1. Exhaustive control of our products
The core of Inditex's commitment to social responsibility towards its customers is to offer a standard of excellence in all the products it markets, guaranteeing that these entail no health or safety risks. Over the last ten years, Inditex has designed and implemented a strategy of its own to ensure this objective is met and this strategy has three main characteristics:
- Global: it covers the processes involved in the manufacture of the clothing, footwear and accessories marketed.
- Customised: adapted to meet the specific characteristics of Inditex’s supply, distribution and sales chains and the needs and requirements of customers.
- Continuous enhancement: improving each process separately and as a whole.
The strategies and actions that form part of this commitment, drawn up by Inditex's CSR Department in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela, are reflected in its own standards regarding product health and safety, Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear, which incorporate the most demanding regulations in the subject to be found anywhere in the world.
Clear to Wear (CTW)
This is Inditex's product health standard and it is applicable and obligatory for all clothing products, footwear, accessories, fabrics and complements. The aim of this is to eliminate or regulate the use of substances of legally limited use.
Safe to Wear (STW)
This is Inditex's product safety standard and it is applicable and obligatory for all products. It was drawn up in accordance with the strictest legislation and is kept up-to-date. Safe to Wear is designed to guarantee the safety of all articles marketed by Inditex.
Moreover, the implementation and monitoring programmes to supervise compliance with the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards throughout Inditex's entire supply chain employ tools based on cooperation, dialogue, training, innovation and updating, all part of a thoroughly proactive strategy.
Inditex sets up channels of cooperation with:
- Business associations, suppliers, manufacturers and auxiliary firms to ensure these share the responsibility of producing items that are both safe and healthy
- Universities and research bodies to introduce improvements into the methods used on the production and analysis of the products and into the technological training of its own employees and external personnel
- External supervisors to optimise the test and control procedures conducted to ensure product health and safety
- Other textile companies, technology providers as well as regulating and monitoring bodies to join forces. Inditex participates as an active member in the most important world forums where leading companies of the sectors can exchange experiences regarding matters of health and safety as well as in international expert groups that advise the regulating bodies: American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the Spanish Association for Quality (AEC in Spanish) and the Spanish Group for Standardisation of Safe Textiles (part of the Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification - AENOR)
In addition, Inditex is immersed in an active dialogue with its suppliers and manufacturers to ensure proper compliance with the limits established in the standards and to replace those processes that are incompatible with the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear provisions.
At the same time, the Group develops training plans for internal and external agents in all aspects related to the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards: a safe product begins with responsible design and ends with proper marketing procedures. The aim of these plans is to avoid gaps in scientific or technical knowledge and in the transfer of information in the supply chain.
On the other hand, Inditex innovates in an effort to develop and implement new manufacturing, analysis and control procedures that are quicker, more rigorous and more sensitive when detecting substances regulated in Clear to Wear. At the same time the standards are updated to include legal modifications or new regulations that have a bearing on the matters of health and safety in textile products.
Initiatives for the implementation of Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards
The Clear To Wear and Safe To Wear standards are constantly being reviewed to ensure they are kept up-to-date. In this way it is possible to broaden their scope, perfect methods of analysis and create support tools for suppliers to help them comply with the standard. Furthermore, in an effort to guarantee the implementation of Clear To Wear, programmes have been developed to disseminate its contents and regulations – which are binding – among all Inditex suppliers, and to improve the monitoring protocols in order to ensure all products meet this Inditex standard. With this objective in mind, a network of laboratories was set up to analyse the products manufactured for the Group as determined by the procedures designed specifically for its production line. In addition, technical support programmes have been implemented for suppliers to help them comply with the standards.
Years of experience have made it possible to detect specific areas of action that involve the whole supply chain, including the suppliers of auxiliary products.
Specific programmes
Supplier technical training and guidance programme
Inditex's CSR Department, in collaboration with leading scientific and technological institutions and companies, has created a training and technological support programme for all players involved in the supply chain. The actions carried out were tailor-made to suit each specific objective and each Group involved.
Work groups including suppliers and manufacturers were set up to deal with specific aspects of Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear and these groups were adapted to meet the geographical, technological, environmental and cultural characteristics of the regional production clusters.
Number attending the technical training and guidance programmes for suppliers
|
|
2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | 12 | 32 |
| Number attending | 358 | 514 |
The CSR Department created panels of experts in matters of product health and safety in all the brands within the Inditex group with the following objectives:
- Give continuous training to the commercial and design teams of each brand in all matters related to product health and safety
- Provide on-site technical assistance in the day-to-day operation of the commercial and design teams
- Reduce the amount of time needed to detect any possible breaches and provide solutions or technical assistance tailored to suit the specific types of product on each brand
Decentralise the analysis and test management process that determine compliance with standards to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear monitoring system
Internal CSR teams specialised in product health and safety
|
|
2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Peronnel in the internal teams | 30 | 43 |
Specific product health and safety training programmes were designed and developed for Inditex personnel so that they could identify potential areas for improvement in the design and manufacturing processes at the earliest possible stage on desing and production.
Training to internal teams in product health and safety
|
|
2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Courses | 17 | 39 |
| Number attending | 678 | 603 |
Guidelines and Implementation Toolkits for Suppliers were drawn up to provide technical guidance to external suppliers in specific aspects related to compliance with the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards.
These manuals are the result of technological innovation activities aimed at solving specific problems affecting quality that were carried out in collaboration with leading companies in the clothing, dry cleaning, chemical products sector, among others. The procedures developed provide technological alternatives to the methods used up to now.
Monitoring programme for compliance with standards
In collaboration with external analytical service and test providers and the University of Santiago de Compostela, two analytical centres of reference were set up making it possible to increase the capacity to monitor compliance of the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards by more than 400% and reduce analysis times by 30% in the last two financial years.
A pilot programme (Picking Project) was designed and implemented to control garments during the production phase so as to detect any possible breach that may affect product health at the earliest possible stage on the manufacturing process. The project involves making technical inspection visits to factories while the articles are being manufactured, randomly selecting a representative number of finished items before the manufacturing process has finished and then carrying out tests and analyses of the clothing to ensure they meet the Clear
to Wear provisions.
During 2012, 34,921 inspection visits were paid to factories and more than 1.4 million tests and support analyses were carried out as part of this programme. The number of external supervisors increased by 79%.
To strengthen the compliance of external suppliers with the Clear to Wear standard and provide technological guidance as regards good textile and leather manufacturing practices, technical assistance visits (TAVs) were carried out.
The TAV programme was developed in collaboration with international companies with many years experience with good textile and leather manufacturing practices.
The objectives of the TAV programme are:
- Raise awareness throughout the entire supply chain regarding product health and safety.
- Transform, improve and consolidate the supply chains of Inditex's direct suppliers
- Instruct the supply chain on good textile and leather manufacturing practices.
- Design corrective actions that will make it possible to increase the added value of the products provided by each supplier individually
The process involved in the technical assistance visits includes visiting the installations of the direct supplier and all their manufacturing centres. During these visits an exhaustive assessment is made of the machinery available, the chemical substances used and the internal processes in place. Lastly, personalised advice is provided regarding the corrective measures in question. During this financial year, over 1,100 visits were made to suppliers as part of this programme.
During 2012, 34,900 inspection visits and more than 1.4 million tests and analyses were carried out
Programme to optimise responsible practices in the use of auxiliary chemical products on the supply chain
The strategy used up to now to promote compliance with the Clear to Wear standard in the articles marketed by Inditex prioritises communication with and training of the suppliers of finished articles and their supply chains with regards the provisions included in the Clear to Wear standard and the binding nature of their compliance. It also places special emphasis on monitoring compliance of finished articles.
Inditex's CSR Department, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela and leading companies in the auxiliary product sector for the textile industry, has started up a support programme (Bridging the Information and Knowledge Gap) that aims to broaden the level of information available and provide more details of the substance content in auxiliary products, encourage the application of new synthesis technologies for these auxiliary products and develop a programme to increase the training given to the suppliers of finished articles in terms of chemical safety (chemical-knowledge empowerment) and to their value chains.
Innovation programme
In the two analytical centres of reference for Inditex, established in Spain and Turkey, a research and development programme was implemented to broaden and widen the analyses of substances regulated by Inditex’s standards standards. The centres have been provided with the most accurate analytical equipment and have special units to support the activities of the technical guidance programme for manufacturers and suppliers.
Cooperation programme
Inditex, as a leading company in the textile sector, is resolutely determined to move forward to a point where the true value of the experience acquired and the collaborative networks set up in the process comprising the creation, implementation and monitoring of the Clear To Wear and Safe To Wear standards are shared and properly appreciated. The transference of knowledge, solutions, technical procedures, experiences and values to bodies of reference in the textile sector, which may act as agents for change at a national or regional level, is an essential tool to facilitate the universal adoption of ideal manufacturing and quality control practices by all manufacturers and suppliers.
Within this framework of cooperation, agreements have been set up with business associations for textile exporters in Bangladesh and Turkey, two of the world's largest textile producers, to increase their involvement in the programme to implant and monitor Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards in their respective countries.
The PIN Standard Project first started in 2010 and is a collaborative effort carried out between the University of Dhaka, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Its aim is to support the efforts made by BGMEA to implement a product health and safety system within the textile sector in Bangladesh and, as part of this project, steps have been taken to promote the creation and equipping of a laboratory of reference to monitor the implementation of the product health and safety provisions contained in the PIN Standard, comparable to those established in the Clear to Wear and Safe to Wear standards. In 2011, Inditex established partnership agreements and drew up a project for a laboratory, which was effectively launched in 2012. Inditex's promotion and support activities are rounded off by the training of technical personnel and lab management staff along with the transference of knowledge and monitoring and analysis methodologies.
In addition, Inditex began a collaborative project with the Istanbul Ready-Made Garment Exporters’ Association (ITKIB), through its laboratory EKOTEKS, to ensure its involvement in the implantation of the Clear To Wear and Safe To Wear standards and in monitoring compliance of the articles produced in Turkey. The activities to be carried out range from using the EKOTEKS laboratory to analyse and test articles manufactured in Turkey to collaborating with training and technological guidance initiatives.
