We not only care about the people who will wear our clothes, we are also committed to providing a good workplace for those who make them.
In 2015, we increased our corporate responsibility commitment from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme to a Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility (SCR) programme. Thanks to our new approach, we can now provide clothes with an even cleaner production process. Our new way of working towards a more equitable, sustainable world is an SCR that involves pledging to follow international labour, human rights and environmental standards. We at Hejco are committed to these issues. As a company, we want to be respected for our values, our vision and our responsible approach to sustainability. We want to set an example for the entire clothing industry.
Transparency from supplier to factory
Out of concern for the natural and working environments, we have established obligatory standards for our suppliers, which means they receive no orders from us before they have made public all the factories that will be involved in making products for Hejco and undergone our review of social and environmental compliance. As part of our review process, in 2016 we drew up a list of environmentally hazardous chemicals whose use we wish to limit. We are thus fully in line with the most recent EU-compliant legislation, including:
- REACH
- POPs
- Biocidal Product Regulation
- Swedish Product Safety Regulation
- Candidate SVHC list
Our products are also OEKO-TEX certified. As a market leader in work clothes, we have even chosen to go one step further. In 2016 we introduced a chemical compliance programme that enables us to produce test kits that can be provided to our customers on request. We’re proud to be able to provide this degree of transparency to concerned customers, and we’re committed to developing it even further.
Our other approaches to promoting better working conditions around the globe
We have also joined the UN Global Compact and follow its 10 principles of corporate responsibility regarding human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. To ensure that we maintain high standards, the labour standards in our code of conduct are based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as regards forced labour, child labour, freedom of association, compensation, working hours, workplace health and safety, and legally binding terms of employment.