To whom it may
concern;
I have recently come to a realization of how important it is to be a
responsible shopper. Before I purchase any more items of clothing, I have decided to
thoroughly research the garment industry. I would be extremely grateful if Eddie Bauer
would supply me with the following information:
1. A complete list of the suppliers/countries from which Eddie Bauer purchases its
garments, as well as the sweatshop monitoring agency used to monitor the condition of
each.
2. Origin of merino wool, silk and leather items used in the garments.
3. Percentage of recycled paper used in the catalog.
4. Charities and causes to which Eddie Bauer donates.
5. What the company does with slightly damaged clothing when it is returned by a
customer.
6. A list of lawsuits the company has been involved in (if any).
7. List of the fleets/airlines used to transport Eddie Bauer goods.
8. List of modelling agencies from which the Eddie Bauer models come.
9. Name(s) of person(s)/group(s)/company(ies) in charge of advertising.
Thank you for your time!
:) Carissa Thomas
From: <An Eddie Bauer Representative>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 3:16 PM
Subject: response to your email.
Hello Carissa,
I am attaching a letter in reponse to your email. If you need further
information, you can reach me by email or phone at (***) ***-****. Thanks.
Ms. ___________
April 5, 2001
Ms. Carissa Thomas
Via email
Dear Ms. Thomas,
I received your email concerning Eddie Bauer?s business practices. We appreciate your
decision to evaluate companies you patronize, and we are committed to operating our
business in a socially responsible manner.
Eddie Bauer recently became a participating member of the Fair
Labor Association, which accredits independent external monitors and certifies
participating companies. While for competitive reasons, we do not publicly report the
names and locations of factories we use, we are required to submit this and the details of
our audits and full program to the FLA. The organization will publicly report on Eddie
Bauer?s program and factory compliance on an annual basis.
For competitive reasons, again, I cannot give you specific details of where our vendors
purchase the materials they use. But I can tell you that last year, in response to a
question from PETA, we did receive assurances from our leather vendors that they do not
contract with any companies engaged in torture and other cruelties. We also know that the
leather and goose down we use are by products of the food industry. We use wool shorn from
sheep in Australia, primarily, with a small amount from New Zealand. We use cultivated
silk from China.
In all our relationships with vendors, we require that they adhere to our
standards of ethics and the laws of their jurisdictions. Our internal Global Labor
Practices program includes vendor training and monitoring to ensure a respect for human
rights.
Our catalogs are not made with recycled paper; however, we are reducing the number of
pages circulated through an increased reliance on the Internet. In addition, we have
recycling programs in other divisions. For example, our corrugated boxes contain some
recycled materials (40 to 50 percent); and we are in partnership with a company called
Reuse Development Organization, Inc. (ReDo)
to dispose of store fixtures that become surplus when a store closes. ReDo?s goal is to
divert still useful products away from the waste stream by identifying recycling
opportunities and nonprofit organizations in need of fixtures.
Further, our sole cause marketing relationship is with the nation?s oldest nonprofit
conservation organization, American Forests. With American Forests, we and our customers
have contributed millions of dollars and planted millions of trees to help protect the
waterways, animal habitat, and air quality. Our own paper products come from tree farms,
not from old growth forests.
Eddie Bauer has an extensive corporate philanthropy program focused on the environment and
education, primarily through scholarships to under-represented groups. If you send me your
address, I will mail our 1999-2000 Social Responsibility Report, to give you highlights of
our corporate giving program. We do contribute product, in some cases giving clothing that
has been slightly damaged. As a rule, however, we choose to contribute items that are in
reasonable condition. We give only through non-profit organizations, not to individuals.
Over the last few years, our store signage and catalogs have grown more and more
representative of the diverse populations we serve. This year, we do not have any
contractual relationships with advertising agencies; rather, the creative work is done
in-house by associates in our marketing and advertising divisions.
I am not at liberty to share information from our legal files, nor to offer a list of
airlines that transport our goods. Much of this kind of information is privileged, as it
relates to business decisions affecting the entire Spiegel group, of which Eddie Bauer is
a part. If you need to know something specific that relates to social responsibility in
this arena, let me know and I might be able to answer your questions.
From upper management through associates at corporate and stores, Eddie Bauer is committed
to values of fairness, equal opportunity, environmental stewardship, and service to the
communities where we do business. We ?do the right thing? not only because it?s morally
sound, but because ethical behavior also is good for business and employee morale. Thank
you for your interest and your support.
Sincerely,
______________
Director, Public Affairs and Social Responsibility
Dear ________,
Thanks for your reply : ) Out of all of the companies I have contacted so far
(over 50) Eddie Bauer has been by far the most helpful and open to sharing information. I
really appreciate that! It sounds like the company has a lot of promise for leading the
mainstream retail field as far as environmental and social responsibility/disclosure goes.
I have a few more requests. . . If a list of the names/countries of the
suppliers is not available, could I get a bit more info as to exactly why
this info is not given out? Could I possibly obtain a list of only the
source countries? Is there any info available on the modeling agencies from which Eddie
Bauer hires its models?
Also, Eddie Bauer sounds like the sort of company that might be
interested in exploring some even more environementally sound options for their catalogs.
I have recently come across several great magazines that were printed on 100% recycled
paper with soy based ink. If you think someone might be interested, I would be happy to
find the organization's contact information for you! Additionally Eddie Bauer may want to
look into employing the services of Green-Fleets for the shipping of their product.
Again I can provide some contact info in this area. If Eddie Bauer is not in a position to
directly hire their fleets, at least they might be able to begin encouraging the Spiegel
Group in this direction. Just let me know if Eddie Bauer is interested!
Thanks!
Carissa Thomas
From: <An Eddie Bauer Representative>
To: "Carissa Thomas" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: response to your email.
Dear Carissa,
Thank you for your kind response. I have passed your email on to the people at Eddie Bauer
who are responsible for buying products and services. While our contracts are long-term
and may not change right away, the information you provided will be helpful in the future,
as we continue to focus on environmental stewardship.
As to why we do not provide a list of factories where we source, we see keeping this
information private as a competitive advantage. Eddie Bauer spends a lot of time and money
establishing long-term vendor relationships; these relationships allow us to provide
exceptional value to our customers with excellent quality products. Public dislosure of
these names may provide our competitors with a ready list of vendors that could hurt our
relationship with them by taking away factory capacity from us. Our partnership with FLA,
however, does require that we provide a list for monitoring, as I mentioned in my last
email.
You asked again about models. Our Creative Services department does not like to share this
list, either, for business reasons. But rest assured that the associate in charge of
selecting models is committed to diversity. She works hard to see that the models reflect
our customer base. Is that your concern?
If you still want to know more about our corporate philanthropy/community affairs program,
please send me your address so I can mail our last social responsibility report. Again, we
appreciate your interest and your patronage.
________
(***) ***-****
Dear _________,
Thanks again, it's very encouraging to see Eddie Bauer taking these steps
towards disclosure and environmental/social responsibility. One thing I would like to note
is that the FLA is actually not an organization that individuals fighting sweatshops will
support, for several reasons. The company might want to consider a switch to a different
organization. I'd be happy to give some links to further information if you think Eddie
Bauer would be interested!
Yes I am concerned about the diversity of models hired by retailers. I'm also
looking at the health they are in, as well as the message they send out to boys, men,
women and girls by the way the photographer presents them.
I would love to get a copy of the report, but I'd rather not use up any
more paper than I have to. Would it be possible to send it electronically?
Sincerely,
Carissa
From: <An Eddie Bauer Representative>
To: "Carissa Thomas" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: response to your email.
Hi Carissa,
We're getting to be quite the pen pals here. (smile) No, I don't have the Social
Responsibility report available electronically yet; but we are working to get it on our
web site. As soon as we get last year's up, we'll be just about ready to replace it with
the 2000-2001. I'll make a note to myself to let you know when it's available on
line.
At any Amnesty International event I attended last year, one of fhe roundtable discussions
centered on FLA vs CEP. We've been aware of the several, serious organizations addressing
global labor practices, and we think each of them has a lot to bring to the table. We
chose FLA for several reasons, chief among them being the participation of NGOs,
government, and campus groups with corporations in trying to find solutions; and the
certification of companies, rather than factories. This helps us because we do not stay in
the same factories all the time, but we do have programs in place to work with vendors and
ensure compliance with a set of standards. Simultaneously, Dr. Michael Otto (who owns
Spiegel, which owns Eddie Bauer) has been involved with CEP since its inception.
So, we've been able to learn from CEP's experiences, as well. Have you viewed FLA's web
site recently? You might be interested in how the organization has matured since the White
House convened a group to come up with standards.
Our models tend to look a bit older and to be a couple of sizes larger than typical
industry standards. We have our models wearing sizes 6 and 8, instead of 2 and 4, for
example. This is because our demographic target is women aged 35 to 55. We are now
looking for older models than the ones we've used in the past couple of years, because we
revised our demographic up a bit this year. At the
same time, we look to represent men and women of all races in our catalogs, on line, and
in store signage. As Public Affairs director, I take great interest in how we
represent ourselves, and I have been pleased with the mix and the efforts our Creative
Services Department is undertaking to ensure the mix. When you visit our stores or
flip through the catalog, how does the mix strike you? And do the models look healthy?
I'm impressed with your knowledge of the issues. Are you working with or volunteering with
an organization that addresses some of the global labor concerns? At any rate, we
appreciate partnerships with customers because we really do believe we'll get farther
along faster working together. Thanks.
_______
Dear _______,
Thanks, I'd love that (seeing online report)!
I'm not familiar with the CEP, but I have been doing some research on the Fair Labor
Association. It's been my understanding that the FLA was formed as a sub-group of a
White-House Partnership to end sweatshop labor. In the beginning, the FLA was comprised of
many companies. labor reps, and NGOs, who helped draft the charter. By the time it was in
finished form, four unions had pulled out (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile
Workers . . . Retail, Whole and Department Store Union. . . AFL-CIO. . . and
another department store union). Other organizations, such as UNITE! refused as well. They
gave (among others) the following reasons:
1. The charter does not require that the factories supply their employees with a living
wage. It will only ensure that they do not go below poverty level.
2. The charter does not prevent companies from producing in countries where workers are
refused the right to organize (form unions).
3. There will be no surprise monitoring of factories. Companies/factories will always know
who will be monitoring their factories, and when.
4. The companies and the FLA will censor the monitoring companies' reports before giving
the public access to them.
5. Only 30% of each participating companies' factories will be monitored in the
first three years, and only 10% after that. This will allow companies to get a "NO
SWEAT" label, even if all their other factories are sweatshops.
I looked over the charter this morning, but couldn't see that these issues had been
addressed in the amendments to the FLA charter. If you, or someone else at Eddie Bauer has
found that these issues have been addressed, I'd be very grateful to have them pointed out
to me. I want to get an accurate picture of the FLA!
I haven't looked a great deal at Eddie Bauer models in particular. This sort of
"survey" that I'm doing includes over 50 companies so far. Due to lack of time,
I haven't been able to inspect all the companies' ads etc. for myself yet.
I'm not part of any organization that focuses on this as of yet, mostly due to the fact
that I have been moving a lot lately! I'm employed by Northwest Christian Schools
Internetional, and work closely with district coordinator, who has a lot of interest in
these issues. I expect that I will join an organization whose sole focus is on these
issues soon =) Right now this is just an independant project of mine.
=) Carissa
From: <An Eddie Bauer Representative>
To: "Carissa Thomas" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: response to your email.
Carissa,
I probably won't be able to answer all your questions, and I'm hoping your visits to the
FLA site will eventually lead you to the information you need. As for the living wage
debate, you probably already know how complex this issue is; even in the U.S., there is
disagreement over what is a living wage to care for a family of four, for example. At any
rate, we only contract with factories that pay the country's minimum wage or local
industry practice, whichever is higher.
Most of our vendors pay higher than the prevailing minimum wage. Where unions are legally
prohibited, we seek to contract only with vendors who provide a parallel means of raising
grievances. Your information about surprise monitoring is not correct. There will be
surprise monitoring in situations that warrant it. The FLA will keep private only
information that a company considers necessarily
confidential for business and competitive reasons. Over a period of time, all factories
will be audited, but the 30 percent plus 10 percent figures are for factories that will be
double-checked.
As the FLA matures, I am sure certain procedures will be adjusted to achieve even greater
results. We are confident that this is a good start. The labor issues we all face globally
are monumental, and I am pleased to be a part of a company that is seriously seeking fair
and just solutions.
Eddie Bauer wants to help ensure best practices not only because it's the morally correct
thing to do, but because it makes good business sense. Not only factory workers but our
company could be seriously hurt if we even inadvertently ended up in a relationship with a
factory that did not operate ethically. So, we are doing everything we can to promote the
best labor practices wherever we have contracts. Our memberships with the FLA and with
Business for Social
Responsibility both have helped us elevate our programs and learn from our peers.
Good luck to you in your career goals. I believe you will be an asset to the organization
that hires you.
Sincerely,
_______
Dear _______,
Thanks so much for your help! I will definately research the FLA
further. I really appreciate the openness and concern that Eddie Bauer seems
to have toward these issues. Thanks again for your time and efforts =)
Sincerely,
Carissa Thomas
End of correspondence. |
Hehe, I spelled "modeling"
wrong here
The last name, e-mail address and
phone number of the individual I was in contact with has been omitted from all messages.
This is simply to protect the privacy
of the individual.
It's interesting that this is
mentioned, because animals in the food industry are widely mistreated.
That's very cool. I'd never heard of
ReDo before!
And they had been!
There I spelled modeling right.
I did some quick re-research just
prior to writing this e-mail!
I wonder what situations
"warrant" a surprise monitor? I should have asked!
|
