Good for people and planet
Fair Wear Foundation
Fair Wear Foundation is a Dutch multi-stakeholder initiative with representation from trade and employee organisations and NGOs. Fair Wear is committed to better working conditions in textile factories of member companies. Companies affiliated with Fair Wear seek to improve these conditions using a work plan, audits in factories, an action plan and an annual social report.Â
The eight points in the Fair Wear labour code are a fair wage, no child labour, a healthy working environment, no excessive working hours, no discrimination, an official contract, no forced labour and trade union freedom. Schijvens Corporate Fashion is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation and is classified as a Leader.
Leader
100% of our factories are audited by Fair Wear Foundation. We have a score of 97 out of 100 points. This places us in the Leader category, the highest attainable category within Fair Wear Foundation.
Empowering women​
At Schijvens we are busy with how we can work on women empowerment in the factories. For example, last year we started an introductory training and we are now looking at how we can realize opportunities for ambitious women in the factories, for example in managerial positions. This year we also started a project to train unemployed women in addition to a job in money and rights management, family planning and language development. In Pakistan the difference between women and men is unfortunately still very large and we want to do something about that!
Brand Performance Check
Schijvens Corporate Fashion is assessed annually by the Fair Wear Foundation on its performance with regard to social working conditions in the garment factories with which it collaborates. You can read the results in our Brand Performance Check. The brand performance checks of all member brands are publicly available on fairwear.org.
Living wage
In the garment industry, workers are usually paid below the minimum liveable wage, which is insufficient to cover basic needs. To earn a sufficient income, they often work overtime. A salary that is too low can even lead to child labour. At Schijvens Corporate Fashion we believe that the minimum wage should be sufficient to earn a proper living. This newly defined living wage includes food, rent, health care, schooling, clothing, transport and savings.Â
In addition, research has been carried out into the exact cost of a garment to ensure that the living wage is incorporated. Schijvens Corporate Fashion always analyses whether the cost price is sufficient to pay a fair wage. If it is, we check with Fair Wear Foundation that the factory is indeed paying the defined wage to its employees. If not, we increase the cost price in such a way that the fair wage can be paid. At Schijvens we have now converted half of our production to a liveable wage. This year we are working on another 25% and next year we want to close the final gap.
Sustainability Report
Sustainability is woven into Schijvens’ DNA.
 It is essential to us that our clothing is made under good working conditions and in the most environmentally friendly way possible. In addition to the IMVO Covenant Sustainable Clothing and Textiles, we are also affiliated with organisations that help us monitor our production locations, such as Fair Wear Foundation. Read more about this in our Sustainability Report.
For more information, please contact info@schijvens.nl.
Best Practice Award
In 2017, we developed our Living Wage tool. Since then, workers in our factory in Turkey have been receiving a Living Wage. This project has been rewarded by Fair Wear Foundation with the Best Practice Award. The Best Practice Award is an award presented annually by Fair Wear Foundation.
Schijvens proved that it is possible to pay a living wage in its own factory, UFS, in Turkey, and was rewarded with the award. The tool was subsequently rolled out to MYM, our main factory in Pakistan. Last year this was further rolled out to the Nantong Zhuohui Clothing factory in China and Nature’s Grace International in India.
Video Best Practice Turkije
Code of Conduct
For Schijvens Corporate fashion, the working conditions in which our corporate fashion is produced are of the utmost importance. To safeguard this, we have drawn up a Code of Conduct for all our production partners.Â
