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Esprit

OVERALL

Owned
HKG
Rating
Praises, some criticism

Clothing and retail

Established in San Francisco in the 1970s, now based in Hong Kong and Germany.

Esprit Holdings Ltd   HKG     website      facebook   twitter

> About the Ratings

Company Assessment

PRAISE CRITICISM INFORMATION
Esprit Holdings Ltd
Business Ethics 57/100 in Fashion Transparency Index
The 2022 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 human rights and environmental policies, practices and impacts. Brands owned by this company scored 57%, signifying that it is publishing detailed supplier lists and the vast majority of policies, procedures and future goals. The average score was 24% and the highest score was 78%.
Source: Fashion Revolution (2022)
Social Bangladesh Safety Accord signatory
This company has signed the 'Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh', a program endorsed by Bangladeshi and international unions and labor rights organizations. The ground-breaking program includes independent safety inspections with public reports, mandatory factory building renovations, the obligation by brands and retailers to underwrite the cost of repairs, and a vital role for workers and their unions – all in a legally-binding, enforceable agreement.
Source: Bangladesh Accord (2019)
Social 39.8% in Sustainable Cotton Ranking
The 2020 Sustainable Cotton Ranking, published by WWF, Solidaridad and the Pesticide Action Network UK analysed the 77 largest cotton users among international apparel brands and retailers, reviewing their policies, actual uptake of more sustainable cotton and transparency in their supply chains. According to the report, this company is "well on the way" with a score of 39.8%. The average score was 18.2% and the highest score was 79.2%.
Source: Sustainable Cotton Ranking (2020)
Business Ethics Transparency Pledge
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 fully aligned with the Transparency Pledge, thereby committing to regularly publish on its website a list naming all sites that manufacture its products.
Source: Transparency Pledge (2019)
Social Forced labour in China
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 international brands, including brands owned by this company.
Source: ITUC (2020)
Social Workers rights in Bangladesh
The average worker in the Bangladeshi garment industry is getting paid only one third of what is considered to be a living wage. Low wages and long working hours have been found to play a key role in parents' decisions to take their children out of school and let them work in various jobs. This company was identified in SOMO's 2017 report 'Branded Childhood' as contributing to this situation.
Source: Stop Child Labour (2017)
Environment Detox greenwasher
Greenpeace launched its "Detox My Fashion" campaign in 2011 to expose the direct links between global clothing brands, their suppliers and toxic water pollution around the world. As a result, many companies, including this one, committed to Greenpeace's Detox Program. The 2016 Detox Catwalk report focused on implementation, assessing the steps taken by fashion brands to fulfil their commitments using three criteria: Detox 2020 plan, PFC elimination and Transparency. This company "originally made a Detox commitment but is currently heading in the wrong direction, failing to take individual responsibility for its supply chain's hazardous chemical pollution."
Source: Greenpeace (2016)
Social Sweatshops in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines
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: ITGLWF (2011)
Environment Zero discharge of hazardous chemicals
In 2011, a group of major apparel and footwear brands and retailers, including this company, made a shared commitment to help lead the industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. It includes specific commitments and timelines to realize this shared goal.
Source: ZDHC (2019)
Social Sandblasting
This company has publicly banned sandblasting. Sandblasting is a dangerous and deadly process which involves workers firing sand at jeans under high pressure. It has been known to kill workers within months as the inhalation of large amounts of silica dust generated during sandblasting causes silicosis, a potentially lethal pulmonary disease.
Source: Clean Clothes Campaign (2012)
Animals Fur free
This company has announced that they don't sell animal fur or are phasing in a fur-free policy.
Source: Humane Society (2019)
Animals Angora ban
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: PETA (2018)
Animals Use of RWS-certified wool
This company has committed to making products with RWS-certified wool. The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) is a voluntary global standard which ensures that sheep are treated with respect to their five freedoms and also ensures best practices in the management and protection of the land. However PETA claim the RWS is a kind of greenwash. (http://bit.ly/2oH56o6)
Source: Responsible Wool Standard (2018)
Business Ethics Better Cotton Initiative member
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: Better Cotton Initiative (2022)
Business Ethics ACT participant
This company is a participant in the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) initiative, an initiative between international brands and retailers, manufacturers, and trade unions to address the issue of living wages in the textile and garment supply chain.
Source: IndustriALL (2021)
Business Ethics Leather Working Group member
This company is a member of the Leather Working Group, a multi-stakeholder group who's objective is to develop and maintain a protocol that assesses the compliance and environmental performance of tanners and promotes sustainable and appropriate environmental business practices within the leather industry.
Source: Leather Working Group (2022)
Business Ethics Sustainable Apparel Coalition member
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: Sustainable Apparel Coalition (2020)
Business Ethics Textile Exchange member
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: Textile Exchange (2019)
Business Ethics Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action signatory
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: UNFCCC (2020)
Business Ethics CanopyStyle member
This company is a member of the CanopyStyle initiative, which came about when research found that millions of trees are used every year to produce dissolving pulp, a key ingredient for fabrics such as rayon/viscose. The campaign seeks to phase out the use of endangered forest fibre in fabric.
Source: Canopy (2018)
Environment Supply chain practices in China
This company received a score of 46.2/100 (retrieved 10-Oct-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: IPE (2020)
Social BHRRC company profile
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre digital platform presents news and allegations relating to the human rights impact of over 20,000 companies. Their enhanced Company Dashboards also include financial information, key data points based on corporate policies, and scores from prominent civil society benchmarks. Follow the link and use the search function to view this company's dashboard.
Source: BHRRC (2022)

> About the Icons

Company Details

Type Public company
Revenue 1.5 billion EUR (2019)
Employees 8,600
Subsidiaries Esprit Retail Pty Ltd 

Clothing and retail

Contact Details

Address Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong (China)
Website www.esprit.com

Products / Brands

Esprit Australia
Esprit Womens Fashion
Esprit Menswear (casual)
Esprit Childrenswear


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