Fair Wear Foundation: A responsible and transparent supply chain
Our mission is to inspire adventure. We do this by building technical products that last, whilst driving industry-wide change to protect our planet, respect human rights, and increase participation in the outdoors. By acting as a responsible business, we can have a positive impact on the lives of our employees, manufacturing partners, retail partners, consumers, and the communities where our products are made and used.
We have always aimed to establish long-standing partnerships with our suppliers, based on regular communication, mutual trust and shared values. Each year we develop a plan with Fair Wear and our manufacturers targeting efforts to maximise improvements across our supply chain. Ultimately, we want to change the garment industry and the lives of those people working in it, for the better.
Fair Wear Foundation
Fair Wear is a movement for change that seeks to push the garment industry towards the new normal: a world where working conditions are fair for the people who make our clothes. Fair Wear Member Brands are committed to supporting garment workers’ rights to safe, dignified and properly paid employment, and making garment production fair for everyone.
Central to Fair Wear is the Code of Labour Practices. This code sets out internationally recognised standards that member brands and their manufacturing partners must commit to and uphold.
Fair Wear Brand Performance Checks
The Brand Performance Check, conducted annually at all Fair Wear member companies, is the most important element of Fair Wear’s unique shared responsibility approach to improving working conditions in the garment industry.
Fair Wear’s Brand Performance Check has evolved into a tool to evaluate and publicly report on the Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) efforts of Fair Wear’s member companies. The new Brand Performance Check Guide 2022 takes a more tailor-made approach. It helps brands prioritise and focus on specific topics depending on risks and required remediation in a brand’s supply chain. This approach has the benefit of rewarding specific, innovative supply chain behaviour and results.
Leader Brands
While the addition of new indicators and a refocussing on HRDD has helped to raise the bar of the performance check methodology, we’re proud to maintain ‘Leader’ status for both the Rab and Lowe Alpine brands for the second year running. This is a result of continued hard work from our teams, constant scrutiny of our processes and the standards we expect for workers in our partner factories, and commitment from the factory managers to work on improvement.
“This category is for member companies who score exceptionally well and operate on an advanced level. Leaders have made substantial progress in embedding and implementing human rights due diligence, especially strong risk assessments and remediation strategies. Leaders demonstrate responsible purchasing practices and demonstrate best practices in complex areas such as living wages and freedom of association. They also continuously review their internal processes and supply chain, regularly making improvements and adjustments. ”
You can view our 2023 Brand Performance Check Report here.
Our established relationships meant our results were already at a high standard. In fact, we’ve only ever purchased product from a factory that our CEO has physically set foot in, and that meet his exacting standards.
90% of our production volume for 2022-23 came from manufacturing sites audited at least once in the last three years, and
74% of our production comes from long-term partners who we’ve been doing business with for five years or more.
But- just because we’ve maintained our leader status, that doesn’t mean that our work is over. We have an ongoing commitment to supporting Living Wage in key production factories as well as a more focussed activity around gender and anti-harassment through a better understanding of the gender split within the factory workforce and supporting training in factories.
But what does this mean for you?
When you buy a Rab or Lowe Alpine product, you can be confident that you’re buying from a brand that’s doing the right thing. Purchasing something you can use for years to come.
You’re also supporting wider change in the garment industry. Voting with your wallet for improved labour standards and demanding human rights for workers. You’re not only investing in kit, but in the livelihoods of the people who made it.
What does the future hold?
We’ll continue working with Fair Wear and other brands to challenge, influence, and develop the working conditions at our factories. Ultimately, we want to change the garment industry. Making it fairer for those who work in it and encourage other brands to improve their business practices.
You can find all the key details on our Rab and Lowe Alpine pages and other members on the Fair Wear website.
And you can also check out our Social Report for more information on what we achieved in our 2022/3 Financial Year.