企業責任
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2009年に行った、H&Mの事業、商品、サプライチェーンをよりサステナブルに行うための活動内容を説明します。H&Mのサステナビリティレポート、“Style & Substance” をアクセスするには、ここをクリックしてください。このレポートはH&Mウェブサイトでご確認いただけます。英語のPDFのダウンロードも可能です。
Ingrid Schullström will not publish any new posts, as she has left her position as head of CSR for new assignments within H&M. Instead, you will be able to read regular sustainability updates here. Click to read Ingrid's previous posts.
2010.09.08
Ever thought of how your jeans got that worn look, before you have had a chance to wear them? One way of creating it is by sandblasting them.
Sandblasting is a method of finishing e.g. denim garments, involving blasting the fabric with sand from air compressors, that has been used by manufacturers for a number of years. When this method is used strict health and safety measures must observed to protect workers from potentially serious health consequences, such as silicosis.
H&M has had health and safety requirements for sandblasting for several years. Like all other Code of Conduct requirements, monitoring of sandblasting practices has been part of our extensive Full Audit Programme. At the same time, securing that these standards are being observed at all times by all of our suppliers and their subcontractors has proven difficult. In order to make certain that no worker producing denim garments for H&M risks his or her health, we have decided to quit purchasing and retailing sandblasted products.
H&M has joined forces with Levi Strauss & Co. and together we are proud to announce a ban on sandblasting in all of our product lines, across all of our brands.
Consequently, we will request that our suppliers use other methods, such as scraping, to give denim garments that worn look. Our audit teams will, however, continue to monitor health and safety standards at factories that sandblast other buyers’ products, to promote manufacturing practices with respect for workers’ health and safety.
We hope that our customers appreciate this initiative for safer working conditions and encourage them to learn more about what H&M does to make your fashion more sustainable.
Read more
2010.09.08
Ever thought of how your jeans got that worn look, before you have had a chance to wear them? One way of creating it is by sandblasting them.
Sandblasting is a method of finishing e.g. denim garments, involving blasting the fabric with sand from air compressors, that has been used by manufacturers for a number of years. When this method is used strict health and safety measures must observed to protect workers from potentially serious health consequences, such as silicosis.
H&M has had health and safety requirements for sandblasting for several years. Like all other Code of Conduct requirements, monitoring of sandblasting practices has been part of our extensive Full Audit Programme. At the same time, securing that these standards are being observed at all times by all of our suppliers and their subcontractors has proven difficult. In order to make certain that no worker producing denim garments for H&M risks his or her health, we have decided to quit purchasing and retailing sandblasted products.
H&M has joined forces with Levi Strauss & Co. and together we are proud to announce a ban on sandblasting in all of our product lines, across all of our brands.
Consequently, we will request that our suppliers use other methods, such as scraping, to give denim garments that worn look. Our audit teams will, however, continue to monitor health and safety standards at factories that sandblast other buyers’ products, to promote manufacturing practices with respect for workers’ health and safety.
We hope that our customers appreciate this initiative for safer working conditions and encourage them to learn more about what H&M does to make your fashion more sustainable.
2010.07.02
Regarding garment production in Bangladesh, you can read a post made by Ingrid Schullström, H&M's former head of CSR, below. This post was originally published in Ingrid's blog on March 9 2010.
The role of garment export in the development of countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia is a subject I have been reflecting over for many years. After writing about the tragic fire in Bangladesh the other day, I started again to think about the conflicting expectations we meet from various stakeholders in connection with our import from for example Bangladesh.
According to BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) the garment industry stands for 75% of the country’s export, employing 2,5 million workers in 4700 factories (2007-08). Twenty years ago the industry employed only 400.000 workers. The growth of the garment export in the last twenty years has created 2 million jobs in one of the world’s poorest countries!
The growing garment industry in Bangladesh does not only lead to job creation and economic development. As most garment workers are women, the garment industry offers a unique opportunity for women to get out of their homes and earn their own income. This has quickly led to a promotion of women’s rights in a country where traditionally women had very little say about for example the family income and spending.
At the same time, there are frequent reports about work place accidents, bad working conditions, low wages and lack of freedom of association in the garment industry in Bangladesh. CSR is therefore important, we have to strive for improved working conditions. And of course we do so through our Code of Conduct, our environmental policies and our audit program. But we don’t own or run the factories, we don’t set the minimum wages and we don’t control the corruption that threatens the integrity of inspections of the factories from the authorities.
As there are so many things we do not control but still are held accountable for, should we decide not to buy from countries like Bangladesh? Would a few hundred thousand lost jobs in one of the poorest countries in the world be the solution? I think the statistics clearly show that the worst H&M and other buyers could do for the workers in Bangladesh and other poor countries would actually be to stop sourcing from those markets.
The garment industry requires low investment and is labour intensive and therefore often the first industry a country can afford to set up as it starts to develop. An example is Hong Kong that only fifty years ago was known for its low cost industrial products and now is a highly developed economy. But without an export market the economy will not grow.
I therefore think, in spite of the problems connected to the working conditions in the garment industry in countries like Bangladesh and India, and in spite of the reputational risk connected to this trade, that we have an obligation to continue to source from those countries. This in connection with a robust CSR-program can, in itself, be a way of taking a social responsibility and to contribute to the development of those economies.
Read more
2010.07.02
Regarding garment production in Bangladesh, you can read a post made by Ingrid Schullström, H&M's former head of CSR, below. This post was originally published in Ingrid's blog on March 9 2010.
The role of garment export in the development of countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia is a subject I have been reflecting over for many years. After writing about the tragic fire in Bangladesh the other day, I started again to think about the conflicting expectations we meet from various stakeholders in connection with our import from for example Bangladesh.
According to BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) the garment industry stands for 75% of the country’s export, employing 2,5 million workers in 4700 factories (2007-08). Twenty years ago the industry employed only 400.000 workers. The growth of the garment export in the last twenty years has created 2 million jobs in one of the world’s poorest countries!
The growing garment industry in Bangladesh does not only lead to job creation and economic development. As most garment workers are women, the garment industry offers a unique opportunity for women to get out of their homes and earn their own income. This has quickly led to a promotion of women’s rights in a country where traditionally women had very little say about for example the family income and spending.
At the same time, there are frequent reports about work place accidents, bad working conditions, low wages and lack of freedom of association in the garment industry in Bangladesh. CSR is therefore important, we have to strive for improved working conditions. And of course we do so through our Code of Conduct, our environmental policies and our audit program. But we don’t own or run the factories, we don’t set the minimum wages and we don’t control the corruption that threatens the integrity of inspections of the factories from the authorities.
As there are so many things we do not control but still are held accountable for, should we decide not to buy from countries like Bangladesh? Would a few hundred thousand lost jobs in one of the poorest countries in the world be the solution? I think the statistics clearly show that the worst H&M and other buyers could do for the workers in Bangladesh and other poor countries would actually be to stop sourcing from those markets.
The garment industry requires low investment and is labour intensive and therefore often the first industry a country can afford to set up as it starts to develop. An example is Hong Kong that only fifty years ago was known for its low cost industrial products and now is a highly developed economy. But without an export market the economy will not grow.
I therefore think, in spite of the problems connected to the working conditions in the garment industry in countries like Bangladesh and India, and in spite of the reputational risk connected to this trade, that we have an obligation to continue to source from those countries. This in connection with a robust CSR-program can, in itself, be a way of taking a social responsibility and to contribute to the development of those economies.
2010.06.22
H&M pays taxes and other fees according to local laws and regulations for all employees and we follow local tax laws in all the countries where we operate. H&M paid SEK 5.7 billion in tax for the group last year. We follow the OECD guidelines on transfer pricing as the basis for how profits should be distributed and taxed in international companies.
In Bangladesh, as in most other countries engaged in the purchase process, we don’t have any sales activity and we do not own any factories. Therefore, H&M has no revenues in Bangladesh and therefore do not pay corporation tax there. However, tax revenue is generated in the country through the 250 employees H&M has at the local office in Bangladesh.
Since 25 years Hong Kong is the base for several key functions within H&M. Among other things, the global CSR and quality management as well the sourcing strategy and administration is managed from the Hong Kong office. Order follow-up offices in other countries, including Bangladesh, are organised under the Hong Kong office and therefore H&M pay corporate tax in Hong Kong. Since 2007 we also have H&M stores in Hong Kong and China, which generates revenue thus taxed.
It is important to remember that H&M:s biggest contribution to the development of Bangladesh is that we place orders for manufacturing for large sums in the country, which generate several hundred thousand jobs.
Please read more about our CSR engagement here.
Read more
2010.06.22
H&M pays taxes and other fees according to local laws and regulations for all employees and we follow local tax laws in all the countries where we operate. H&M paid SEK 5.7 billion in tax for the group last year. We follow the OECD guidelines on transfer pricing as the basis for how profits should be distributed and taxed in international companies.
In Bangladesh, as in most other countries engaged in the purchase process, we don’t have any sales activity and we do not own any factories. Therefore, H&M has no revenues in Bangladesh and therefore do not pay corporation tax there. However, tax revenue is generated in the country through the 250 employees H&M has at the local office in Bangladesh.
Since 25 years Hong Kong is the base for several key functions within H&M. Among other things, the global CSR and quality management as well the sourcing strategy and administration is managed from the Hong Kong office. Order follow-up offices in other countries, including Bangladesh, are organised under the Hong Kong office and therefore H&M pay corporate tax in Hong Kong. Since 2007 we also have H&M stores in Hong Kong and China, which generates revenue thus taxed.
It is important to remember that H&M:s biggest contribution to the development of Bangladesh is that we place orders for manufacturing for large sums in the country, which generate several hundred thousand jobs.
Please read more about our CSR engagement here.
2010.06.03
On 26 February there was a fire at one of our suppliers, Garib & Garib in Bangladesh. Tragically, 21 people were killed. Our thoughts reach out to their families. To support these families and those who were injured in the fire H&M has done the following: The families of the deceased have already received compensation of BDT 200,000 from Garib & Garib and local insurance companies. Read more about the accident at Garib & Garib in Ingrid Schullström's blog post from 26 March.
2010.06.03
On 26 February there was a fire at one of our suppliers, Garib & Garib in Bangladesh. Tragically, 21 people were killed. Our thoughts reach out to their families. To support these families and those who were injured in the fire H&M has done the following:
- We commissioned Save the Children Sweden Denmark (SCSD) to assess the needs of the people affected by the fire.
- After taking part of SCSD’s review, we decided to focus on families with children below the age of 18. Each child will receive a monthly payment of BDT 2,000 (USD 1 = BDT 60) until the age of 18. Also, when the child turns 18, he/she will receive a one-off sum.
- We will financially support those who were dependant on the income of a relative that was killed in the fire.
- We will offer the six people who were injured medical care and psychological counselling.
- We have dedicated SEK 1 million (SEK 1 = 0.14 USD) for preventive fire and safety measures at garment factories in Bangladesh.
The families of the deceased have already received compensation of BDT 200,000 from Garib & Garib and local insurance companies.
Read more about the accident at Garib & Garib in Ingrid Schullström's blog post from 26 March.
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