HOLY FASHION GROUP GRIEVANCE MECHANISM
As an internationally operating fashion and lifestyle company, we are aware that we can cause or be involved in negative impacts through our business activities. For this reason, we create the opportunity for all of our stakeholders to voice their complaints or concerns in a trusting environment without the threat of sanctions from their employer or others. Our grievance mechanism can also be used anonymously. We guarantee that we will consider all admissible complaints and work toward remediation.
All grievances that address violations of our HFG Ethical Code of Conduct or are otherwise related to violations of human rights, including employment and labor relations, the environment, bribery and corruption are considered admissible.
Grievances from customers or consumers regarding the quality or condition of our products, expressly fall outside the scope of this grievance mechanism. At this point, reference is made to the Customer Service of the Brands:
Direct contact option:
Department: Sustainability, Compliance & Quality
Adress: HOLY FASHION GROUP, Sonnenwiesenstrasse 21, 8280 Kreuzlingen
A functioning grievance mechanism is the basis for transparent and honest communication. We primarily aim to strengthen the existing operational grievance mechanisms (OGMs) at production sites and support their enhancement or improvement, as we think that access to remedy should first be provided at local level.
Wherever grievances cannot or have not been addresses through local OGMs, all impacted workers and communities also have the opportunity to use amfori’s supply chain grievance mechanism “Speak for Change”. The program aims to facilitate the complaint handling process in a collaborative approach by supporting amfori members with independent investigation and remediation handlers.
Amfori Speak for Change collaborates with other organizations like Textilbündnis/Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) and Fair Wear Foundation to maximize efforts and enhance access to remedy for impacted stakeholders.
In February 2024, the program is fully operational in Vietnam, Türkiye, Bangladesh and four Indian states: Tamil Nadu (in the regions of Chennai, Karur, and Tirupur), Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (in the regions of Moradabad and Noida) and West Bengal. Cambodia, Pakistan and one region in China will follow in the course of 2024.
In each country, grievances can be submitted through these three types of access channels: phone, online form or chat app. More details are available here.
Dealing with grievances
Our objective is to continuously improve the various grievance mechanisms, to make them more transparent and to ensure that all parties involved can deal with them safely. HOLY FASHION GROUP's complaints mechanism was introduced in spring of 2022. To date, we have not received any direct complaints from affected parties. We have received the following complaints through other channels in the past:
2023/2024:
At the end of year 2023, a “zero tolerance” complaint has been raised for unethical behavior from an auditor after an amfori BSCI audit of a Turkish manufacturer. Together with other amfori members, an independent investigation process was initiated to understand the allegations, which was reviewed by amfori as well. As the allegations could not be clearly confirmed, it was agreed to conduct a new amfori BSCI audit at the factory with a different auditor. Due to the very good final result “A”, it has been determined that the allegations of zero tolerance violation are unfounded.
2020/2021:
In 2020, we received a complaint from four employees of a Turkish ready-made clothing company through amfori BSCI and the Fair Labor Association (FLA). The complaint was about layoffs and related compensation payments. In cooperation with the FLA and through discussions with the supplier, an agreement was reached by all parties in 2021.
2020:
Another complaint from 2020 reached us via Public Eye and related to wage payment violations at a ready-made clothing plant in Romania. With the involvement of Public Eye and the Clean Clothes Campaign, we ensured that all workers were paid their actual wages.