Sustainable management

All of the suppliers and manufacturers that work with us must uphold our Code of Conduct for Manufacturers and Suppliers. To ensure they comply with it, last year we conducted 17,477 audits, including pre-assessment, traceability, social, environmental and special audits.

As a result of our philosophy of bringing our suppliers along with us in our growth, whenever we detect a breach, we work with our suppliers on remediation plans. In 2021, we put together 1,153 corrective action plans. Although our suppliers and manufacturers enjoy the full support of our sustainability teams, if they fail to display willingness to improve or to comply with the remedial measures stipulated within the required deadlines, they will no longer be allowed to produce for Inditex.

Responsible supply chain management starts with traceability, defined as the ability to identify and trace the performance, use, location and distribution of products, parts and materials. Accordingly, our suppliers are required to report the factories involved in fulfilling each order received, broken down by units and processes. Each supplier is responsible for the factories it uses and must work with Inditex to ensure they all comply with our sustainability standards.

To ensure the products made for Inditex are made in declared and authorised factories, in 2021 we conducted 6,119 traceability audits, in which the reported facilities are visited without advance warning to verify the productive processes available, any production in progress and that already completed and to cross-check the audit findings with the information on record in the Company's traceability tool.