Country Road
Country Road Limited is one of the best known and most highly regarded clothing and retail brands in Australia and New Zealand, offering quality lifestyle products across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, babywear and homeware.
Renowned for its commitment to style, quality and design, the fashion ranges are a celebration of all that’s vibrant and exciting about modern Australian living. Country Road operates 61 retail stores across Australia (53) and New Zealand (8), and 77 retail concession outlets within Myer and David Jones.
The Country Road brand was launched in 1974, and in 1998 Woolworths secured a controlling interest in the brand.
what we’re doing
Country Road articulates their sustainability vision as: “Corporate and social responsibility (CSR) at Country Road is about taking a considered approach to the way we conduct business. Through the brand and people CR will innovate and create social, ethical and environmental change in the world in which we live.”
Country Road’s philosophy and many of its practices have always been consistent with contributing to a sustainable world. In 2007/08 Country Road developed a more structured approach CSR framework, which centres around four key areas: environment, community, ethical trading and our people.
A CSR steering committee that includes the CEO has been established and consists of senior executives as well as an operational resource to manage various projects within the framework.
The CSR vision was included in the company’s strategic plan for 2007/08 and a number of projects were agreed and sponsored by relevant Executive management committee members. In 2008/09 Country Road will include CSR measures as part of the company’s strategic plan.
social, ethical & environmental (SEE)
In March 2008 Country Road launched the CR SEE programme, an employee education campaign which includes: the launch of intranet pages on CSR activities, fact sheets about the environment, ‘green home’ booklets from the Australian Conservation Foundation, competitions and a walk to work day. We also participated in Earth Hour along with a number of Australian businesses, turning off all window lighting in strip stores for one hour in an effort to focus attention on the issue of global warming.
environment
Country Road – what we’re doing
stakeholder engagement
Country Road engages with stakeholders on issues as part of the way it conducts business, and we regularly survey and seek feedback from customers, people, suppliers and vendors on business requirements and CSR priorities.
This engagement includes:
| 1. | An employee opinion survey, conducted in May 2007, which included questions on CSR. The results suggested that employees wanted more of a focus on this area from the company. | |
| 2. | Annual market research, which in November 2007 included a number of questions about customer views on CSR: | |
| • | The evidence suggests that cardholders would not only think more positively about brands which act in a socially responsible manner, they would also be more loyal; | |
| • | cardholders most frequently would prefer Country Road to invest in “environmentally friendly packaging”; and | |
| • | three other initiatives received notable mention: community support, environmental support and ethical and responsible clothing manufacture. | |
| 3. | The tender process, for example for a new packaging supplier, where CSR parameters have been identified as clear priorities. | |
social
Country Road conducted a thorough search and selection process for a non-profit organisation that is aligned with our vision and values. In July 2008 Country Road entered into a partnership with Redkite.
Redkite is one of Australia’s leading children’s cancer support charities. Celebrating its 25th year, Redkite has supported children, young people and their families through the often long and difficult journey of childhood cancer.
Actions and activities are planned for this strategic partnership in the second half of 2008. This partnership will give Country Road and its employees an opportunity to actively support a needy aspect of our community.
Country Road participated in research into the Australian garment sector’s attitude to, and knowledge of, corporate responsibility in relation to labour rights, conducted by the Brotherhood of St Laurence. As a result, Country Road is now involved in establishing a multi-stakeholder initiative on ethical trading in Australia.
‘Success through People’ is the foundation of the Country Road strategic plan. Country Road is committed to attracting, developing retaining the best people while ensuring their health and safety and wellbeing.
People measures are included in the strategic plan and are monitored on a quarterly basis.
Focus areas are:
- Team member engagement – Country Road will retain key talent by ensuring the workforce is inspired and committed to our vision and strategic plan;
- develop a performance achievement culture by creating an environment that proactively manages, recognises and rewards performance;
- develop team member capability and succession through a highly skilled workforce with team members who are equipped to deliver. The organisation structure will recognise succession to ensure career paths are supported and that we are able to grow our leadership potential from talent within the business; and
- attract star performers – highly talented people with a strong cultural fit and who demonstrate the required behavioural attributes to grow within the business and represent the next generation of leaders.
An employee opinion survey is conducted annually which is benchmarked against external market data.
Equal employment opportunity applies to all employment practices, including recruitment, selection, promotion, redundancy, conditions of employment, training and development.
Country Road is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in employment for all regardless of attributes which include but are not limited to age, career status, disability, industrial activity, lawful sexual activity, marital status, physical features, political belief or activity, pregnancy, race, religious belief or activity, gender or sexual preference or personal association with someone who has (or is assumed to have) one of these characteristics.
We demonstrate our commitment to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for anyone associated with Country Road – staff, customers, contractors and visitors. Compliance with legal requirements is an absolute minimum standard and we are committed to actively promote wellbeing and safety by maintaining the very highest safety standards.
ethical
Country Road sources clothing and accessories from countries throughout the world and, in doing so, has had to consider the social and ethical implications of the manufacture of our products. All suppliers are required to be signatories to Country Road’s strict code of labour practice, which follows all relevant ILO conventions. To ensure adherence, CR uses independent agencies to carry out regular supplier audits, and a wide range of corrective actions or sanctions are used in the event of an issue being highlighted.
environment
Country Road is a signatory to the National Packaging Covenant, a voluntary initiative where government and industry work towards to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of packaging on the environment. Country Road submitted an action plan for the period 2008 – 2010.
Initiatives under this plan focus on where Country Road can make a difference to packaging across three key areas:
- Country Road shopping bags and gift boxes;
- materials used in the packaging of homeware and accessories; and
- transit packaging for merchandise.
Country Road is committed to workplace recycling and labels its packaging where appropriate.
In an effort to minimise and use more environmentally friendly take-home packaging options, from July 2008 all of Country Road’s take-home bags will be made of 70% recycled material and will continue to be 100% recyclable. For the first time gift boxes will be made of 70% recycled material and will be 100% recyclable. These bags and boxes will be labelled accordingly. A reusable Country Road bag made of 100% cotton as an alternative to paper packaging will also be introduced.
organics
Country Road has committed to using certified organic cotton in all core baby products i.e. sleepsuits, hats, blankets and bunnies, and will seek to extend these offerings wherever possible.
animal welfare
Country Road has been very aware of the issues around the mulesing of sheep and has consulted closely with the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) group to find a suitable solution.
The wool industry has committed to full transition to alternatives to mulesing by 2010, and AWI has spent around A$10m on researching such alternatives.
As a business, Country Road has taken the initiative to work directly with the various players in the wool supply chain (top makers, spinners, knitters) to source a sustainable supply of non-mulesed wool. Country Road is committed to generating real change in this area and we hope that this initiative will ultimately be able to provide the vast majority of the wool used by the business.
carbon footprint
This year Country Road engaged CarbonetiX, climate change solutions consultants to assess its carbon footprint.
We now better understand our carbon outputs and are better equipped to manage them more efficiently. Further plans about how to more effectively manage emissions will be developed in 2008/09.
head office
In May 2008 Country Road introduced a workplace recycling programme as part of the CR SEE programme.
In February 2008 a water tank was installed in the basement car park. This tank has a 39 000 litre capacity and can collect over 500 000 litres of rain water a year. This water is pumped back into the plumbing system for re-use.