Get some inspiration for your paper by reading our sample! Use of chemical pesticides were reduced by 44 percent. But we do share our supplier information with other partners we are in collaboration with, for example with the Bangladesh Accord 10. We are often asked how we can combine low prices with good standards in the supply chain. It is a shame that so much hard work of workers worldwide ends up as waste, Tara Scally, Dutch Campaign Coordinator for Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) 11. At Primark, we're proud of our low prices. People. But how responsible are Primarks in-store working conditions? Fair Wear Foundation 12 has done interesting research revealing the possibilities. REWARD. Considering that the majority of Primarks products are made from cotton, we would suggest the brand dramatically increase its initiatives in this area by supporting similar programmes to achieve 100 percent sustainably grown cotton. In fact, the results of the cotton pilot programme were so successful they exceeded all Primark's expectations, which is why the value retailer has expanded the programme to support an additional 10,000 farmers in Gujarat over the next six years. They concentrate on improving the efficiency of supply chain management. . At the Workday Elevate Digital Experience 2021 in the UK, Mark Judd, vice president of product strategy, EMEA, at Workday, spoke to Lorraine Culligan, group director of people and culture, and Ian Lynch, head of people systems at Primark, a fashion retailer headquartered in Dublin. I know people will often say that the quality isnt very good at Primark, but we have invested a lot in quality over the last few years, says Stewart. We try to be proactive and helpful partners when it comes to audits, points out Stewart. Evolving Business Needs. To solve it we need more time and a concerted effort on behalf of us all, to buy a little less and demand a whole lot better for our garment workers., A closer look at Primarks stance on responsible fashion. "Primark is often (mis)judged to have poor supply chain ethics, due to its GBP4 price point, and has come under scrutiny from investors, consumers and . Objectivity has partnered with Primark since 1991. Primark also runs its Retail Manager Development Programme (RMDP), a bespoke supervisor development programme in the UK and northern Europe and is in the process of rolling it out to its other countries. We are looking at it. How a procurement transformation reduced sourcing cycles by 60%. 8 June 2022. But what could Primark film to convey its good ethics in simple and clear way? Business Cards Small to Medium View All Business Cards Basic Business Card Gold Business Card Platinum Business Card Large/Corporate View All Corporate Cards Green Corporate Card Gold Corporate Card Platinum Corporate Card BA Corporate Card BA Plus Corporate Card Payment Solutions But is Primark doing enough to boost wages for garment workers? But the lack of transparency Primark has concerning its supply chain and workers is still problematic for many organisations. We currently feel that information is competitive intel we do not want to share. "By working closely with Primark and their . In order to ensure garment workers can have easy access to their bank accounts, Geosansar bank kiosks are located close to factories and worker communities. In a word, Primark's strategy is working better than its rivals and . However, the Government of Uzbekistan forces more than a million people 8 to work in the cotton fields each harvesting season and numerous reports highlight cases of human rights violations and forced child labour are rifein Uzbek cotton production. Role: Supply Chain Manager - Origin. But the inspection reports are not made public, so it is impossible to verify if these inspections are really taking place; what is monitored; what problems are found and what corrective actions come out of these audits., Being honest about the issues and problems and the steps brands are taking to improve labour conditions, is key, adds Schuurman. Publishing more information on its website, training its members of staff and creating behind the scenes videos of the factories it works with, are just a handful of avenues Primark has taken on share what it does in terms of sustainability and social responsibility. There were a number of brands before who did not want to collaborate. We would suggest the brand show leadership by setting goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for its manufacturing supply chain, and start to introduce the use of renewable energy, along with increasing its use of sustainable fibres, increasing transparency of its supply chain and working to increase the percentage of its First Tier suppliers that comply with its Code of Conduct., Primarks stance on recycling textiles and sustainable fibres, In addition to working with SCAP and ECAP, Primark has been running a clothing recycling pilot for the past few months in selected stores in Germany and the UK together with I:CO 7. Primark's supply chain took centre stage during the event and notably, management went into detail on the price-points of Primark's goods and how they were able to keep them so low. The incident came just months after it emerged that Primark clothes were being made in India by factories using child labour. These teams based in its nine key sourcing locations, such as China, India, Bangladesh and Turkey, act as the retailer's "eyes and ears on the ground," according to Katharine Stewart, Primarks Director of Ethical Trade & Environmental Sustainability. We deliver. Primarks Ethical Trade and Environmental Sustainability Team will be responsible for providing updates to the Primark Global Sourcing Map on a twice-yearly basis. Use of chemical fertilisers were reduced by 40 percent. Since the global emergence of fast-fashion retailers like Primark back in 2000, the number of garments produced annually has doubled, exceeding 100 billion garments in 2014 - which is equal to nearly 14 items of clothing for every person on earth according to data from McKinsey & Company 3. 3 Supply Chain Strategies: Which is Best for Your Business? As a business we care about the impact. Primark also increased the number of fun, team-based projects with employees to boost direct engagement, which led to over 100 employees taking part in the wellbeing summer challenge. For example Primark has partnered with numerous NGOs, such as Solidaridad, CottonConnect and Made-By, as well as organisations like The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) 1 and together has instigated many initiatives aimed at improving the livelihoods, health and safety of its workers. We will be putting a lot more information concerning our ethics on there come May, continues Stewart. Design clothes with strengthened durability and to be recycled. Over in the UK and in the US, Primark sales assistants have also shared concerns feeling overworked and underpaid, having to deal with overbearing management teams, as well as difficulty in taking time off, on job boards Indeed and Glassdoor. In France, employees also complained of difficult working conditions in Primark, with complaints ranging from unpaid sick leave, to constant monitoring, to unexplainable gaps between sales assistants' wages 5. However, even though Primark responded quickly to the allegations and was eager to improve conditions, FNV is aware time will show if working conditions improve and has therefore scheduled a meeting in three months time. Credit: Love Your Clothes, Video: I:CO | RETHINK. Depending on how consumers respond to the video, Primark may consider creating more - but for now the value retailer is pleased with their first 360 degree video. Its a ripple effect and quite incredible to see, because they may have a neighbour who grows cumin and now are able to share knowledge on which chemical or natural pesticides are best to use. Credit: Zoella. In addition Primark has also achieved the Carbon Trust Standard for Waste for its waste management systems in store and is working to assume direct control over as much of its recyclable materials used during packing and transport as possible. At the moment Primark does have a few initiatives in place aimed at educating consumers on how to care better for their clothes, such as their partnership with SCAP 8. We are starting to share more films - our cotton film is a good example of that - but we are trying to make it more engaging and interesting for customers based on the feedback we get and offer as much information as possible." For us, we felt there was a natural cadence for getting this information out and launching the website was the first step, with the Global Sourcing Map following on as a second phase, Katherine Stewart, Ethical Trade and Environmental Sustainability Director at Primark, told Edie.net. Brands should plan accordingly so no garments go to waste., What Primark is doing to cut down its use of chemicals, Our objective is to have full traceability from all Primark supply chain partners of upstream manufacturing, product and chemical inventory information for every point in the supply chain, Primark also supports the Partnership for Cleaner Textile industry (PaCT) 16, a holistic programme which supports the Bangladesh wet textile processing factories in adopting cleaner production methods. A survey conducted by the Business Continuity Institute showed that of the 526 responders across 64 countries, 34% of organizations reported an increased annual cost of 1 million or above, caused by supply chain disruptions. Over in Spain, in Madrid one Primark retail worker claimed he was making the same amount of money working 30 hours a week at Primark in 2016, as he was working 12 hours a week at department store El Corte Ingls in 2007 6. We know that as well as ensuring worker rights are protected within the factories we work with, we can positively impact lives outside of the factory too. The rise of haul style shopping videos on YouTube is just one example of how the value retailers pricing is affecting the way people shop and how they view their products. I think that this is something we made a decision on very early on and it gives us the confidence that the audit paints a clear picture of what is going on in that factory at that point in time.. Primark is not the first fashion high street retailer to initiate an in-store recycling scheme with I:CO, but one key difference between the Primark clothing recycling pilot and other fashion retailers textile recycling programmes is the customer incentive. Instead, they receive external feedback from Primark and a checklist of areas they may need to improve on going forward. At the moment Primark does not purchase any raw cotton directly from farmers, as it does not directly own any mills or factories. Credit: Primark. It would be interesting to see how they followed up on the audit findings., It is impossible for us to know the full scope of its audit programme or how frequently individual factories are audited, adds Jacinta FitzGerald, Head of Research at Project JUST 9.The brand does state that all its suppliers must comply with its Code of Conduct, and are audited before any orders are placed. Primark maintains it keeps its audit reports finding private to maintain the authenticity of their results - not even the factories and suppliers audited are given full access to Primarks audit reports. For example, each Code states employment must be freely chosen, no child labour, and the freedom to form and join trade unions - all standards derived from the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights 6. Twelve factories have already benefited from the programme to date, and an additional seven are currently benefitting from the PaCT training through Primarks nominations. It outlines the key processes, technologies, and partnerships that the organization will use to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of its supply chain. Primark employs a total of approximately 4,800 workers in the Netherlands. Right from the start, when the buyers are developing the product, we ensure we have the quality team looking at the design of product. In addition, 81 percent of respondents said they felt that Primark was missing a workers council who could negotiate agreements on their behalf concerning use of store cameras in relation to their privacy - even though the council is required by law in the Netherlands for any company with more than 50 employees. So while Primarks work does show that the retailer is committed to improving wages for its garment workers, the retailer seems stuck at the strategy level and research stage and has yet to begin developing long term building blocks to paying livable wages. Unlike other clothes shops, people often come to Primark because they know theyll be able to afford a whole outfit. What we see on the social side, is that everyone has very similar Codes of Conduct, but various degrees of implementation - which makes it harder for everyone.. Jobs. Its chief executive, Paul Marchant, said: "Our ambition is to offer customers the. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. Primark is a major retail group. Published Feb 16, 2018 4am EST / 1am PST / 9am GMT / 10am CET. Some may think the Rana Plaza factory collapse 2013 was a turning point for the fashion industry - a wake up call for the retailers producing their garments there to band together to make a change for good. For years Primark has been fighting against the stigma that cheap fashion is not sustainable or ethical, even though the value fashion retailer shares 98 percent of its suppliers and factories with other high street retailers, such as H&M, Zara and Mango. The push-pull supply chain strategy in turn helps to reduce their order-to-delivery lead time to stores, reduce inventory holding level and minimize both physical costs and market mediation. Chief executive George . Primarks expansive product range includes womenswear, lingerie, childrenswear, menswear, footwear, accessories, beauty, hosiery and homeware. Primark was one of the first companies to cancel millions of pounds worth of orders from suppliers during the coronavirus pandemic, putting workers in its supply chains at risk of redundancy. The value retailer disagrees with this opinion, as Stewart says Primark has invested a lot in improving the quality of its garments over the last few years. But now that we have a formula that we know works, we can start to look at how we can do that in different locations. For now Primark has chosen to localise their efforts in Northern India, but it has not ruled out expanding the programme to other countries. This is Primark's first 360 degree video. Primark operates using a common set of global standards in all its sourcing hubs, known as its Code of Conduct 2. As a globalization strategy, Primark carries out its operation in 61 countries. The firm's positioning strategy entails the firm as the most cost effective firm in the fashion retail sector in UK. Primark does agree that it could be sharing more information on its sustainable and ethical practices with the public, even if consumers are not always asking for it. According to Associated British Foods Corporate Responsibility Report for 2016 2, Primarks GHG emissions have increased by 15 percent over the last three years. 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