csr
In the past decade corporate social responsibility initiatives have become common amongst fashion brands and retailers. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a process whereby a company voluntarily assumes responsibility, across its entire supply chain, for the social, ecological and economic consequences of the company's activities, reports on the consequences and constructively engages with stakeholders. Stakeholders are groups who have a interests in or are affected by the company's activities, from retail staff to garment workers. The environment is also sometimes included as a 'stakeholder'.
These initiatives can take a variety of forms, from fundraising for local charities to supplying customers with recycled carrier bags. From Labour behind the Label's perspective, the really significant area needing work is companies ensuring that national laws and international conventions affecting garment workers are respected throughout their supply chains.
The most common way brands and retailers have responded to pressure to improve working conditions in their supply chain is to carry out much-criticised social audits, in an attempt to ensure suppliers comply with the company's code of conduct, which outlines the standards it expects from suppliers in relation to working conditions. Transparency is another important issue and a few companies also produce an annual corporate social responsibility report, which may detail their activities in this area and lay out the company's objectives for the coming year.
Some CSR work is having an impact on workers, but contrary to the impression given by many brands and retailers, violations of workers' rights can still be found throughout the garment industry, indicating that much more needs to be done to ensure workers rights are respected.
Further information:
- Corporate Social Responsibility is a relatively new idea in fashion - read about how the process has evolved in the Fashioning an Ethical Industry Factsheet 9: A brief history of company engagement.
- Learn about whether the CSR approach is having an impact in the ETI Impact Assessment 2006 The ETI code of labour practice: Do workers really benefit?
- Company's CSR activity is increasingly being used in their PR and marketing - learn about the opportunities and pitfalls in the 'Greenwash Guide' produced by Futerra.
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