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Debenhams

OVERALL

Owned
UK
Rating
Criticisms

Department stores

British department store retailer founded in 1778. Collapsed into administration in 2020. In 2021 fashion retailer Boohoo bought the Debenhams brand and website for 55m GBP, resulting in all the bricks and mortar stores closing and the loss of 12,000 jobs.

Company Ownership

Debenhams plc    UK     website         
  boohoo.com plc   
   owns 100% of Debenhams plc   
UK     website   email   facebook   twitter

Online fashion retailer

Started 2006, own brand fashion for women and men in the 16-24 year old market. 24/7 fast fashion with 100 new pieces each day and a new collection every week, selling in over 100 countries. Acquired UK retailer Debenhams and Arcadia brands Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton in 2021 after both companies went into administration. Boohoo bought the brands only, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs.

> About the Ratings

Company Assessment

PRAISE CRITICISM INFORMATION
Debenhams plc
Business Ethics Sustainability claims
This company has sustainability claims on its website under the headings of equality, community and environment.
Source: company website (2020)
Environment CDP Climate Change Score of C
In 2018, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) asked companies to provide data about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change risk. Responding companies are scored across four key areas: disclosure; awareness; management; and leadership. This company received a CDP Climate Change Score of C.
Source: CDP (2018)
Social Modern Slavery statement
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 (2018)
boohoo.com plc
Social Efforts to pay a living wage
The Clean Clothes Campaign report, Tailored Wages 2019 analyses responses from 32 top clothing brands about their progress in implementing a living wage for the workers who produce their clothes. This company received the lowest possible grade in the report, meaning they produced no evidence that any worker making their clothes was paid a living wage anywhere in the world.
Source: Clean Clothes Campaign (2019)
Social Worker exploitation in UK
A 2020 report by Labour Behind the Label reveals how workers in Leicester (UK) making clothes primarily for Boohoo were found to have been paid as little as 3.50 pounds an hour, well below the UK minimum wage of 8.72 pounds for workers aged 25 and over. The company is also accused of blatant intimidation of vulnerable workers, and putting employees at risk of Covid-19 by working with factories which continued to operate during the UK's lockdown.
Source: Labour Behind the Label (2020)
Business Ethics 9/100 in Fashion Transparency Index
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 9%, signifying it has little to no information about their supply chain practices or policies available to the public. The average score was 23% and the highest score was 73%.
Source: Fashion Revolution (2020)
Social No 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 no evidence of actions that it covered any of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2020)
Social Misleading advertising
This company has been criticised for irresponsible advertising. In 2019 the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint about a product listing for a jumper on its website. The jumper was advertised as "faux fur", however testing revealed from the sample was real animal fur, most likely rabbit. The ASA concluded the ad was misleading and breached the Code.
Source: Advertising Standards Authority (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)
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)
Social Modern Slavery statement
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: Modern Slavery Registry (2018)
Social C- grade in 2019 Ethical Fashion Report
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: Baptist World Aid Australia (2019)

> About the Icons

Company Details

Type Wholly-owned subsidiary
Founded 1778

Contact Details

Address London, United Kingdom
Website www.debenhams.com

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