Wayne Cooper

OVERALL
Owned	AUS
Rating

Fashion designer

Acquired by Myer in 2012.

Company Ownership


Wayne Cooper Pty Ltd	AUS	website	email
Myer Holdings Ltd owns 100% of Wayne Cooper Pty Ltd	AUS	website	email
Department stores Founded in Bendigo, Vic in 1900 and merged with Coles in 1985. Acquired by a consortium of US private equity firms in 2006, who floated the company on the Australian Stock Exchange in Oct 2009. They operate 67 stores around Australia. Acquired designer labels Sass & Bide in 2011, Howard Showers and Charlie Brown in 2014 and Marcs and David Lawrence in 2017.
Premier Investments Ltd owns 26% of Myer Holdings Ltd	AUS	website	email
Investment firm Chaired by one of Australia's richest men, Solomon Lew. Lindsay Fox is also on the board of Directors. Acquired clothing retail group Just Group in 2008.

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Wayne Cooper Pty Ltd

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Myer Holdings Ltd

3/5 for packaging performance

This company received a packaging performance level of 3 (Advanced) in its 2022 APCO Annual Report. Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia. Each year, APCO Members are required to submit an APCO Annual Report and Action Plan, which includes an overall performance level from 1 (Getting Started) to 5 (Beyond Best Practice).
Source: APCO (2022)

Modern Slavery disclosure quality

Human Rights Law Centre's 2022 report, "Broken Promises: Two years of corporate reporting under Australia's Modern Slavery Act", examines statements submitted to the Government's Modern Slavery Register by 92 companies sourcing from four sectors with known risks of modern slavery: garments from China, rubber gloves from Malaysia, seafood from Thailand and fresh produce from Australia. Modern slavery statements are analysed to see if they comply with the mandatory reporting requirements, identify or disclose obvious modern slavery risks, and demonstrate effective actions to address risks. This company's modern slavery disclosure statement received a rating in the 61-80% range. The average score was 44% and the highest score was 89%.
Source: Human Rights Law Centre (2022)

13/100 S&P Global ESG Score

This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 13/100 in the Retailing category of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices (last updated 7 Feb 2021). 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: S&P Global (2021)

Renewable energy use

Greenpeace's Reenergise campaign ranks Australia's biggest electricity using companies on their commitments and actions regarding renewable energy use. This company has: not committed to powering their operations by 100% renewable electricity by 2030; not signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy power from a wind or solar project; not invested in on-site solar.
Source: Greenpeace (2021)

Workers rights in Bangladesh

According to Oxfam's 2019 report, "Made in Poverty - The True Cost of Fashion", this company sources from Bangladesh and Vietnam. Some of the many disturbing findings of the research in Bangladesh were that 100 per cent of workers interviewed were not paid a living wage, nine out of ten could not afford enough food for themselves and their families until their next monthly pay and seven out of 10 could not pay for medical treatment when they were sick or injured. In Vietnam, 99 per cent were not paid a living wage and seven out of 10 women interviewed felt their pay was not enough to meet their needs.
Source: Oxfam Australia (2019)

24/100 in 2022 Ethical Fashion Report

Baptist World Aid Australia's '2022 Ethical Fashion Report' assessed 120 companies on their efforts 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: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability. This company received a score of 24/100.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2022)

Poor treatment of model competition winners

In 2011 Myer ran a modelling competition aimed at "real" women who wear dress sizes of 14 and above to promote the relaunch of its plus-size range Big is Beautiful. Myer didn't cover any travel, food or accommodation costs for the model competition entrants - many who travelled interstate. Many entrants complained of poor treatment. Finalists received a Myer gift pack worth $25 in return for spruiking the store.
Source: Crikey (2011)

Supply chain sourcing

This 2013 report by The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) investigates the labour and human rights risks in supply chain sourcing. This company is identified on page 21 as a company which sources products from countries with known systemic labour and human rights concerns.
Source: ACSI (2013)

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 (2014)

Fur free

This company has formally undertaken not to use or sell real fur.
Source: Animals Australia (2017)

Corporate governance policies

Myer has several corporate governance documents publicly available on its website, including their Ethical Sourcing Policy, Animal Welfare Policy and Code of Conduct.
Source: company website (2020)

Some COVID Fashion Commitments

In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed evidence of actions that cover SOME areas of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2020)

2/4 for purchasing practices

In 2020 Oxfam evaluated several clothing brand's purchasing practices across seven categories: whether a brand provides accurate forecasts of upcoming work to factories; its price negotiation strategies; whether a factory's environmental and social compliance influences the brand's purchasing decisions; how
a brand places orders with factories; what its payment terms are; commitment to pay a living wage; and the transparency of a brand's supply chain. This company was given a score of 2 with 4 being the highest possible score.
Source: Oxfam Australia (2020)

Efforts to pay a living wage

Oxfam Australia's Company Tracker compares the big clothing brands on their efforts to pay a living wage to the women working in their factories. This company has released the names and addresses of at least 70% of their supplier factories, has taken some action towards paying a living wage in the supply chain, and has not made a commitment to ringfence wages.
Source: Oxfam Australia (2022)

Dog fur pulled from shelves

According to investigations by Humane Society International in 2011, fur vests sold by Myer were found to contain dog fur from China. The label stated that the vests are 100% rabbit fur. Importation of dog or cat fur is illegal in Australia. Myer were quick to pull the vest from its stores.
Source: Humane Society International Australia (2011)

No tax paid in 2019-20

According to data released by the Australian Tax Office in Jan 2022, this company was one of many local and foreign-based companies that paid no tax in Australia in 2019-20. Please note however that companies pay income tax on profits, not revenue (total income). While some companies use tax havens and loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax in Australia, other companies that paid no tax have perfectly legitimate reasons.
Source: ATO (2022)

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Company Details

Type	Wholly-owned subsidiary

Contact Details

Address	38 Ricketty St, Mascot, NSW, 2020, Australia
Phone	02 9304 6800
Email	shop@waynecooper.com.au
Website	www.waynecooper.com.au

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