Modern Slavery Act

About Unify Supply Group and its Commitment to Opposing Modern Slavery

The majority of the product we sell both online and in store are our own brand. They include men’s, ladies’ and children’s clothing; foot wear and accessories and a wide range of homeware which we source directly from the manufacturers. These products are supplied to us from over 500 factories and 6 different countries across the world.

We behave in a responsible and ethical way and take the issue of modern day slavery and human trafficking extremely seriously. We are fully committed to taking action to combat modern day slavery and human trafficking and to uphold human rights across all of our business and our supply chain.

We fully support the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

We are a member of SEDEX and a Brand Signatory to the Bangladesh Accord

Knowing where our products are manufactured is fundamental to our business to ensure that we approach the issue of dealing with modern day slavery and human trafficking, in our supply chain.

Our Policies

We require all of our Suppliers, and factories involved in the manufacture of goods to be sold in our stores to comply with our Ethical Trading Policy. Our Ethical Trading Policy is based on the provisions set out in the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code which, amongst other requirements, includes an obligation that all employment is chosen freely.

Our Suppliers of goods, their factories and any associated 3rd party partners within our Supply Chain are also required to comply with our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy for Suppliers which demonstrates our zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery.

We also ensure that all new contracts with franchise partners and key Suppliers of services include contractual obligations to comply with our Anti Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy for Suppliers.

Our Anti Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy for Suppliers can be found on the Unify Supply Group Web Site www.uktextile.group and our Supplier B2B web site.

We have a policy for our employees regarding the prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our business or supply chain. Our employees are encouraged to raise concerns about any issue or suspicion of modern slavery in any parts of our business or supply chains of any Supplier at the earliest possible stage. We are committed to providing training for our employees on the policy.

Due Diligence

We have an audit process in place which ensures that, as a minimum, Suppliers’ factories meet the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code and therefore our Ethical Trading Policy. All of our Suppliers’ factories are audited annually.

The audit process supports and facilitates our continual improvement programme through which we work with our Suppliers and their factories to deal with any issues found on audits and to continually raise the level of workers’ conditions.

In circumstances where we identify particular areas of higher risk in our supply chain we undertake further due diligence outside of our normal audit process. This has included unannounced inspections of Supplier’s factories and premises to ensure compliance with our Ethical Trading Policy and our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy for Suppliers.

Before we work with a new Supplier of fashion or homeware goods we undertake a risk assessment which includes requirements for the Supplier to identify all of the factories they are proposing to use for Unify Supply Group production and provide a third party ethical audit report in relation to each of those factories. Such third party ethical audit reports must be under 12 months old. If we approve the Supplier, then that Supplier’s factories will then fall under our own audit process and continual improvement programme outlined above.

Future Commitment

Modern slavery is an ongoing risk. As such we are committed to continuously review and improve the effectiveness of the steps we take to prevent modern slavery in our business or in our supply chain.

The Unify Supply Group Ethical Team unannounced audit program has been expanded in 2018 to cover all UK Suppliers and their factories in order to clearly demonstrate Unify Supply Group’s intention to tackle modern day slavery and human trafficking & ensure no illegal or underage workers being employed.

Unify Supply Group has conducted Modern Day Slavery Training for our head office employees including our sourcing and buying teams. The training gives colleagues insights into what is modern day slavery, who may be affected, how to spot the signs and how to report suspicions when visiting suppliers and their factories both nationally and internationally.

Unify Supply Group will further enhance the training programme and deliver this to its supply chain throughout 2020/21.

As part of a continued improvement process Unify Supply Group has also increased the size of its Ethical Compliance Team