Improving supply chain transparency and establishing traceability

Fast Retailing believes that respecting fundamental human rights and ensuring the health, safety, and security of all workers in our supply chain is our most important responsibility. We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding human rights violations (especially child labor, forced labor, harassment, discrimination, and violence), and work with our production partners to build systems and ensure compliance.

Key Initiatives and Progress

Disclosing information that gives customers peace of mind

We aim to improve transparency as we establish greater traceability

We want our customers to be able pick up our products with trust and use them for a long time, so we have started to provide information on where and how each individual product was made. From August 2023, UNIQLO and GU online stores in some countries created a new item on individual product pages, entitled “Impact on the planet and society.” Currently, this column displays information on where each product was produced. Going forward, we plan to expand this initiative to other markets, and explore exactly what information our customers really need so we can expand the amount of information offered.

Workplace monitoring and evaluation

Implement more effective monitoring to improve working environments

Fast Retailing requires its partner factories comply with the Code of Conduct for Production Partners set up in 2004 and monitors working environments based on this code. Employees from the Production Department, which is responsible for product quality and production process management, are assigned to our production offices in Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City, Dhaka, Jakarta, and Bangalore and visit supplier factories on a weekly basis. There, they can gain a clear understanding of how the factories operate, offer guidance on correct production process, and promote responsible procurement hand in hand with our production partners. We also publish lists of all our garment factories and core fabric mills, and factories to which some parts of the production process are outsourced.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Production Partners

Fast Retailing Production Partners Lists

Empowerment program for women in Bangladesh

Career-building support for aspiring female managers

In March 2023, we added targets to our Women’s Empowerment Program in Bangladesh as part of our ongoing efforts to help women working in the garment industry advance their careers. More specifically, we set targets to ensure (1) 1,500 female employees receive management training, (2) the ratio of female managers at target factories is increased to an average of 30% or higher, and (3) all female employees can get easy access to daycare centers and services, services that promote better physical and mental health, and a safe means for commuting to work. We aim to achieve these targets by the end of 2025 with the help of eight of our core garment factories in Bangladesh. To date, we have offered leadership and technical skills training for aspiring female managers. At the end of fiscal 2022, 163 women, or 51% of the women who took part in the training, had been promoted to management positions. The program has expanded training opportunities and encouraged more women to go out into the workforce, but now it is focusing on building environments in which women can play an active role and feel comfortable in their job.