Asos calls on fashion brands to sign modern slavery pledge

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 27, 2019

Asos has co-hosted a forum with Baroness Lola Young at the House of Lords to review its progress in tackling modern slavery and challenge fashion brands to join its efforts.

The fashion e-tailer said third party brands including Dr Martens, Missguided, New Look and River Island have already signed its pledge, which asks brands to commit to five steps to improve the lives of workers in the supply chain and eradicate modern slavery.

It was the second modern slavery forum held by the fashion company after an inaugural session which addressed key risks in the apparel sector last year.

Nick Beighton, chief executive of Asos said: “With a growing legislative focus on modern slavery, there’s never been a better time to act together to drive systemic change in the industry. That’s why we’re calling on those present to join us in signing our pledge to tackle modern slavery and move beyond commitment to more concrete action and collaboration.”

Ben Lewis, CEO of River Island commented: ‘We are serious about tackling modern slavery so the pledge we have signed continues the work that we have already started with Asos in this area. We encourage other brands to join us in eradicating human rights abuses in our supply chains.”

Baroness Young, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion, added: “I am pleased to see several major high street brands sign a pledge committing to take active steps to eradicate modern slavery in their supply chains. By doing this, they show that there is space for pre-competitive collaboration when it comes to ensuring human rights due diligence. I very much hope that other brands will follow suit.”
 
The Asos pledge calls for brands to work collaboratively to identify modern slavery risks and develop tools and resources to raise awareness, train employees about risks within their business and supply chain, publish modern slavery statements and participate in an annual meeting to review their progress.
 
As part of its efforts to combat modern slavery, Asos said it has delivered workshops and online resources for third party brands in collaboration with Anti-Slavery International and the London College of Fashion in the last 12 months.