Goldfreeze – Beyond an Ethical Statement

Goldfreeze is committed to providing our customers with the highest quality products at the greatest value. We believe that the best method of meeting this commitment is to build strong relationships with like minded organisations that share our values and agree to our standards of business conduct. We subscribe fully to the relevant International Labour Organisation (ILO) & UNICEF conventions relating to labour issues, including child labour, regardless of the country or region we operate in.

At the core of everything we do, we seek to ensure that human dignity; safety and respect are upheld wherever we do business. Everyone of us has a part to play in supporting this through the choices we make. We will not profit from the misery or mistreatment of others. We take this stand because we believe it is the right thing to do socially, ethically and commercially and because we are all connected through our humanity.

As a business we are seeking transformation of our products, processes and thinking to a sustainable model. We subsrcibe to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Developmnet Goals for 2030. We have launched product sustainability standards within the business but aspire to go further though auditing our activities against our contribution to global sustainability. We are commited to contributing to the circular economy and aspire to fully recyclable products with zero landfill as soon as we possibily can

Legal Requirements           

We ensure that our business partners comply with all applicable legal standards and requirements of the country in which they are operating, as well as conforming to those of the United Kingdom. We take steps to ensure that International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations (UN) recommendations are adhered to specifically under UN SDG Goals

Good Health & Wellbeing
Gender Equality
Responsible Consumption & Production and Climate Action 

Environmental Standards & Aspirations     

All of our business partners must adhere to the laws of their nation regarding the protection and preservation
of the environment. As a minimum we require partners to certified or working towards EN ISO14001 for environmental standards.

Where possible we will support our partners to improve to meet higher level international
standards as required. As a business we are commited to support UN SDG's concering
responsible production and climate action. We have established a Sustainability Mark for our clothing to
identify to customers and stakeholders our commitment to product sustainability from fibre to end of life disposal 

Employment Practices

All of our business partners must agree:

• To ensure that the rights of the workers are upheld and maintained in accordance to ILO, UN and national regulations.
• Not to utilize child labour as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations (UN) standards and/or national standards, whichever is the higher.
• Not to utilize forced labour, including prison or any other compulsory labour.
• To undertake either the Sedex Members Ethical Trading Audit (SMETA) or the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) Annually

Child Labour

We define child labour as anyone under the age of 16 years, however the ILO define a child labourer as anyone less than 14 years of age. We require our suppliers to declare anyone under the age of 16 working directly or indirectly in the production of our products. We also require our partners to clearly state what education provision, working conditions and pay any under 16 year olds are receiving.

Working Conditions

We are committed to providing a safe and healthy place of work and to treating employees fairly and in compliance with the law. All of our partners must share in this commitment. We recognise that cultural differences exist and standards vary from country to country but as a minimum we expect our partners to adhere to the following:

• Health, safety and other workplace standards must meet all local laws and safety regulations.
• Employees must not be discriminated against because of personal characteristics or beliefs.
• Employees must be compensated fairly for all hours worked and at rates that meet local industry standards.
• Worker housing, where provided must meet the same standards for health and safety as the workplace.

Monitoring

Compliance with these standards is a contractual requirement for all our supply partners. They are agreed in writing as terms of engagement and monitored annually. We are members of SEDEX  Registriaton Number ZC280200256. We ensure all partners undertake the Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) or BCSI Audit annually

In order to allow us to effectively monitor and audit these standards, we expect our business partners to provide full access to all production facilities and all records that relate to employment practices within the organisation. We request and require measures such as on-site inspection of facilities and records in order to accommodate the implementation and monitoring of these standards.

Non compliance or breach of these terms and standards will result in Goldfreeze bringing action against the partner in question, initially through recommendation and sanction and ultimately through termination of our relationship if progress is not made.

We are transitioning to internal and external audits based on the 17 United Nations SDG Goals. We will publish our audits annually as part of our commitment to sustainable organisational development

Conclusion

We will strive to ensure that we continually monitor international legislation and standards to continually improve our operations and the conditions of our partner suppliers.