Our Supply Chain

Fruit of the Loom, Inc., operates an integrated supply chain. This means we make the majority (82% in 2022) of what we sell in our own facilities. We have more than 27,000 employees at locations across 11 countries — with 2 textile mills, 2 sporting goods manufacturing sites, 13 sewing and packaging facilities, 14 distribution centers and 10 offices. This gives us more operational and financial control to improve our environmental and social impact.

We also source from other suppliers across the globe and, in some cases, license our trademarks to be used on specific goods in a limited territory. Sourcing and licensing allow us to expand our product offerings to consumers. Detailed agreements are in place that set the terms for our engagement. We have published a complete list of all of our owned facilities, our direct suppliers, and licensees’ suppliers since 2012.

Resources for Suppliers 

To access our Supplier Resources, click HERE.

Supplier Relationships

Our engagement with direct suppliers and their workforce includes independent assessments, on-site and virtual visits, educational workshops, performance reviews, and access to remedy for complaints and grievances.

Social Compliance Assessments

An assessment is a lens that shows a snapshot of conditions as they are at a moment in time. Facilities are typically assessed on site annually (in some cases, every other year) through Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP), amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA), or Workplace Conditions Assessment (WCA). We have strategically partnered with these organizations based on:

• An independent view of working conditions by assessors with social auditing competencies aligned with the Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA)
• Local expertise of language, culture, and regulations
• Level of alignment with our Code of Conduct
• Requirements of our customers

The assessment lasts one to five days depending on the size of the facility and includes:

• a walkthrough of the entire physical facility and working environment;
• a review of documentation such as internal policies, procedures, payroll records, and training records;
• private interviews with workers.

By the end of each assessment, the factory management is informed of any opportunities for improvement. When major violations of the Code of Conduct are observed, assessments may occur more frequently until the major findings are corrected. In these cases, our supply chain sustainability team works closely with the facility staff to provide support to examine the root cause, develop a preventative action plan, and assign a person responsible for implementing each area of improvement within a specified timeframe.

Visits

Full-time staff are located in key manufacturing regions supporting operations. Locally-based Operations Engineers are in factories on a monthly basis for monitoring our production requirements and safety. Supply Chain Sustainability Managers select facilities in any of our sourcing countries to visit throughout the year for a full range of issues, tailored for the location of the facility and our previous engagement. The factory visits cover factory safety walkthroughs, social compliance assessment remediation support, and assessment preparation assistance.

Educational Workshops

Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) workshops are an integral part of educating our supply chain and business partners. The workshops are held annually which include factories, licensees, and our internal supply chain managers. The material covered ranges from key current social compliance issues, changes or improvements to our company’s CSR policies, CSR concerns or experiences from suppliers, and sharing of best practices.

Monthly Performance Reviews

Strategic suppliers are measured monthly for on-time shipment, product quality, social responsibility, and lead time. There are both scorecard metrics and opportunities to incentivize supplier performance in each category, including social responsibility. Top performing suppliers are recognized annually and receive continued business in alignment with the overall sourcing strategy. Suppliers below the defined threshold must develop an action plan to improve the relevant indicators. Where there is a lack of commitment to improve, the sourcing team evaluates the relationship.

Access to Remedy

Workers within our supply chain must have access to a channel at their facility by which to communicate complaints or grievances for resolution. Examples of these channels include:

1. Speaking verbally with a worker representative, union representative, supervisor, or other manager
2. Submitting a written grievance in a physical box, email, social media, or other mobile application

The reporting channels must be confidential and at least one channel must have the option for the complainant to remain anonymous.

For situations in which the issue has not been addressed by the employer to the worker’s satisfaction, workers are able to reach out to our company directly through a dedicated phone line, email inbox and web form. We work together with the worker and facility to reach a resolution, and at no point in the process may the complainant be subject to retaliation. See our latest sustainability report for information about grievances we received.

New Suppliers

When our sourcing team identifies a potential manufacturer, the facility working environment must first meet the expectations in our Code of Conduct. If the observed conditions in a social compliance assessment do not meet our expectations, the facility is not permitted to begin manufacturing our products until requested improvements are implemented.

For more details about expectations for suppliers, read our Supplier Guidelines and Code of Conduct Benchmarks here.

Licensing Partners

Our licensees follow our Licensee-owned or FOTL-owned Social Compliance Programs. Licensees that meet our criteria for the Licensee-owned Program have robust supply chain monitoring practices in place to manage supply chain compliance with our Code of Conduct. Licensees in the FOTL-owned Program follow the same requirements as our direct suppliers. For more details, see our Licensee Social Compliance Manual.

The map and list of facilities below are refreshed daily from our internal system, and the facility details (parent company, product, employees, address) are updated at least annually. All final assembly and subcontractor facilities are included for our global business.