Debenhams
OVERALL |
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Owned |
UK |
Rating |
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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 | ||||
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. |
Company Assessment
PRAISE | CRITICISM | INFORMATION | ||
Debenhams plc | ||||
This company has sustainability claims on its website under the headings of equality, community and environment.
Source: company website (2020)
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)
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) |
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boohoo.com plc | ||||
D grade in Baptist World Aid Australia's '2021 Ethical Fashion Report', 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: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability.
Source: Baptist World Aid Australia (2021)
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)
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)
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)
The 2021 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 20%, signifying it makes some efforts to manage and improve their supply chains but make little supply chain information publicly available. The average score was 23% and the highest score was 78%.
Source: Fashion Revolution (2021) |
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)
As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: adopt a science-based emissions reduction target.
Source: We Mean Business (2021)
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 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)
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)
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) |
Company Details
Type | Wholly-owned subsidiary |
Founded | 1778 |
Contact Details
Address | London, United Kingdom |
Website | www.debenhams.com |