Ralph Lauren
OVERALL |
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Owned |
USA |
Rating |
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Premium lifestyle products
American style icon and CEO Ralph Lauren controls the company. Their fragrances and body care products are manufactured under license by L'Oreal.
| Ralph Lauren Corporation | USA | website | ||||
Company Assessment
| PRAISE | CRITICISM | INFORMATION | ||
| Ralph Lauren Corporation | ||||
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In 2018 KnowTheChain benchmarked 120 large global companies in the ICT, Food & Beverage, and Apparel & Footwear sectors on their efforts to address forced labour and human trafficking in their supply chains. This company received a score of 58/100.
[Source 2018][More on Workers Rights] |
This company received a score of 4.2/100 (retrieved 25-Feb-2020) in the Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI), a system for evaluating supply chain practices in China, particularly in regards to environmental management and water pollution. Scores are calculated using government compliance data, online monitoring data, and third-party environmental audits, as well as trends in the environmental performance of factories in the company's supply chains.
[Source 2020][More on Habitats]
In 2016 Rank a Brand assessed 37 major cotton-using companies on their commitment and performance with regard to sustainable cotton by looking at each company's cotton sourcing policies, use of sustainable cotton, and traceability. This company scored 0/19.5, making it one of the worst performing companies.
[Source 2016][More on Human Rights]
The 2019 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark assessed 200 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world from the Agricultural Products, Apparel, Extractives and ICT Manufacturing sectors on 100 human rights indicators. This company's score was in the 10-20 band range. The overall average score was a disappointing 24%.
[Source 2019][More on Human Rights]
The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including brands owned by this company. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's 2020 report estimates (somewhat conservatively) that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.
[Source 2020][More on Workers Rights]
This company received a score of 6.2/100 in the Newsweek Green Ranking 2017, which ranks the world's largest publicly traded companies on eight indicators covering energy, greenhouse gases, water, waste, fines and penalties, linking executive pay to sustainability targets, board-level committee oversight of environmental issues and third-party audits. Ranking methodology by Corporate Knights and HIP Investor.
[Source 2017][More on Sustainability Reporting]
This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 17/100 in the Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods category of the 2019 SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices. The rankings are based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, environmental reporting, climate strategy, human rights and labour practices.
[Source 2019][More on Sustainability Reporting]
In 2015 the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) released a report documenting the results of decades of irresponsible fabric sourcing including land grabbing, forest destruction and human rights abuse to forest-dependent communities caused by deforestation from tree-based fabric production companies. This company was one of the "Fashion Fifteen" implicated in the report for irresponsibly sourcing tree-based fabrics such as rayon and viscose.
[Source 2015][More on Forests]
This website by German NGO Earth Link rates companies on their corporate policies against child labour, production monitoring and accusations of child labour. This company received at least one red mark, indicating poor performance in one or more of these areas.
[Source 2013][More on Human Rights]
As You Sow's 2019 report, Mining the Disclosures, is a deep analysis of 215 companies' human rights performance in relation to sourcing conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This company's score was 43.1% (Minimal).
[Source 2019][More on Human Rights]
In 2013 this company paid more than $1.6 million to settle a criminal and civil investigation of allegations that one of its subsidiaries bribed government officials in Argentina.
[Source 2013][More on Finance] |
Polo Ralph Lauren was involved in the notorious Saipan sweatshop case where 30,000 garment workers on US territory were abused over the course of ten years.
[Source 2004][More on Workers Rights]
Maid in India', a 2012 report by two Dutch NGOs (SOMO and ICN) revealed how workers in the South Indian garment and textile industry continue to suffer exploitative working conditions while making garments for Western brands. While some recent improvements have been made, thousands of girls work under recruitment and employment schemes that amount to bonded labour. This company was shown to be sourcing from one or more of the four garment manufacturers investigated, and failed to respond to a review request. [Listed under Information due to age of report]
[Source 2012][More on Workers Rights]
This 2011 report by the International Textile Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) examined working conditions in 83 factories in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Investigations found that widespread violations and abuses of workers' rights continue to be the norm, such as underpaying workers, long hours, forced overtime, and repression of the freedom of association. This company's brands were found to be made in one or more of the 83 factories covered in the research. [Listed under Information due to age of report]
[Source 2011][More on Workers rights]
The Apparel and Footwear Supply Chain Transparency Pledge (Transparency Pledge) helps demonstrate apparel and footwear companies' commitment towards greater transparency in their manufacturing supply chain. Transparency of a company's manufacturing supply chain better enables a company to collaborate with civil society in identifying, assessing, and avoiding actual or potential adverse human rights impacts. This is a critical step that strengthens a company's human rights due diligence. This company is not aligned with the Transparency Pledge and has made no commitment to publish supplier factory information.
[Source 2019][More on Sustainability Reporting]
As You Sow's 2020 report, 'The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs', reveals the 100 most overpaid CEOs from USA's 500 largest public companies (as determined by the S&P 500 list). This company's CEO, Patrice Louvet came in at number 26 on the list, having been paid US$23,792,036 in 2019. According to the report, "Most CEOs have come to be grossly overpaid, and that overpayment is harmful to the companies, the shareholders, the customers, the other employees, the economy, and society as a whole."
[Source 2020][More on Finance]
This company has announced that they don't sell animal fur or are phasing in a fur-free policy.
[Source 2019][More on Animal Rights]
This company has taken angora items off the shelves and promised not to use angora again, following a PETA campaign launched in Dec 2013 which revealed the cruelty inflicted on angora rabbits in Chinese factory farms, where 90% of the world's angora is produced.
[Source 2018][More on Animal Rights]
The Polo Ralph Lauren Foundation supports initiatives in cancer care, education and service in underserved communities. Ralph Lauren engages in a number of philanthropic initiatives, some of which are highlighted at the link below.
[Source 2016][More on Finance]
This company is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative, a voluntary program which encourages the adoption of better management practices in cotton cultivation to achieve measurable reductions in key environmental impacts, while improving social and economic benefits for cotton farmers, small and large, worldwide.
[Source 2019][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
This company is a member of the Textile Exchange, a global non-profit that works closely with its members to drive textile industry transformation in preferred fibres, integrity and standards and responsible supply networks. They identify and share best practices regarding farming, materials, processing, traceability and product end-of-life in order to reduce the textile industry's impact on the world's water, soil and air, and the human population.
[Source 2019][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
This company's subsidiary, Palph Lauren Watch & Jewelry Co, is a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC). Certification under the RJC system demonstrates that the Member's business practices conform to RJC's Code of Practices for business ethics, human rights, social and environmental performance.
[Source 2019][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
This company is a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in March 2011 by a group of global apparel and footwear companies and non-profit organizations (representing nearly one third of the global market share for apparel and footwear). The Coalition's goals are to reduce the apparel industry's environmental and social impact, and to develop a universal index to measure environmental and social performance of apparel products.
[Source 2020][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
This company is a partner of Better Work, an initiative of the UN's International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation which brings diverse groups together - governments, global brands, factory owners, and unions and workers - to improve working conditions in the garment industry and make the sector more competitive.
[Source 2020][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
This company is a signatory to the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, a United Nations initiative which contains the vision to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
[Source 2020][More on Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives]
C- grade in the Baptist World Aid Australia's 'Ethical Fashion Report 2019', which grades companies, from A to F, on the strength of their systems to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policies, transparency and traceability, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental management.
[Source 2019][More on Workers Rights]
California, the UK and Australia have all enacted legislation requiring companies operating within their borders to disclose their efforts to eradicate modern slavery from their operations and supply chains. Follow the link to see this company's disclosure statement.
[Source 2015][More on Human Rights]
Ralph Lauren issued a statement making its decision to go fur-free official in 2006 after a series of meetings with PETA during which executives viewed grisly undercover video footage of fur farms in China, where more than half the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States are sourced.
[Source 2006][More on Animal Rights]
The 2020 Fashion Transparency Index reviewed 250 of the world's largest fashion brands and retailers and ranked them according to how much they disclose about their social and environmental policies, practices and impacts. Brands owned by this company scored 27%, signifying it is doing a bit more than the others when it comes to having policies and commitments in place and auditing and reporting activities, but could be doing more. The average score was 23% and the highest score was 73%.
[Source 2020][More on Sustainability Reporting] |
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Company Details
| Company Structure | Public company |
| Revenue | US$7.4 billion in 2016 |
| # Employees | 23,000 in 2014 |
Contact Details
| Address | New York, New York, USA |
| Website | www.ralphlauren.com |
Products / Brands
Ralph Lauren|
Polo Ralph Lauren Menswear (formal) Ralph Lauren Luxury Brands |