Fast Forward: ethical supply chains and addressing worker exploitation

It almost goes without saying that ethical trading and manufacturing is becoming increasingly important for apparel retailers to implement in their day-to-day business operations. An increase in demand from consumers to know the sustainability practices of companies they affiliate with, has led to brands taking new avenues to ensure this is evidenced.

Employee welfare and worker exploitation should be taken seriously in any workplace, however these factors are not being detected by social compliance audits.

Here at Elite Labels, we are doing all we can to avoid this happening in our supply chain and joined the Fast Forward Supplier Engagement Programme to achieve and exceed legal and ethical standards.

What is Fast Forward?

Fast Forward Supplier Engagement is a not-for-profit programme whose aim is to support retailers and suppliers to continuously improve labour standards.

The enterprise was developed to create an ethical UK supply base to allow workers and businesses to operate on a level playing field.

Established in 2014 with the help of apparel retailers, Fast forward identified that regular audits are not thorough enough, often meaning serious issues get brushed under the carpet. To defeat this, being a part of the Fast Forward Programme gives access to their “cutting edge” methodology to uncover these matters.

Why Elite Labels is partnering with Fast Forward?

At Elite Labels, we are focused on delivering our employees a stable and understanding work environment. Joining Fast Forward has allowed us to do this in a number of ways:

• Continuous improvements through the access to pragmatic, good practice guidance resources and training
• Recognition of suppliers enabling worker voice and access to credible grievance mechanisms
• Drive audit consistency to ensure that quality is maintained across the business
• The forensic audit methodology helps uncover hidden worker exploitation whilst also recognising good practices within the supply base
• Empower employees through building relationships, increasing loyalty and engagement throughout the workplace

At Elite Labels, we are taking every opportunity to make our supply chain sustainable and ethical. We are delighted to be a part of Fast Forward to guarantee the welfare of our workers does not falter, and continue to look for ways to improve in any way we can.