This is an exclusive news excerpt from Ragtrader's December edition. The edition also includes exclusive news on Asos, The Iconic, Myer, American Apparel, Cotton On and more. To subscribe, click here.
Ragtrader can reveal that adventure retailer Kathmandu has terminated its relationship with a supplier after it failed consecutive audits in 2015 and 2016.
Kathmandu confirmed it had put in place a remediation plan for the supplier since 2013.
“Therefore the latest critical figures were not acceptable.
"The supplier received social compliance training in 2014, in place of a re-audit to enable improvement.
"Whilst the supplier had remained willing to improve, their audit history was poor.”
The critical failures of the offshore factory were working hours, non-payment of minimum wage, insufficient overtime wage, attempts to hide the kitchen and a blocked emergency exit.
Kathmandu identified 13 failed assessments in its review of factories this year (37% of suppliers) as having potential negative human rights impacts.
Kathmandu has a range of corrective action plans to work through issues with its vendor base.