Letter to Debenhams

Debenhams have an influential positoin on the British High Street as they not only sell their own clothing ranges, but also those of other designers such as: Jasper Conran, John Rocha, Betty Jackson, Julien MacDonald, Matthew Williamson, Pearce II Fionda, Ben De Lisi, Pip, Hackett and Ted Baker amongst others.

I have written to them to find out about their ethical standards.  As you will see on my ‘High Street’ page they are a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), however their ethical code of conduct is a little confusing.  They have a ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’ concerning ethical and fair treatment of their workers, but Debenhams don’t appear to have an ethical policy that applies to themselves – perhaps I am confused!

Here are the questions I have asked them:

In which countries do you have factories that produce your merchandise?
What percentage of the retail price of an item 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?
Do you carry out any audits on your suppliers to ensure they are complying with your ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’?
What action would you take if a supplier failed to meet the terms of your ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’?

When I receive the response from Debenhams I will post it on this website – please come back to see what they have to say!  Next and Boden have responded already, see their respective pages.