MODERN SLAVERY POLICY STATEMENT
1. Introduction
BM Fashions T/A Fashion UK Ltd (“Fashion UK”, “we”, “our”) is committed to ensuring that modern-day slavery and human trafficking does not happen in our business or our supply chain. We acknowledge our responsibility under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and will ensure transparency within our business and in our dealings with our suppliers.
2. About Fashion UK
With over 20 years of experience, Fashion UK are industry leaders in Licensed apparel, footwear and accessories. We pride ourselves on our innovation and creativity whilst providing an excellent service to our retail customers and licensors. Working with global brands such as Disney, Warner Bros and Pokémon, we provide award winning designs for children and adults alike.
Our main focus has always been to supply excellent design, the production of quality products and the speed to the market, whilst maintaining the highest levels of social and ethical responsibility.
Fashion UK is a company that cares as much about service to the end customer and the Licensor, as it does to the health and welfare of the employees we directly or indirectly employ.
3. Our Supply Chain
We source products from around the world to bring the latest styles and designs to market for our retail partners. We work with a global supply base and appreciate the importance of knowing our supply base to be able to identify where potential risks of Modern-Day Slavery exist.
To address concerns over labour standards, factory conditions and human rights,
our compliance team and buyers:
1. Ensure that all contracts for the supply of goods include our requirements concerning our Social & Ethical Responsibility Policy†, concerning labour standards, factory conditions and human rights.
2. Conduct regular, unannounced supplier visits and factory tours to assess compliance. We have high expectations for our suppliers in terms of providing decent, safe, and fair working conditions for their employees.
Our suppliers are required to be transparent with their factories they use for production, and each factory is registered by us and required to adhere to our Manufacturing Agreement, which includes the requirement for an independent Social & Ethical audit. Only with transparency and a strong working relationship with our suppliers can we mitigate the risk of Modern-Day Slavery.
4. Responsible Sourcing.
As a trusted wholesale supplier to retail, our customers and licensors expect our products to be ethically sourced. We look beyond our internal operations and insist upon complete transparency across our supply base. Our supply chain can be complex, but we are committed to ensuring all our suppliers adhere to the highest standards of ethics, are able to demonstrate safe working conditions, and are treating workers with dignity and respect.
Our Social & Ethical Responsibility Policy and Manufacturing Agreement sets out the minimum standards that we require from our suppliers and others within the supply chain. The policy is based on the guiding principles of the Ethical Trading Initiative base code (ETI). Trading with us is conditional on agreeing to adhere to it. To prove compliance, we accept either current, compliant SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit), BSCI (Amfori), SA8000 or Better Works audit reports from our supplier factories dependent upon which is available locally. We will not support or deal with any supplier who is non-compliant to these principles or is knowingly involved in slavery or human trafficking.
To ensure our supply base remains compliant, during the year, our activities included:
1. Due Diligence: We have continued to monitor closely the factories we are using across the world to ensure that that they are adhering to our Ethical policies, as detailed in our Social & Ethical Responsibility Policy. Over 200 factories supply BM Fashions T/A Fashion UK Ltd with products and all have agreed to our Social & Ethical Responsibility Policy.
2. Auditing: This year, we have continued to work tirelessly with our in-country Compliance experts, to carry out unannounced audits/factory visits to identify risks within our supply chain. Whilst there has been progress in auditing these factories, the pandemic has restricted the number of audits that have been carried in the past year due to the restriction on the movement of people in various countries and this continues to be a global issue.
5. Areas of focus for 2022
1. Supply Chain
As the restrictions placed globally due to the pandemic are slowly lifted, we will commit to carrying out many more unannounced audits/factory visits to identify risks within our supply chain, by using our in-country Compliance experts. All findings – good and bad are reported and reviewed to ensure every supplier remain at the highest level of Social & Ethical compliance.
2. Global Compliance Team
As the world begins to slowly unlock and our business continues to grow, we are fully aware that the size of our Compliance Team must also grow to ensure we cover any identified vulnerabilities.
6. Our Business
All UK based employees are paid above the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as applicable). Employment contracts provide all employees with the freedom to terminate their employment at any time. Where a role is eligible for overtime, overtime working is only on a voluntary basis and is paid at a premium.
Our employees are encouraged to report any concerns or breaches in relation to; discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and threats (verbal or physical) so that they can be dealt with appropriately under our policies and procedures. As well as our HR
policies, we provide an independent whistleblowing hotline for colleagues to raise concerns confidentially if they wish to do so.
During the year there have been no reports of breaches due to discrimination, harassment, intimidation or threats and no situations where it has been necessary to take any action in response to a suspected case of Modern-Day Slavery, internally or with any of our Global Suppliers.
A full copy of this statement is accessible electronically on our website.
Delinke Zajzon
Head of Global Sourcing, Production, Compliance
Thursday, 18th August 2022.