More information about River Island can be found on the company’s website.
Information about River Island’s Worldwide Ethical Policy can be found on the company’s website. The policy itself is not there, but River Island is a member of the UK's Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The ETI is an alliance of 'companies trade unions and voluntary organisations'. It seeks to 'improve the lives of workers across the globe who make or grow consumer goods' (ETI website). All members of the ETI sign up to the ETI's base code, which is based on International Labour Organisation conventions and includes a commitment to a living wage. The full ETI code can be found on the ETI’s website.
We asked River Island whether their Worldwide Ethical Policy ‘fully incorporates all elements of the ETI base code?’ River Island told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘The World Wide Ethical Policy… does incorporate all elements of the ETI base code.’
We asked River Island about this. However the company was not able to confirm that it is the case. In an email dated 17 August 2012, they said only:
‘It [The Worldwide Ethical Policy] is being reviewed so once finalised we’ll be able to share more.’
We asked River Island whether they ‘have any programmes underway to assess what a living wage is in the countries from which you source and to assess whether suppliers are paid enough for workers to be given a living wage?’ The company responded in an email dated 16 August 2012 to say:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… community programmes.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding factory locations.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… audits.’
River Island’s website states:
‘Our World Wide Ethical Policy will continue to form the cornerstone of the way we do business. To support this policy, our buying and technical teams regularly visit our factories throughout the year and actively engage with our manufacturing partners and other key stakeholders in identifying areas for improvement.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… audits.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… audits.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… audits.’
We asked River Island about this. They told us in an email dated 16 August 2012:
‘We don’t currently breakdown that level of information regarding… community programmes.’