not been questioned. While it is never easy to be questioned with this type of pressure, we are glad people care, and support our values!

However, what is difficult is that there have been many folks that have propagated this without giving us (or B&C) a chance to respond. I very much appreciate the chance from our community to do that. Please read the information below and give us your feedback. I know it is long, but there are lots of details to this situation, so we want you to know the full story as we understand it now. This investigation is not over, so we will provide updates.

Now, specifically, there have been news stories and posts with the questions surrounding one of our vendors, B&C/The Cotton Group. The stories about B&C are related to a specific tragedy of a factory collapse in Savar that happened in 2005. From our understanding through B&C, B&C’s factory was next to the Spectrum Garments factory that collapsed. B&C had no relation to that factory, and did not (and does not) use Spectrum as a supplier.

B&C recognized that this region had a tragedy related to their industry and in 2005 started a “Garments Rehabilitation Project” with other companies including KarstadtQuelle. The project started in early 2006 included payments to victims families, training for workers on fair practices by employees and job placement support. These were all completed as of February 2007. A period of monitoring and follow-up is happening now and a final report is due in a few months.

The Clean Clothes Campaign has an article stating that The Cotton Group has refused to participate in a specific compensation fund. It is our belief from discussions with B&C/The Cotton Group that this article is not accurate. We believe the misunderstanding is around contributions to a specific fund, versus contributions to the families. We are working to get a clarifying statement from their CEO or Board, as well as pushing them to get this article corrected on the Clean Clothes Campaign site.

In addition to the specifics regarding this tragedy, B&C is an active participant and supporter of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (http://www.bsci-eu.org/), which is a European organization dedicated to socially responsible global trade. Please see more information about their objectives here:
http://www.bsci-eu.org/content.php?page=BsciObjectives
You can also find their code of conduct and annual report here:
http://www.bsci-eu.org/content.php?page=BsciDocuments

Spreadshirt has our vendors send us a signed statement on ethical and environmental policies before we start working with them. In addition, we investigate any allegations, like this with vendors, whether they come from internal or external sources. Spreadshirt has always believed in socially responsible clothing and we work to make sure the vendors we use follow best practices in this area. Spreadshirt is often cited for higher prices… this is the key reason. We don’t search for the cheapest clothing, but for the lowest cost, ethical clothing.

Based on these questions about our suppliers, we are developing a more public listing of our suppliers, their statements on social responsibility, and a way for our community to submit questions or concerns for us to investigate. In addition, specifically, we are working with B&C on a clear statement regarding the questions raised.

At this point, it is important to state again… our core values include social and environmental responsibility. Any vendor violating best practices in this area will not be a Spreadshirt vendor. We are lucky that our industry is full of companies that actively produce responsibly. We are not tied to any vendors, if they chose to act irresponsibly. Please help us in monitoring this, by reporting any questions you have, and giving us a chance to investigate with our vendors.

One of our partners who was pushing on some of these questions said she realized this must be hard for us.

Thank you again to our community for allowing us the chance to respond to these allegations, as many venues haven’t given us the opportunity. We believe the allegations are untrue, and will support investigations of our practices and our suppliers. Please send us any additional information or questions.

Sincerely,
Jana Eggers

CEO, Spreadshirt, Inc. (North America)
EVP, Marketing, Spreadshirt AG (Global)