River Island

Download River Island's Submission (pdf)

Responded to survey: Yes

MSI involvement: yes, Ethical Trading Initiative [what's this?]

Grade 1: Accepts the principle of a living wage, but applies legal minimum/industry benchmark. [what's this?]

Summary

The first time it has responded to our survey; River Island have a long way to go if they are to make any real effort to engage with the issues.

Position on living wages

‘We fully support the principle of a living wage. Although we are not working on a specific project on this, as a member of the ETI we have adopted their base code and we are confident, but not complacent about, the standards and practices of our suppliers.’

Position on freedom of association

Work so far on living wages

None mentioned

Plans on living wages

‘We are considering various projects.’

Other significant information

None

Our comments

Its good to see River Island taking part in our survey, and that they have appointed a new head of CSR, which will hopefully result in us seeing them start to take action on the issues. As a recent member of the ETI it is clear there is much work to do to catch up with some of its high street competitors.

River Island’s current belief, that its choice of good suppliers and sourcing countries
is enough to ensure their code of conduct is implemented, leaves space for improvement. Our experience shows that conditions in these production areas
continue to give cause for concern in regard to both wage levels and associational
rights. As it starts out on the ethical trade path we would encourage River Island
to learn from others mistakes and work to develop and implement credible and
meaningful strategies for addressing these issues.