Where are my clothes coming from?

Sustainable & fair –
where do my clothes come from?

A sustainable lifestyle is gaining more and more importance in our social life. On the one hand, sustainable fashion which is produced using natural materials in a resource-saving manner, but on the other hand: the production conditions are also becoming important. The most common question is: Where do my clothes come from? Nowadays a large part of our clothing is still produced at low cost countries like Bangladesh, India or China. The conditions in the local factories are not on a decent level: a low wage which is not enough to live on, inhuman working conditions and a dramatic environmental pollution during the production. These conditions are often the order of the day.

So how can you be sure that you are buying a Fairtrade product? To wear fashion with a good feeling, there are various quality seals and certificates that guarantee a transparent supply chain and require high social standards. You can find all most important seals at one glance here:

GOTS bioRe® amfori

Fur Free Retailer

GOTS

GERRY WEBER has been GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified since 2017. This world-leading standard guarantees the use of textiles from (at least 70%) organically produced natural fibres.

GOTS makes it possible for us to offer products that are audited and certified across the entire textile production chain from the production of the fibres to the items landing on the shelves, complying with extensive social criteria all along the way. This standard encompasses production, manufacture, packaging, labelling, trade and sale of all textiles.

amfori

Since 2010, GERRY WEBER has been a member of the amfori Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). amfori BSCI is an initiative for retailers, industrial companies and importers for the monitoring and improvement of social standards and working conditions at suppliers as well as at farms in a worldwide value chain.

We obligate our suppliers to comply with the social standards set by the amfori BSCI code of conduct and work together with them towards finding practical solutions for quality assurance and continuous improvement.

Fur Free Retailer

To protect animals and promote animal welfare, we do not use real fur, angora wool, sheep mulesing or feathers and down from live plucking or foie gras production.

We obligate our suppliers to observe all national and international laws and regulations on animal welfare. We use only leather and fur from livestock animals, which means animals that are bred for the meat industry and not for leather production.

bioRe® Sustainable Textiles

All pieces of clothing labelled with the bioRe® Sustainable Textiles quality seal are 100% traceable and are produced from skin-friendly organic cotton, fairly and carbon neutrally. They are made in collaboration with the Switzerland-based textile company Remei AG, with the raw material coming from the bioRe® Foundation’s farming projects in India and Tansania.

How does the tracking work?

By purchasing a bioRe® product, you get a transparent insight into the fair and CO2-neutral supply chain. At www.my-trace.ch you can enter the label number, to see and follow all production steps, from cotton cultivation till the toxin-free production.

What makes bioRe® cotton
so unique?

➡

You know the origin of your cotton

BioRe® cotton comes from the cultivation projects bioRe® India and bioRe® Tanzania.

Transparent production

Every step in the production process can be easily tracked – starting from the cotton seeds, which are free of genetic manipulation.

You give strength to the organic farmers

The farmers who work in the bioRe® cultivation projects, are involved in a participatory way and see themselves as independent members of their community. The Remei AG supports their autonomy by offering a contribution of 15% above the conventional market price for cotton, a guarantee for purchasing and pre-financing the seeds.

Organic cotton: one with nature

bioRe® organic cotton is produced without chemical synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This form of cultivation is good for soil fertility and biodiversity, it also keeps the water, air and soil clean from chemical waste.

Our code of conduct

We have set strict ecological standards for ourselves. As the basis of our business relationship, all of our suppliers must sign an agreement stating that they will comply with these social and ecological standards. Our suppliers are audited regularly to ensure they are complying with these standards.

We have also developed a code of conduct which applies to all our 1800 employees worldwide and which declares our firm commitment to responsible trading in our day-to-day work.