Letter to Coast

I have written to Coast about their ethical practices, they do not have an ethical policy on their website, nor are they signed up with the Ethical Trading Initiative.  In the ‘Lets Clean up Fashion 2007′ report written by Labour behind the Label they are in the category of having ‘nothing to show’.  There is a lot they coud be doing to improve the treatment of their workers!  Clearly ethical trading and workers rights are not a priority for them, and they should be.

These are the questions I’ve asked them:

In which countries are clothing for Coast made?
In general, what percentage of the retail price of a garment goes to the worker who made it?
How do you determine how much to pay workers?
Do your workers have a contract with you and know that they can rely on a steady level of income?
Do you pay your workers in cash or through a bank? Do they have the opportunity to save money in a bank account that earns interest?
About cotton: Are you able to determine the conditions and pay that workers in the cotton factories are given? How about the cotton pickers?
How often do you visit your factories and assess the conditions in them?

I still haven’t had a response from Adams and Asda/George nor Boots, although I only wrote to Boots a few days back.  Boden rang me to talk about the letter I wrote to them, but I was out and they left a message, I hope to hear back from them in detail soon.

If you’re looking at my blog for the first time then the most useful info is on my ‘High Street’ page where I have listed High Street brands and their ethical credentials.  I hope what you find is useful – I couldn’t find a list like that anywhere else on the web.