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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
5.18.2004 ET
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CSR News from:
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Gap Inc. Provides Comprehensive Look At Its Efforts To Improve Garment Factories
First social responsibility report details company's global monitoring program and other initiatives to improve standards in 50 countries
CSRwire note: The report is available in the CSRwire Report database
(CSRwire) SAN FRANCISCO -- Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) today issued its first social
responsibility report, offering the most comprehensive look ever provided
by the company into its ongoing efforts to improve labor standards in the
approximately 3,000 garment factories worldwide that produce merchandise
for the company's Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands. The report
also provides an overview of the company's focus on supporting
sustainable, industry-wide change beyond the garment factories that
produce its merchandise.
Highlights of the report, which is available online at gapinc.com, include:- A detailed
review of the company's garment manufacturer and factory approval process
and ongoing global monitoring program, which was launched in 1996. The
company's 90-plus person compliance team conducted approximately 8,500
factory visits in 2003. The team rejected 16 percent of the 653 new
garment facilities evaluated in 2003, and revoked prior approvals for 136
factories because of compliance violations.
- Aggregated data for 2003 from eleven geographic regions showing labor
and health and safety issues among a base of approximately 3,000 garment
factories in 50 countries that were approved to produce merchandise for
the company.
- Sample factory rating data from a pilot program designed to
quantitatively assess garment factory compliance with Gap Inc. labor and
health and safety standards.
- Case studies highlighting independent factory monitoring; the
complexities of ensuring a worker's right to freedom of association; and
challenges and opportunities that exist in Cambodia's and China's garment
industries.
- A discussion of the company's commitment to working collaboratively
with multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Ethical Trading Initiative,
Social Accountability International and the Global Alliance; labor unions
such as UNITE; and other groups such as socially responsible investment
funds to create sustainable, industry-wide solutions and universal
standards.
"We believe that garment and other manufacturing workers
around the world deserve better than the reality that many unfortunately
face," said Gap Inc. CEO and President Paul Pressler. "We recognize and
embrace our duty to take a leadership role, and our first social
responsibility report discusses in detail our comprehensive efforts and
commitments. We are convinced that collaborative, multi-stakeholder
engagement is the only way to create sustainable changes for garment
workers worldwide. We are working diligently toward that goal."
In preparing the report, Gap Inc. engaged various stakeholders for
feedback and input. Five organizations -- Domini Social Investments, the
Calvert Group, the As You Sow Foundation, the Center for Reflection,
Education and Action, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate
Responsibiltity -- comprise the Public Reporting Working Group, formed in
late 2002. The group has been helping Gap Inc. explore opportunities for
greater transparency and sustainability of the company's ethical sourcing
work.
As part of a statement included in the report, the working group said:
"This report contains a great deal of information that many companies have
not provided publicly. It includes valuable insights from a company that we
believe is sincerely struggling with these complex issues."
In addition to a primary focus on improving garment factory conditions,
the report also details other aspects of Gap Inc.'s social responsibility
efforts. These include community giving and volunteerism, environmental
practices, and corporate governance and ethical business practices, as
well as policies and programs that support the company's more than 150,000
employees worldwide. Highlights include:- Community giving and
volunteerism: Gap Inc. employees volunteered 22,000 hours in 2003
through company-sponsored programs to clean community parks, restore creek
habitats, help kids with art projects, feed the homeless and provide other
needed support. Through its Gap Foundation, the company also has donated
$60 million to non-profit organizations worldwide over the past five years
to help children, youth and families. In addition, the company also makes
generous product donations to organizations in need; for example, product
donations for 2003 totaled $12 million.
- Supporting the environment: The company has been recognized for
its environmentally sustainable building practices at headquarters
facilities. In addition, the company continually looks for ways to improve
energy conservation across its stores by improving designs, building
standards and operations. As a result, stores built in 2003 are roughly 25
percent more energy efficient per square foot than those opened in 2000,
and almost 29 percent more efficient than those built in 1990. The company
is a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders
program.
- Corporate governance: From board independence to business
ethics, the company strives to ensure that strong corporate governance and
compliance standards are a way of doing business. Nine of 13 members of Gap
Inc.'s Board of Directors are independent of the company and its
management. Complete information about the company's practices is
available at gapinc.com.
"How we do business is as
important as what we do," Mr. Pressler said. "We've accomplished a lot, as
shown in our report, but there's always more we can learn and do. We'll
continue working hard to ensure our actions consistently support our
values."
Gap Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer offering clothing,
accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies
under the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy brand names. Fiscal 2003 sales
were $15.9 billion. As of May 1, 2004, Gap Inc. operated 3,016 store
locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan
and Germany. In the United States, customers also may shop the company's
online stores at gap.com,
BananaRepublic.com and oldnavy.com.
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