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"Corporate Responsibility is a core part of our business strategy."

Our Approach

Corporate responsibility (CR) is a core part of our business strategy.

Our central CR team is based in London, Hong Kong and mainland China, and is available as a resource to all Pentland brands and employees.

Every employee has a role to play in helping us be responsible. We raise awareness about CR through regular training sessions, posts on our internal blog and resources on the company intranet. All new starters and graduate scheme participants will receive an introduction to CR as part of our induction process.

CR Strategy

As one of the pioneers in sourcing footwear from Asia, we have historically focused our CR efforts and resources on ethical trade. This work continues, but we have broadened our approach to encompass the full range of our impacts and activities.

Our CR strategy comprises four pillars:

Product: Looking at ways to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the materials and processes used to make our products...Read more.
Environment: Measuring and reducing the environmental impacts of our facilities and business travel...Read more.
Ethical Trade: Assessing our supply chain to improve conditions for workers worldwide...
Read more.
Community: Supporting local communities and charities...Read more.

Policies

Our Business Standards Policies are integral to the way we do business. They include:

Code of Business Conduct: Makes clear our expected standards of behaviour towards employees, customers, suppliers and the wider community.
Employment Standards Policy:
Sets out our commitment to respect and protect the health, safety and rights at work of our employees and our suppliers' employees.
Code of Employment Standards for Suppliers: Specifies our expectations for business partners' treatment of the workers who make our products and is consistent with the Ethical Trading Initiative's Base Code.
Environmental Policy:
States our position on minimising the environmental impacts of our products and operations, while safeguarding the health and safety of our employees and the public.

We comply with all the legal and regulatory requirements of each country in which we operate and our policies are consistent with internationally-recognised International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. See the Resources Page for copies of these policies. Read more.

We have also introduced a revised Ethics and Integrity Policy and Policy, Standards and Guidelines on Managing Restricted Substances. Read more.

Partnerships

We partner with others to understand CR trends, share experiences and resources and build relationships that make progress possible. We work at a local and global level, with business alliances, governments, non-governmental and advocacy organisations, community groups and charities.

Pentland is a long-standing member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), established in 1998. The ETI brings together companies, trade unions and voluntary organisations and promotes positive engagement between its members with the goal of improving workers' lives.

We are also part of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), an independent, non-profit association that supports and coordinates industry collaboration in areas such as CR, trade and intellectual property.

In 2001 Pentland signed up to the UN Global Compact (UNGC), an initiative to help businesses align their operations and strategies with ten principles on human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. We communicate annually to the UNGC on our corporate responsibility progress. Read more.

Other recent collaborations include the Better Work Programme (Read more) and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. (Read more).

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