Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Toolbox for Ethical Shopping Pt. 4

Earlier this week, I found this graphic from Macleans.ca, which I think perfectly sums up exactly why it is so important that we are aware of where our clothing comes from.  Let's assume the average t-shirt actually does cost $14.00- even though that is probably on the low side these days- then, according to this graphic, the average labourer receives less than 1% of the cost of a pretty inexpensive t-shirt.  I'm fairly certain (and sincerely hope) I'm not the only one sitting here thinking, "that doesn't sound fair at all." Because it really isn't.

That is why I am researching company policies, so that together we can avoid companies that spend less money paying the people behind our purchases than they pay the shipping companies.  This is part 4 of my review of the policies of companies in my local mall, Coquitlam Centre.  If this is the first time you've come across this blog and are curious about the other stores check out parts 1 thru 3 below.   Today, we're starting with the "K"s.


Kebe
Kebe is a small boutique store in Coquitlam Centre and has no website, and therefore no information available to the public on their supply chain.

Koodo
Much like every other cell phone provider I've come across at Coquitlam Centre, Koodo carries many different brands on technology.  As I've said before, with all technology we have to be very aware of how the tantalum, a mineral used in cell phones, laptops, etc., is mined, as it is notorious in the industry for slave labour.  Because of this, each brand would need to be research separately.  I have done the research on Apple, and they are the only brand I know of that has released a statement that their tantalum mines are free from slave labour.  I just did a quick check on Nokia, and while they consistently mention striving to be "ethical" there was no mention of child or forced labour in their supply chain at all.  Sony has no information on their supply chain whatsoever.  Samsung, however, states that they don't permit forced or child labour in the making of their products, which is hopeful!  The one thing missing from their policies is factory audits or inspection.  Their website makes no note of how, or even if, they check for these things in their supply chain.

La Senza
I'm both surprised and happy to say that La Senza has some great policies in place.  They are a branch of a multinational corporation called "L Brands" and their website not only states that they prohibit forced, indentured, prison, bonded, or child labour, as well as any labour obtained through human trafficking.  They state that all workers must meet the minimum local age for work, or the standard of the ILO, whichever is higher.  They also have some great policies on minimum wage and maximum working hours.  On top of this, their website outlines the process a factory must go through in order to become an L Brands supplier.  They begin with an audit and risk assessment, and once those have been passed, they must agree to ongoing, unannounced audits.

La Vie en Rose
The La Vie en Rose website has no information on their supply chain available.

Laura
While Laura is locally trying to make a difference by donation to the Canadian Cancer Society, which is obviously very commendable, their website has no information on their supply chain, or the people behind the clothing they sell.

Lazy One
Lazy One is a somewhat comical pyjama store.  They are moving towards greener initiatives, such as recycled clothing hangers, but unfortunately, their website has no information on where or how their products are made.

Le Chateau
Le Chateau also has some great policies in place! They inspect their factories on a regular basis, through unannounced audits, to ensure that child or forced labour are not present.  On top of having those very necessary policies in place, along with minimum wage, maximum work hours, health and safety, and discrimination, they also restrict the use of hazardous materials in the making of their products.

Lululemon
Lululemon has a Vendor Code of Ethics with six zero-tolerance policies, which include child labour, forced labour, corruption, and minimum wage violations.  The Lululemon sustainability team and third-party auditors provide announced, semi-announced, and unannounced audits of all their factories.

Lush
I'm excited to say I have a new love for Lush!  I've never really bought anything from there before, but if you're a close friend or a family member, beware, you may be getting gifts from Lush in the future!  Lush has its own Ethical Buying team whose job it is to find ethically produced ingredients for their products.  They start locally, but in the cases that the ingredient isn't found in Canada, they travel the world, visit potential suppliers and find out as much as they can about the planting and harvesting of the ingredient.  They build relationships with the growers and producers and work to ensure that the ingredients are grown sustainably and in fair conditions. My favourite part is the end of their "Ethical Buying" section on their website, which states "Buying from small-scale producer groups affords us the opportunity to drive positive change, encourage sustainability, and form long-lasting relationships with people all over the world."  If those aren't good policies, I don't know what is!

London Drugs
London Drugs is a strange store, sort of a drug store crossed with an electronic store, crossed with a grocery store.  Because of this, they carry so many brands it is impossible to say where they lie on our spectrum. They have some fair trade chocolate. They carry Apple products.  They probably even have some ethically produced make-up.  But once again, we would have to research each brand.  And as this is not my full-time job, I think it would take to long for the sake of this blog!

MAC
MAC has very little information on their company at all on their website.  All I could find were the products they sell. I have very little knowledge on how make-up is produced, and I know recently the biggest ethical dilemma with make-up has been whether or not it has been tested on animals.  But I'm pretty sure make-up is made from (at least some) natural materials, which means someone had to plant//harvest/etc. those materials to make our make-up.  In any case, you wouldn't know people were involved at all my looking at their website.

Mappins Jewellers
Mappins has very little information about the metals used in the make of their jewellery, or the people behind the metals, on their website. The one thing they do have is a line of Canadian Diamonds, which were mined out of the Northwest Territories, and can be bought with the confidence of knowing they're not conflict diamonds.

Merle Norman
Merle Norman is another cosmetics brand that I know very little about.  However, I'm pretty satisfied with the statement on their website, which reads "To ensure optimum quality control, the company researches, develops, manufactures and packages its own products."  Generally speaking, if a company manufactures its own product directly, its pretty safe!

Mr. Big & Tall
Bad news for you extremely tall, large men out there.  Mr. Big & Tall has no information about its supply chain on its website.

Naturalizer Shoes
Naturalizer Shoes is a branch of Brown Shoe Company.  Brown Shoe Company's website outlines
their Production Code of Conduct, which states that no suppliers may be involved in human trafficking, slavery, forced labour, or child labour.  It also states that their suppliers should pay their employees in regulation with local industry standards and minimum wage.  Unfortunately, I doubt whether local industry standard is generally fair.  Brown Shoe's code also states that it reserves the right to announced, unannounced, internal, or third party audits.

For those of you who have gone through this whole blog, confused by the colours, you can check out part one of this series to see what makes a store green (great policies in place), yellow (lacking a few key aspects in their policies, or a little vague), or red (appalling policies or lack thereof).  Thanks again for reading.  As always, if you have any information to add, feel free to comment so that more people can benefit from the knowledge you have!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Toolbox for Ethical Shopping Pt. 3

 People in North America have more money than they know what to do with, so they spend without much thought for the people behind their purchases.  In fact, according to morssglobalfinance.com1, in 2008, the average American spent over $1,100 on clothing and footwear.  That’s a whopping $352 billion spent in just one of the 196 countries in the world.  However, this affluence is the opposite of what most people experience.  Take the 3.5 million people who work in the Bangladeshi garment industry for instance, who produce most of this clothing. The ones who are lucky enough to be paid for their work make about $576.00 per year.2 If you ask me, this is anything but just.

And that's why it's so important to know where and how your clothing is made.  If we are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the garment industry each year, shouldn't those who spend their lives making our clothes reap some of the benefits?  Fortunately, many companies are working to make sure that they do.  This is part 3 of 7 of my guide on which stores to support, and which to avoid.  In seven parts, I will be analyzing the policies of the companies that have stores in my local mall, Coquitlam Centre.  If you don't shop at Coquitlam Centre (or even know where it is), don't skip over this, as many of these companies have stores all over North America.

The Gap
The Gap has a pretty bad reputation, specifically since on of their buildings were involved in the 2013 Bangladesh factory collapse.  But they are actively working to atone for their part in that tragedy.  The Gap Inc. has adopted a statement under the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.  Their statement says that child, forced and trafficked labour will not be used in any Gap products, and that they will actively monitor their factories.  Gap Inc. had both announced and unannounced audits.  However, they are mostly conducted by their staff.

Garage
Garage is the same company as Dynamite.  Check out part 2 to see why Garage scored red.

Golf Town
Golf Town had no information on their supply chain.

GUESS
The GUESS website also had no information on their supply chain.

Gymboree
Gymboree is a children's clothing store that cares about kids everywhere!  In fact, they prohibit cotton sourced from Uzbekistan because of it's history of forced child labour.  Their policy states that no one under the age of 15, or higher where the age of school completion is higher, is permitted to work in their factories.  They go above and beyond though: "Factories are encouraged to develop lawful workplace apprenticeship programs whenever possible for the educational benefit of their workers, provided that all participants meet both our minimum age standard of 15 and minimum legal age requirements."3  They also state that they will not use forced, indentured or prison labour in the making of their products.  They also monitor and assess compliance in their factories, but did not say whether it was through a third party company.

H&M

H&M impressed me a couple years ago when they announced that they would be increasing their prices in order to ensure that their garment producers were paid fairly.  Their code of ethics is thorough and impressive.  They state that child labour is unacceptable, but then say that saying no to child labour isn't enough.  Since 2004, H&M has been working alongside UNICEF to help abolish child labour around the world, and have been able to help over million children in the process.  Their code of ethics also states that young workers (those under 18, but above the legal age of employment) are to be protect from any type of hazardous work, work that may interfere with their education, or that could be harmful to their health, physical or otherwise.  The code also states that they don't accept forms of bonded, prison, illegal or forced labour.  H&M not only does yearly unannounced audits of its factories, it also visits them to educate workers about their rights, and to interview workers to ensure they know how their wages are calculated.

Hudson's Bay Company

They Bay has adopted a statement under the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which states that a third party company does social compliance inspections of their factories, and that child labour, forced labour and hazardous working conditions are unacceptable.  It's pretty wordy, and doesn't say a lot other than that besides the fact that all factories must follow the laws of the countries they're in.

Icing

Icing is owned by Claire's.  Check out Part 2 to find out why Claire's received a yellow score.

J76

J76 is a yoga apparel company, but unfortunately, they don't seem to have any information about their supply chain on their website.

Jersey City

Jersey City also has no information about their supply chain on their website.
 

The 3.5 million Bangladeshi garment workers, and everyone else who is involved in making our clothing, should benefit from the crazy amounts we North Americans spend on clothing each year.  As I do this research, I'm always amazed and excited to find companies that are going above and beyond - not just ensuring they aren't contributing to the injustice, but that are actively working to end it.  Of course, there are tons of amazing companies that you won't find in a mall that are doing great things to help people all over the world climb out of poverty.  If you want to learn about some of them, check out some of my earlier posts!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Toolbox for Ethical Shopping Pt.2

Next month, the UN will celebrate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery.  This day was made to reflect on the horrors, and celebrate the demise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  However, according to Compassion International, there are still an estimated 27 million slaves in the world right now - more than at any time in history.  Of these 27 million slaves, many of them are children, forced to work picking the cotton, cutting the pattern, or sewing the button onto the shirt you're wearing right now.  In fact, as high as 50% of the slaves in the world today are children under the age of 18.  That's right - over 13.5 million children, who should be in school, learning to read and write, playing with their friends, testing teachers limits and dreaming about becoming a famous (insert whatever your dream job as a child was here), are being forced to work long hours, endure beatings and horrific treatment, for inadequate or no pay.

Despite the fact that child labour is illegal in most countries, in many places it is a common occurrence.  India, Uzbekistan, China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Thailand, and Pakistan are all countries that are notorious for using children in their textile industries*.  Many of the stores in our local malls carry brands that are produced in one or many of these countries, so it's hard to know whether or not the pair of pants you're purchasing was made by a nine-year-old.  Fortunately for us, many consumers are becoming more aware of who their clothing was made by, and the conditions they were working in, and the multinational corporations are taking notice, and many (the smart ones) are putting measures in place to ensure that slave and child labour aren't being used in their supply chains.

To help you navigate these very murky waters, this is part two of seven of my research on the stores in my local mall, Coquitlam Centre.  If this is the first you've seen of this, you can find part 1 here: http://living-justly.blogspot.ca/2015/02/toolbox-for-ethical-shopping-pt1.html

To make things easy, every store that has great policies in place to prevent child and slave labour, as well as harsh treatment of production workers, is in green, those with some policies in place, but not enough to be completely certain no one is being harmed in the making of their products are in yellow, and those with no policies, or no information are in red.

Call it Spring
Call it Spring is owned by the ALDO group, which is a direct trade company.  See my review of ALDO in part one to see why Call it Spring is a safe place to shop!

Change
Change is a lingerie store that owns its factories.  The company itself does all its manufacturing in China.  While it is encouraging that they themselves are involved in the manufacturing, the fact that there is no more information on the supply chain gives me pause.  One would hope that if this company own and operates its factories, there would be no abuse of employees, but it is hard to say for sure without a list of policies.

The Children's Place
The website insists that all vendors, suppliers, manufacturers, etc. follow their employment practices, which state that The Children's Place will knowingly only conduct business with companies whose workers are voluntarily at the workplace, are not at risk of physical harm, are fairly compensated, and are not exploited in any way. Neither child labour, nor forced labour, are permitted, and Children’s Place will “favour” companies that practice non-discriminatory employment.  These practices also mention fair payment and vacation time.  The documents also says that the company has the right to unannounced inspections of all manufacturing facilities, and the right to sever the relationship with any factories that do not comply with their employment practices.

Claires
Claires has adopted a statement in accordance with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.  Their statement contains third party audits in their supply chain, as well as prohibition against indentured or forced labour.  Unfortunately, nothing is mentioned about Child labour, or any rights the workers possess.

Cleo
Cleo is owned by the same company as Bootlegger.  Unfortunately, I can't find any information on all four of the websites this company runs about their supply chain.  

Daniadown quilts
This company is somewhere between and yellow and a red at their website says they manufacture the “majority” of their products.  Much like Change, if they own their own factories, one would hope they would closely monitor the conditions of the workplace, but there was no other information, so we cannot be sure.

DAVIDsTea
DAVIDsTea offers a selection of Fair Trade teas! I sent an email to inquire about the rest of their tea selection.  They replied that they work closely with all their suppliers, who work with the tea estates to ensure that their tea meets their industry and ethical standards.  As the Fair Trade Certification process is quite pricey, it is not practical for some of the smaller farms, but they are working toward adding as many of their teas to they Fair Trade Certified collection as possible!

Dynamite Clothing
The website had no information whatsoever on their Supply Chain.

Eddie Bauer
Eddie Bauer has adopted a statement in accordance with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.  Their statement contains a Workplace Code of Conduct (“Code”) and requires all manufacturers of their product to comply with the Code.  This Code states that manufacturers will not used forced labor of any kind, will not not use child labor, refrain from harassment, abuse and discrimination, as and will provide a safe working environment, allow workers freedom of association and collective bargaining, pays wages for all time worked, at minimum wage or higher, and pay overtime. Eddie Bauer has a third party audit done at the commencement of production, in all their new factories, and unannounced audits by a third party periodically afterwards.

Fido
Like most Cell Phone providers, Fido carries many different brands of technology. While their website offers no information on the production of those brands, tantalum, a mineral used in the production of most laptops, cellphones, tablets, etc. is notorious for the use of slaves in the mining process.  Because of this, one would have to research each brand individually.  I have yet to do this for any but Apple, which has the green light.  A couple years ago, the company released a statement saying that no slavery was used in their tantalum mines. I personally would stick to purchasing the Apple products to be on the safe side if you're making a purchase through Fido.

Flip Flop Shop
The Flip Flop Shop does not have it's own brand of shoes, but carries multiple different brands.  Once again, this makes more work for us.  One would have to research the brand of shoe they were hoping to buy to be sure.  I've done the legwork on three of them for you.  
Quicksilver offers no information on their supply chain on their website.
Sanuk completed Ethical Supply Chain audits for all factories and key suppliers since 2009.  They also provided training for over 400 representatives from Deckers suppliers in Ethical Supply Chain capability building courses since 2010.  Their Ethical Supply Chain (ESC) Program "strives to ensure that the factories which manufacture our products conform to fair labor standards. Those standards expressly preclude child labor, forced labor and human trafficking." They ale have an audit team, which regularly checks up on their partner's factories to ensure compliance with their labour standards.  The company has a few "zero tolerance"issues, which the violation of will lead to a supplier failing the audit and corrective measures will need to be taken.  Those "zero tolerance issues include child and forced labour.
     Olukai offers no other information on their website other than that their shoes are manufactured in Asia and Mexico

Foot Locker
FootLocker is somewhere between a green and a yellow as they have adopted a statement in accordance with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, which says that Foot Locker has the right to make unannounced inspections of their suppliers' facilities, either by the Foot Locker team or a third party, to ensure the factory complies with their Global Sourcing Guidelines and "other requirements."  However, I couldn't find what these requirements might be!

Future Shop
Future Shop is in the same boat as Fido.  They carry multiple different technology brands, and one has to be aware that this industry is ripe with slave labour. Once again, I would ere on the side of caution and stick with Apple.

I hope this information equips you to make informed choices about your purchases, so that we can avoid benefiting companies that allow nine-year-olds to miss out on their education to sew the buttons on our shirts for little or no monetary compensation, and support those companies that are doing their best to ensure that the employees in their factories are treated fairly and with dignity.  If you have any more information, or have a chance to do some research on individual brands of technology, please feel free to comment with your findings!  Check back next week for part 3 of this series.                    

*SOMO, Child Labour Fact Sheet.  Find it here: somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_4058/at_download/fullfile

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Toolbox for Ethical Shopping Pt.1

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela


Since starting this blog, I've become more and more passionate about purchasing my clothing with the knowledge that no one was harmed or taken advantage of during the production process.  And the more I talk to others about this, I find that many people would like to do the same, but aren't sure where to find the information they need in order to make informed spending decisions.  Like I've mentioned in the past, I don't blame people - it is confusing and there aren't a lot of resources out there that will tell you one way or another what stores are safe to shop at, and which aren't.  I've also found it overwhelming to step into my local mall and try to figure out where I can shop in good conscious.

A very large part of the reason I work in the non-profit sector, and specifically at the Wellspring Foundation, is that I believe education has the power to change the world.  In Africa it has the power to lift children and their families out of poverty, and here in North America it has the power to help us make informed choices, and discern the best ways to help our brothers and sisters across the world who are deprived of the opportunities we have in our affluent society. The main weapon we need in order fight the battle against child labour, forced labour and harsh working conditions for our garment producers is knowledge.  So, I've decided to start a project.  Beginning with the mall I shop at most often (as do most of my readership at this point), I will research each store, the brands they carry, their supply chains and auditing processes and let you know which shops you can shop at with confidence, and which to steer clear of.

Fortunately, Coquitlam Centre (the mall I'll be critiquing) is quite large and has stores that appear in malls all over North America, so most likely anyone on the continent will have a good idea of some stores that they can feel good about shopping at.  Since the list is so large, I'll be doing this in seven parts.  I started my research in alphabetical order, so this post will feature stores with names beginning with A or B.  To make things simple, I'll be categorizing each store as a Green Light, if I could find information that shows that the store is actively combatting human trafficking, child labour, and harsh conditions in the supply chain, and that there are unannounced audits of the factories on a regular basis; Yellow Light,  if there is information that the company is doing something to keep forced labour, child labour and harsh conditions out of its factories, with regular audits, though generally announced, giving factories time to cover up actions that might not be tolerated; or Red Light is there is little or no information on the companies supply chain, or if a document has been signed committing to combating these practices, but there is no information on how this is done or if suppliers are held accountable.

Acinda Jewellers 
The store itself doesn't seem to have a website.  The closest I could get is the PANDORA website, which is a brand they sell. PANDORA has been certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), is working to minimize it's environmental footprint, and claims to offer safe working conditions, competitive wages and a comprehensive benefit package to all employees in it's supply chain.  The website boasts:  “Through the RJC, we actively engage with other responsible jewellery brands, organisations and civil society to lead the way towards a more sustainable jewellery industry, from mine to retail.”
All in all, I would say Acinda Jewellers is a Yellow Light company.  While I would have very little issue with purchasing PANDORA jewellery from them, I couldn't find any information on other brand names they carry.

ALDO Shoes
ALDO group - the company behind the accessory store, is very unique.  ALDO has direct sourcing, in which the ALDO group controls every stage of production - nothing is outsourced, and they own all their production facilities.  They also have an environmental strategy called CHANGE, which is a detailed plan to reduce their carbon footprint.


Alia N TanJay
While this company support breast cancer campaigns locally, it is impossible to find any information on their supply chains, making me hesitant to shop there.  If you can't find any information, it's probably because they aren't doing anything.

American Eagle Outfitters
I wasn't a huge fan of American Eagle until I did some research on their company, and I was blown away!  Not only are they a signatory of The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010, which went into effect on January 1, 2012 and "required retail companies and manufacturers doing business in California with annual worldwide gross receipts of more than US$100 million to disclose corporate policies to eradicate slavery and human trafficking in their supply chains", the also have an entire website with detailed information on how American Eagle is treating their producers with dignity and respect.  Check it out at betterworld.ae.com!  American Eagle outfitters has pre-sourcing inspection of facilities, they help existing suppliers meet expectations for social compliance and remedy any issues they face.  Their website also talks about how they value transparency in suppliers:  “In 2010, we took a strong stance to guarantee that we received full, genuine reporting of supply chain issues. We informed suppliers that failure to show an accurate accounting of workplace conditions (including real and correct books of records) or attempts to hide any information necessary to the audit would result in a significant penalty – up to and including termination of our business relationship.”
Their suppliers are prohibited from using child labour (defined as workers younger than 15 or the compulsory age to be in school),  forced or involuntary labour, using corporal punishment, threats of violence or harassment, discrimination in hiring based on “race, religion, age, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender or political opinion," and they must supply a safe and healthy working environment.  The company also inspects the suppliers facilities, sometimes unannounced or without notice.  Part of this process is private interviews with the workers at the facilities, giving them the opportunity to tell the inspectors things they wouldn't in front of their bosses.

Ann Louise Jewellers
Their website boasts that all diamonds are conflict free, and they carry Canadian diamonds.  However, I couldn't find information on any of the other metals used in their products.


Apple
I love Apple.  This quote from their website is one reason: 
“Because education is a great equalizer, we’re investing heavily in helping workers throughout our supply chain learn new skills and better understand their rights. In 2013, more than 280,000 people at 18 supplier sites took courses in a range of subjects through our free education and development program. In addition, our suppliers trained more than 1.5 million workers on their rights, bringing the total number trained since 2007 to 3.8 million.”  They also work to help suppliers protect student interns and other at-risk workers. They're working to end excessive work hours. They're also driving responsible sourcing of minerals, and have publicly released a list of smelters and refiners in their supply chain to promote transparency.  In fact, Apple recently released a statement saying there was no forced labour used in their tantalum mines (a mineral used in most electronics.)  So far, they are the only company I know of that has been able to say that.  They conduct hundreds of audits each year at every point in their supply chain, and they have a list of 18 final assembly facilities and top 200 suppliers on the website.  They really take transparency to a whole new level!

Ardene
Absolutely no information on producers or supply chain to be found.

Aritzia
Aritzia is unique as it has a Social and Environmental Responsibility Team, whose mission is guiding employees and partners toward socially and environmentally responsible decisions:   “We love our people, so we take care to ensure that everyone we work with (from the employees in our office, to our cleaning staff, to the person who sews the button onto your parka) are treated fairly, paid properly, and work in a healthy and safe environment.”  A third-party social compliance auditing company conducts annual workplace condition audits of all their garment factories and their SER team works with vendors and factories to make improvements in any area that receives low scores.  I love their philosophy on their production factories as well: “We do not believe in severing partnerships; instead, we believe in working to continuously improve the performance and well-being of all our collaborators."  One down side, which is why Aritzia is a split between green and yellow, is that all their factory inspections are announced, which could potentially give the managers time to cover-up any misdemeanours   However, Aritzia announces inspections within a two-week window, which may help to limit this.  
Aritzia gives back at home, too.  They partner with a Salvation army project that rescues victims of human trafficking and abuse and provide them with shelter and a safe environment while they heal, as well as the Umoja Operation whose mission is to empower minorities and other refugees to integrate into Canadian society and to support initiatives to improve the quality of life in the third world.

Atmosphere
I could find no information on the store website, however, there are a few brands which they carry which are known for being socially responsible - Patagonia in particular.

Bath and Body Works
The only information I can find on their website is that they don’t test on animals, which is great, but says nothing about the people that work for them.  I'm not sure of the processes involved in the making of bath and body products, but I found it strange that there was no information whatsoever on their website.

Bell
 Bell has introduced e-bills and reusable bags, as well as a battery and mobile phone recycling program in their stores to limit their environmental footprint, which is great!  But what about the materials used in the products they sell, and the people who make them?  While the website says that Bell is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, a set of universal principles addressing human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption issues, and notes that supply chain issues are a mega-trend in the industry, the website does not outline what (if anything) Bell is doing to monitor their supply chains.


Below the Belt
I could find no information whatsoever on their website about supply chains.  However, they do list their brands, so one could research each brand individually.   I’ve done research on a few of them, to get us started.
·        Volcom is a signatory of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act.  Their auditing process includes third-party audits of the entire factory, including its dormitories. The auditing teams interview groups of workers, as well as individuals, without the presence of their management, to allow them to comment on their working conditions and any suspected abuse. All audits are scheduled in advance.
·          Obey has no information on its website about supply chains.
            Element has adopted Social Accountability International's SA8000 social compliance standard, which states that there should be no use or support of child labor, no use or support for forced or compulsory labour, a safe and healthy workplace should be provided, each employee should have  Freedom of Association and Right to Collective Bargaining, and there should be no discrimination based on race, national or social origin, caste, birth, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political opinions and age.  There's actually a lot more on their website, but for the sake of time, feel free to check it out yourself if you want more information.
      Fox: "Fox trains its staff involved with the vendor selection and evaluation process in social responsibility issues, inclusive of human trafficking and slavery, for both new and seasoned employees, [and]... conducts refresher seminars annually.  Fox suppliers has to sign their code of conduct, and must  submit to an audit on a regular basis. I think you get the idea, so I'll stop there.  Feel free to check out the Below the Belt website and research any of your favourite brands!

Ben Moss  
Ben Moss sells Canadian diamond, which are mined in Canada, and are conflict free.  They also have a statement on their website which says, “Ben Moss Jewellers believes in working with the World’s Diamond Industry in stopping the sale of conflict diamonds. Ben Moss Jewellers has received guarantees from our diamond suppliers that they participate with the Kimberly Process and that diamonds provided to Ben Moss Jewellers are conflict-free.”  While this is comforting, there's no information on how this is guaranteed.

Bentley
Bentley gives to 2 charities locally, but has no information on their supply chains.

Best Buy
Best Buy has a “Best Buy for Kids” giving program, which supports local and national programs.  However, they have no information on their supply chains.  What might be best in the case of Best Buy is to research the brand of electronic you are planning on buying.  Or just stick with Apple.

Blueline sports
The Blueline Sports website also has no information on their supply chains.

Bluenotes
Bluenotes has raised massive amounts of money for the Kids Help Phone, which is a great cause!  However, they also have no information on their factories or the people who make their clothes.

Boathouse
Boathouse has very little information on their responsibility globally, but does contribute to two local funds.  It also features three brands which are more socially conscious, two of which - Ten Trees and WeWood - are environmentally friendly, and one -TOMs shoes - which gives shoes and glasses to people in the developing world.  Here is not the place to talk about the downsides to TOMs shoes, (a great idea with bad development theory), but in my opinion, carrying TOMs is not enough to convince us that we can be confident that no one was harmed in the making of the clothing they carry.  Many of their brands are similar to Below the Belt, and are also listed on their website. If you have the time and interest, feel free to do some research on each individual brand!  If you do, please comment below with some of your findings!

Bobby Dazzler
Bobby Dazzler is a strange store, which apparently carries everything.  In fact, I'm not really clear on what kind of store it is.  However, it has no information anywhere on where or how the products it carries are made.

The Body Shop
All of the products at The Body Shop are 100% vegetarian and cruelty free, which again, is great!  But, (to me at least) even better is the fact that the Body Shop believes in Fair Trade! In fact, the company set up its own fair trade program, called Community Trade, which works with 30+ suppliers in 20+ countries and provides 25,000+ people with income!  Their website says that "most" of their products contain Community Trade ingredients.  They list their five core values on their website, which are: Support Community Trade, Defend Human Rights, Against Animal Testing, Active Self-Esteem, and Protect our Planet.

Bootlegger
Bootlegger has no information about its supply chain on its website.

Looking back, this may look bleak.  Only 4.5 of the 21 companies featured on the first part of this project are really great companies, working to provide great opportunities for the labourers in their supply chain.  But don't despair!  I have 77 companies to go!