Among our many obligations as an Accredited Participating Company, we have demonstrated our commitment to:
- Upholding the FLA’s Code of Conduct and established systems to identify and remedy ethical violations
- Working with the FLA to develop and improve social compliance systems that flag issues and lead to sustainable solutions when workers are at risk.
- Monitoring our supply chain partners to ensure they meet strict labor standards.
For a complete list of the Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing Principles that guide our sourcing activities and the FLA’s Workplace Code of Conduct, please visit the FLA website at www.fairlabor.org.
In January 2014 SanMar was officially recognized as an Accredited Company by the Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), a leading promotional products industry organization that verifies company practices to consistently provide quality, compliant and socially responsible promotional products into the marketplace. For more information about the QCA, please visit www.qcalliance.org.
Supply Chain Disclosure
SanMar is committed to conducting business in a socially responsible manner. This includes recognizing that we have a responsibility towards ensuring that slavery and trafficking do not occur in our supply chain. We seek to operate in compliance with the highest standard and all applicable national laws wherever we do business, and to respect and support international principles aimed at preventing and eradicating trafficking and slavery, as described in the 2000 United Nations “Palermo Protocol” and the 1926 Slavery Convention.
The 2010 California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (the Act), which became effective January 1, 2012, requires companies such as SanMar to disclose our efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from our supply chain. Our Global Operating Principles – a set of principles based on labor standards of the International Labor Organization – addresses forced labor, child labor, harassment or abuse, discrimination, wages, freedom of association, and more to protect against the risks associated with the trafficking and slavery of workers.
Monitoring Our Facilities
Our third-party verification of our Global Operating Principles is rigorous and further strengthened by the independent, random monitoring of certain factories by the FLA. As an Accredited Participating Company of the FLA, our suppliers are required to submit to independent monitoring by the FLA. Factories that are selected for monitoring are chosen at random by the FLA without any prior knowledge to either the factory or to SanMar. We believe this creates a high level of accountability and transparency at the factories which manufacture our products.
In addition to the monitoring activities of the FLA, both our Compliance Team and independent third-party auditors perform periodic announced and unannounced compliance audits at the facilities of each supplier involved in the production of our proprietary products. Should we discover that any remediation is required, our Compliance Team works closely with the supplier and the facility to ensure that timely corrective actions are taken, including appropriate monitoring and verification.
We are proud of our affiliation with the FLA and continue to work with them and other socially responsible apparel companies to evaluate and develop improved and comprehensive human rights policies, supplier monitoring and training programs, worker hotline channels, and other best practices aimed at ensuring full compliance throughout the supply chain of our private label products.
For more information about SanMar’s compliance program, please email supplierinquiries@sanmar.com.
Additional Resources
- The Quality Certification Alliance: Please visit www.qcalliance.org for more information.
- SanMar Compliance Standards and Global Operating Principles are available in our corporate social responsibility report.
- Anti-human trafficking and anti-slavery campaigns: Please visit www.palermoprotocol.com for more information.
- The Fair Labor Association: Please visit www.fairlabor.org for more information.
- The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act: Please see the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act legislation, linked here, for more information.
Environmental Stewardship
At SanMar, we strive to be an environmentally-focused company, committed to a greener workplace. We have many successful initiatives aimed at minimizing our impact on the environment, including programs to:
- Conserve water. Our buildings have low flow toilets and our corporate office has automatic-sensor faucets in the bathrooms.
- Promote recycling. We offer onsite composting and recycling options for our employees in our corporate office and re-use or recycle cardboard boxes in our warehouses.
- Reduce energy use and pollution. Our corporate office is housed in an energy-efficient building and our large warehouse bays are fitted with occupancy light sensors to conserve electricity. SanMar is pleased to employ over 400 remote employees through work-at-home programs, removing hundreds of cars from roadways. We also serve locally sourced and organic food in the cafeteria at our corporate office.
Community Development
SanMar feels strongly about investing and participating in community events and programs, especially those in communities where our employees and customers live. Among other initiatives, we routinely hold and support charitable events within our facilities and provide our employees a charitable match program to support their own work within the community. A Customer Merchandise Donation Fund also supports our customers and their charitable efforts.