Modern Slavery Act

Background

At Farm Bros, we feel strongly that we have a huge responsibility to conduct our business in an ethical way. We expect the same from all of our suppliers and partners. We focus on working with long-term, strategic suppliers that demonstrate a commitment to engaging their workers, providing safe working conditions and advancing environmental responsibility. This includes working to combat the risks of forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking.

Farm Bros. Overview and Supply Chain Structure

Farm Bros. is an online retailer of high-quality workwear, footwear, PPE, and country-life apparel. Virtually all of our products are manufactured by independent brands and their respective contractors.

We are focusing on quality, long-term supply agreements with fewer suppliers and partners, who are also committed to our strict standards of sustainability and product excellence. Our sourcing strategy prioritises and favours suppliers that show demonstrable leadership in corporate responsibility and sustainability, seeking to move beyond minimum standards. As part of our development strategy, we seek suppliers who drive sustainable business growth by minimizing their environmental impacts, fostering a strong culture of safety and developing an engaged and valued workforce.

Farm Bros. Code of Conduct and Standard to Address Forced Labour

Farm Bros' takes seriously national and international efforts to end all kinds of forced labour across our supply chain – whether in the form of prison labour, indentured labour, bonded labour, human trafficking, or otherwise.

Farm Bros' requirements for all suppliers will soon be available in our Code of Conduct and Supplier Standards. The Code of Conduct lays out the required minimum standards we expect each supplier or partner factory to meet in producing/supplying Farm Bros. products and includes strict requirements around forced and child labour, excessive overtime, compensation, and freedom of association amongst other requirements. 

Farm Bros' Code of Conduct includes specific requirements to address key risks of forced labour including, but not limited to, prohibiting workers paying fees for employment, requiring terms and conditions of employment to be provided and explained prior to departure from the home country with adequate time for review, providing contracts in both the worker’s language and legally enforceable language in the receiving country, and prohibiting requirements to post bonds or make deposits as a condition of employment.

Direct Suppliers' Certification of Materials

Farm Bros' Supply Agreements explicitly require suppliers to comply with all local and country-specific labour laws and Farm Bros' Code of Conduct.

Due Diligence, Risk Assessment, and Monitoring

Risk Evaluation

Wherever possible, Farm Bros' evaluates and updates its processes to identify and address risks in its supply chain, including those related to slavery and human trafficking. This process includes information from external sources such as risk assessments for key human rights risks, supplier-specific risk profiling based on location including the employment of vulnerable worker groups and areas of improvement identified in audits. We also review information on key and emerging risk areas identified through our engagement with external partners and suppliers. 

Auditing

Wherever possible, we seek assurances regarding supplier processes and their contract factories.

Farm Bros' uses both internal and external third-party audits to assess compliance with our requirements and local law. We constantly seek assurances on conditions at contract factories from all those involved in our supply chain.

Remediation and Effectiveness

Farm Bros. suppliers and partners work with internal, external, and independent monitors to carry out audits and help in the remediation and capability-building efforts. If we are alerted to an issue of non-compliance within one of our supplier's contract factories, we aim to investigate it immediately. Where improvements are required, we seek to drive our supplier to identify and correct issues, and also improve systems to address root causes in order to prevent future reoccurrences.

Working with a wide range of organisations and experts, Farm Bros. suppliers continuously seek to improve their approach to evaluating working conditions in their supply chain and working with their suppliers to enhance their capabilities.

Training and Accountability

Farm Bros' believe suppliers that prioritise the well-being of their workers, by engaging with them to understand their needs, have better factory performance. We also believe that our ability to influence suppliers is dependent, in part, on how we build the right incentives and sanctions into our business relationships. 

Conclusion

We will continue to expand our work with other partners, suppliers, and like-minded organisations to increase respect for human rights and to accelerate positive impact in the countries where we and our suppliers operate.

Want to know more?

Email hello@farmbros.co.uk