We have long-term partnerships
Value circle
We used to have our own workshop in Hilvarenbeek where a hundred seamstresses made the clothes, but times change. In 2005, we began outsourcing our production to low-wage countries. In 2010, we entered into a partnership with Fair Wear Foundation, which carries out audits in factories. All our partners are included in the Fair Wear Foundation audit programme, so that Schijvens has a clear overview of what is happening in the factories and where we can still improve.
We feel responsible for a good wage and good working conditions. After all, we work together. This was the moment that we also started to organise our supply chain differently, also called our value circle. We began to work together more intensively with fewer factories and in this way became more involved. This circle also demonstrates that the customer is not only an end station for the product, but also the supplier of our raw material (namely their old clothes). We now have our own factory UFS in Mersin so that we can control and optimise our product life-cycle even better.
In addition to our own production location in Turkey, we have enjoyed close cooperation with production partners in Turkey, Pakistan, China, India, Morocco, Hong Kong, Sharjah (UAE) and Portugal for many years. In a short time, these people have become real friends and, since our 150th anniversary in 2013, we have been meeting annually at our Supplier Meeting. These friends eventually became defining factors in our circular process.
In 2016, we started to investigate how we could make our production process circular. Every supplier contributed to this in their own way. It was a process for which we had to be very patient. We often had to take a step back in order to get two ahead again, but through this cooperation and the perseverance of ourselves and our suppliers, we managed to create a circular production process. We have built something wonderful together.
Supplier meeting
Since Schijvens’ 150th anniversary in 2013, an annual supplier meeting is organised where all our partners come together. During this meeting, everything is discussed openly with each other, including any points for improvement that come up during audits and issues that factories encounter. It is great to see that our suppliers try to help each other and look forward to this every year. A supplier of the year is elected here who receives an incentive bonus.
Supplier meeting 2021
After two years, a virtual meeting and countless emails and telephone calls, the time had finally come in November for our annual Supplier meeting. This year it took place in Istanbul and it was great to see everyone again after such a long time! Interested in seeing what we did? View our photo album here.
Supplier meeting video
UFS
In Mersin Turkey we have our own factory, UFS. This is where the quick and smaller deliveries are made and where we also run many pilot projects. Our factory is monitored by Fair Wear Foundation and the training was also given by Fair Wear Foundation. Since July 2020 our colleague Elly Schipper runs our factory with 50 lovely colleagues.
