Corporate Responsibility

Ethical Sourcing

Ethical sourcing requires us to assume responsibility for the labour and human rights practices within our supply chain. To this end, we need to ensure we work only with reputable suppliers and manufacturers so that when customers buy goods from Debenhams they can be assured that they have been produced under assessed and monitored conditions.

Before a factory enters our supply chain, it must submit a factory information pack which covers the social and technical aspects of its operations. Only once we are satisfied that the factory meets our stringent criteria will it be able to manufacture goods to be sold in Debenhams.

To monitor our suppliers and the standards in their factories on an ongoing basis, we use both internationally recognised independent auditors (such as Bureau Veritas) and our own assessment and approval process managed by the corporate responsibility team. The audit programme is based on two day audits and more focused one day gap analysis audits. Any issues which arise out of the audit process must be dealt with if a supplier is to retain approved status.

We accept social audit reports completed for other retailers and joined the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (“SEDEX”) at the end of 2006. We encourage our suppliers and factories to join SEDEX so that they can focus more on delivering corrective action plans than preparing duplicate audits.

We believe that working with a supplier to correct any issues through organisations such as the ETI is always the preferred route rather than disengaging with that supplier.