Integrity of the supply chain
The lines of action followed by Inditex to ensure a stable and sustainable supply chain include making sure that the Group has accurate knowledge on its suppliers, performing exhaustive assessments of suppliers and helping them to improve and optimize the working conditions of their employees.
The integrity of the supply chain is directly linked to the protection of human rights established in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Inditex’s commitment and duty to ensuring the responsible management of the supply chain involves identifying working areas where the Group can contribute to improving conditions in the sector in each of the countries where it operates, creating sustainable and productive environments and contributing to vitally important aims such as reducing inequality (SDG 10), the protection of health and wellbeing (SDG 3), or the promotion of decent work and inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8).
Inditex’s Code of Conduct for Manufacturers and Suppliers, and its Compliance Programme that ensures their implementation are the cornerstones of Inditex’s efforts to manage and strengthen the supply chain. As part of this, in 2013 Inditex approved its Strategic Plan for a Stable and Sustainable Supply Chain 2014-2018, which continues to expand on the Group’s work in this sphere.
Inditex’s CSR policy
On 9 December 2015, Inditex’s Board of Directors approved Inditex’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, which sets out the principles that the Group adheres to in its relations with stakeholders, fostering the inclusion of sustainable practices in its business model. The policy covers:
- The principles governing relations with stakeholders: The policy establishes the priorities and foundations for ongoing dialogue and transparency with Inditex’s main stakeholders
- Monitoring and consulting mechanisms: The Group has a Committee of Ethics, internal body reporting to the Board of Directors, that ensures compliance with the Code of Conduct and a Social Council that is the advisory body that tackles sustainability.
- Communication of CSR practices: Transparency is a fundamental principle that inspires Inditex in all of its communication activities. In order to achieve transparency, the Group utilizes of various communication tools that include the corporate website and Annual Report.
Strategic Plan for a Stable and Sustainable Supply Chain 2014-2018
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights of 2011 and the Sustainable Development Goals approved by General Assembly in 2015 have set the sustainability agenda for the coming years. Inditex is committed to contributing to efforts to protect human rights and achieve the SDGs. To this end, it advocates a model of sustainability that guides its activities as a responsible and company committed to social progress.
Inditex aims to offer fashion products produced with rigorous respect for human rights in all of the Group’s actions and compliance with the most demanding environmental and health and safety standards, based on transparency and ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.
Principles that inspire Inditex in its sustainability policies and programmes:
- The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which developed the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework principles informally known as the Ruggie Framework. .
- Principles of the United Nations Global Compact.
- Fundamental labour standards deriving from the Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organization.
- ETI Base Code of the Ethical Trading Initiative.
- Framework Agreement with IndustriALL Global Union
“In this new scenario, the private sector plays a fundamental role in the success of each of the global Sustainable Development Goals’’
Ban Ki-moon – General Secretary of the United Nations
Inditex’s Strategic Plan for a stable and sustainable supply chain 2014-2018 stems from the Group’s conviction that companies have a vital role in promoting and protecting human rights, fundamental labour rights, and the standards set by the most relevant institutions on sustainability. This plan sets out the four main lines of action in responsible management of the supply chain: identification, assessment, optimization and sustainability. It also establishes measurable strategic objectives for 2018 for each of these lines of action.
Since the Strategic Plan was implemented in 2014, Inditex has steadily advanced towards fulfilling the goals it contains, working to develop each of the different lines of action.
Strategic Plan for a Stable and Sustainable Supply Chain 2014-2018
During 2015, the team of more than 100 people that make up Inditex’s Sustainability Department worked to implement the plan at the internal level along with other departments within the company and with the support of stakeholders. Each of the objectives covers different concepts, from forging relationships with suppliers based on trust and cooperation to worker participation and in continual improvement, among others.