Volcom
OVERALL |
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Owned |
USA |
Rating |
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Boardsport clothing and footwear
Founded by Richard Woolcott and Tucker Hall in 1991. Designer, marketer and distributor of action sports apparel and accessories for young men and women. Acquired by Authentic Brands Group in 2019.
Company Ownership
Volcom Inc | USA | website | ||||
Authentic Brands Group LLC ![]() owns 100% of Volcom Inc |
USA | website | ||||
Brand development and licensing Purchases brands in the sports, celebrity and fashion categories and licenses the intellectual property to leading retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers worldwide. Acquired Juicy Couture in 2013, Tretorn in 2015 and Nautica and Nine West in 2018. Bought Van Heusen, Arrow and Izod from PVH, and Reebok from Adidas in 2021. Acquired Ted Baker in 2022 and Boardriders and Rockport in 2023. Private equity firms BlackRock, CVC and HPS own significant stakes. | ||||||
BlackRock Inc ![]() owns 30% of Authentic Brands Group LLC |
USA | website | ||||
Asset management World's largest asset manager, with about $7 trillion in assets under management. |
Company Assessment
PRAISE | CRITICISM | INFORMATION | ||
Volcom Inc | ||||
This company has made a sustained corporate commitment to the Fair Labor Association (FLA) by bringing their entire supply chain into the FLA program. This commitment to fulfilling the 10 FLA company obligations includes submitting to unannounced independent external monitoring (IEM) audits, and enforcing the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct in their supplier facilities.
Source: Fair Labor Association (2017)
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)
This company is a partner of I:Collect (aka I:CO), a global collection network to keep discarded clothing and shoes out of landfills. Customers deposit used textiles into recycling dropoff boxes at this company's stores, and I:CO arranges their environmentally-friendly removal, sorting and reuse.
Source: I:Collect (2014)
This company has sustainability claims on its website including the use of sustainable materials (including recycled ocean plastic), supporting community-based programs, responsible paper sourcing, and reducing carbon emissions, waste and water usage.
Source: company website (2017)
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)
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: company website (2016) |
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Authentic Brands Group LLC | ||||
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)
In 2019 US private equity giant BlackRock bought roughly a 30% stake in this company. BlackRock has several criticisms and an overall Shop Ethical rating of 'F'.
Source: Shop Ethical (2019) |
Company Details
Type | Wholly-owned subsidiary |
Revenue | 323 million USD (2010) |
Employees | 543 (2010) |
Subsidiaries | Volcom Australia Pty Ltd ![]() Boardsport apparel distributor Australian distributor of Volcom, founded 1995. |
Contact Details
Address | California, USA |
Website | www.volcom.com |