Ethical Sourcing

We are committed to upholding high social, ethical and environmental standards in the supply chain, as well as to empowering marginalised artisans. WHL is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and as such is committed to operating in ways that meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption in accordance with the 10 Principles of the Compact.

Our approach

Our group approach to ethical trade is broadly built around a number of key elements:

• Building internal awareness and capacity around ethical trade;
• Ensuring we work with suppliers and business partners who share our values;
• Monitoring supplier performance to identify issues;
• Addressing problems where they arise and supporting our suppliers to align with WHL best practice;
• Building capacity in the supply chain, as a means of improving social and environmental outcomes;
• Engaging our stakeholders on ethical trade matters;
• Working with others to tackle complex and systemic problems that we cannot tackle on our own; and
• Driving transparency – being open and honest about our challenges and progress.

All of our first tier suppliers, regardless of their location, are bound by our businesses’ Codes of Practices that have been developed in accordance with conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and guidance from the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code to underpin our programme, and to help determine principles specific to Woolworths Holdings.

Download the WHL Position Statement on Ethical Trade

Artisanal collaboration

Through Mimco’s partnership with the Ethical Fashion Artisans (EFA) and Trenery’s partnership with Pachacuti, a Fair Trade-certified organisation – Country Road Group aims to empower women, working directly with women’s cooperatives promoting fair working practices and fair prices among artisans to make a real difference to the lives of artisans, their families and communities.

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