Stella McCartney Empowers Workers to Speak Up
Stella McCartney is a renowned British fashion designer who launched her namesake fashion label in 2001 after serving as creative director for the Parisian fashion house Chloé. Stella, the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney, was born on September 13, 1971, in London, England. Growing up, she fostered an intimate connection to natural environments and wildlife, leading her to challenge fashion norms. Her brand is known for its commitment to sustainability and ethical fashion practices, central to McCartney's design philosophy.
Stella keeps customers in the loop of her journey by communicating the company's sustainability efforts. The accomplishments live on most product description pages, and the information hierarchy heroes the sustainable material used in the product. There's also a section for Stella to write personal notes about how each collection is inspired and the symbolism the product holds, adding a humane touch to a relatively functional page.
The company sources its material from across the globe:
Cotton from the U.S., Egypt, India, and Turkey.
Viscose from Germany and Sweden
Wool from Australia and New Zealand.
Stella made headlines in 2001 when she introduced the first vegetarian luxury brand the world has ever seen, featuring novelty materials and techniques. Not only has she sworn off animal products, but Stella pioneered the business case for exploring alternative production models and materials that could lead to better sustainability outcomes. She has made material and supply chain conditions safer for workers by partnering with local experts and civil society organizations and opening a supply chain hotline.
Making the brand's values known throughout the supply chain is crucial to achieving McCartney's regenerative sourcing goals that intentionally serve workers, manufacturers, communities, and the environment. Suppliers, factories, and subcontractors must follow the Supplier Code of Conduct, Responsible Sourcing Guide, Modern Slavery Policy, and Subcontracting Policy to work with the brand. The Responsible Sourcing Guide details all the standards, policies, and procedures related to social and environmental sustainability for the brand and represents the core of Stella's sustainability commitments. Working with external organizations to reimagine a less harmful supply chain requires mass orchestration, tool deployment, and regulation. Stella works closely with them to embed the best practices throughout the supply chain—from direct suppliers to subcontractors.
A brief history of Stella McCartney's past partnerships:
2011: Partnered with the International Trade Centre's Ethical Fashion Initiative to support artisans in Kenya with a fair trade accessories collection.
2012: Joined the Ethical Fashion Initiative, a leading alliance of companies, trade unions, and NGOs that promotes respect for workers' rights around the globe.
2016: Initiated a productivity and wage analysis pilot to raise worker wages.
2017: Launched a holistic supplier improvement program in China to build better Human Resources management systems and improve factory working conditions.
2020: Endorsed the ILO's COVID-19 Call to Action in the garment industry and developed a multi-dimensional human rights risk assessment tool to understand potential threats to workers throughout the supply chain.
2021: Launched a 'Speak Up Tool' for workers to raise grievances and access remedies.
All suppliers are required to post the Code of Conduct in a place that is visible and accessible to all and communicate the contents of the Code in the language(s) spoken by the workers and personnel. The Supplier Code of Conduct follows the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Still, they have taken it further and added five codes aligned with other industry social standards.
Stella McCartney's codes cover:
Forced Labor and Modern Slavery
Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
Health and Safety
Child Labor
Compensation
Hours of Work
Discrimination
Employment Relationship
Harassment or Abuse
Migrant, Temporary, Agency Workers, and Homeworkers.
Subcontracting
Transparency and Material Traceability
Environment
Animal Welfare
Remediation and Continuous Improvement.
The following are integral to monitoring supply chain activity:
Subcontracting: The company must approve all subcontractors in writing before beginning production, and all subcontractors must go through the New Supplier and Manufacturing Site Onboarding procedures.
Transparency and Material Traceability: Suppliers are to share business operations and supply chains with the company when any changes occur or are requested. The company also reviews social factory assessments of facilities, relevant documentation, and worker interviews.
Remediation and Continuous Improvement: If a supplier is found non-compliant, remediation shall occur, and the supplier will demonstrate progress and provide evidence to the company. Stella McCartney reserves the right to review suppliers' compliance with the Code at any time and may terminate suppliers found violating the Code or failing to improve.
New suppliers must undergo an onboarding assessment before the company starts doing business to determine the depth of evaluations in the future. The procedure involves in-person visits, environmental and social factory inspections, and sharing documentation. After onboarding, check-ins happen throughout the year to help monitor activity that could be a symptom of complex issues embedded within the supply chain.
When issues arise, Stella McCartney and the supplier work together to create a corrective action plan. Issues may be low to high criticality, which influences the timeline for remediation, spanning from immediate zero-tolerance issues to one year for problems that aren't an immediate threat to working conditions. If full compliance with the Code of Conduct is not immediately possible, suppliers must display continuous improvement toward full compliance, and the company will support suppliers on this journey. Relying on social compliance assessments alone has limitations, although they help gain insight into suppliers' practices and potential risks in the supply chain.
The company built a Skills Recognition Program focused on training soft and technical skills and developing a roadmap to improve wages, working hours, health, and safety. They also evaluate current supplier systems and review their pricing mechanisms to ensure that they are being fair to suppliers when placing our orders and subsequently raise their payments. They also have The Speakup tool, a robust global anonymous grievance and whistleblowing mechanism for workers in their supply chain, although no issues were raised through the platform in 2021. The Speak Up tool is a significant step in the company's efforts to support the existing framework for advocacy by giving workers a platform to voice their concerns.
The company understands suppliers' complexities and delivers Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights training to support social initiatives. Where the company identifies an area for improvement shared across multiple suppliers, but specific to local contexts, they try to identify local stakeholders to help them develop solutions or initiatives applicable to all relevant suppliers.
The company aims to build a modern, resilient supply chain that keeps the brand in good standing and improves workers' lives. Stella McCartney participates in numerous thought leadership groups, consortiums, and committees sharing knowledge and best practices to advance the fashion sector and adjacent industries, enabling the company to monitor, reinforce, and remediate supply chain issues for a better, brighter future. Sustainability is undoubtedly the company's defining feature, and Stella McCartney isn't afraid to challenge existing structures that keep supply chain workers in poverty.
