At THE ICONIC, we are committed to upholding decent working conditions and human rights throughout our supply chain. Our approach goes beyond basic compliance measures, with a focus on supporting the dignity, wellbeing and empowerment of the people who make our products.

We prioritise training and capability building for our internal teams and supply chain partners, while driving greater transparency and traceability across our supply chain. This helps us better understand and mitigate modern slavery risks, as we maintain zero tolerance for any form of modern slavery or labour abuse. Read more in our 2024 Modern Slavery Statement. Ultimately, all of our efforts in this space are intended to help defend fundamental human rights.

Our areas of action — ahead of 2030:

• Collaborating with our third-party brand partners to ensure they meet our human rights standards. 2025 progress: 41%
• Continuing living wage assessments across all of our Own Brand factories. 2025 progress: 26%
• Enabling effective grievance channels for all workers through our in-factory assessments and the implementation of independent grievance mechanisms. 2025 progress: 87%

As a multi-brand retailer and platform, we recognise the role we can play in influencing positive change and raising standards across the brands we work with, while championing those already leading in this space.

We are committed to working collaboratively with third-party brands to support their own sustainability journey and to ensure we are working with brands whose values align with our own. While we take responsibility for the role we can play to provide capacity-building opportunities and raise awareness of sustainability issues, ultimately we place responsibility with our brand partners to ensure they have the policies and procedures in place to manage their own impacts.

In addition to referencing our Supplier & Vendor Code of Conduct in all brand partner agreements, including the minimum standards it sets across a range of compliance areas (such as our Animal Welfare policy), we have also developed a group-led Brand Human Rights Standards and assessment process to provide visibility over brands and help prioritise engagement on this topic.

Our Supplier & Vendor Code of Conduct sets out our environmental, human rights, labour, health and safety standards and expectations. It applies to our manufacturers, their subcontractors, and suppliers of inputs and raw materials. These minimum standards are referenced in all supplier contracts and are based on internationally recognised frameworks and regulations, including the International Labour Organisation’s Fundamental Conventions and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code.

Our Own Brands are produced in 39 independent supplying factories in China (31), India (5), Bangladesh (2) and Vietnam (1). More than 5,800 people are employed across these locations, 3,073 of whom are women. A public list of all THE ICONIC’s final-stage factories is updated monthly and can be downloaded here or found on the Open Supply Hub database.

All tier-one and tier-two factories are required to undergo a third-party audit at least every two years. In addition, our internal social compliance team conducts regular on-site factory visits to assess all elements of our Code of Conduct. 

We recognise that there may be times when our standards are not fully met by our factory partners, including in areas shaped by broader systemic industry issues such as overtime and social insurance. When these issues are identified, we work collaboratively with factory management to develop and implement relevant remediation plans.

Subcontracting from these facilities is not permitted without prior approval, as outlined in the Purchase Order Terms stated in THE ICONIC’s contract with suppliers. Suppliers must commit to ensuring production takes place only in nominated and approved factories.

THE ICONIC rejects any form of modern slavery or exploitation, where a person cannot refuse or leave work because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception. 

This abuse of power and control in modern economic circumstances occurs in every region of the world. The 2023 Global Slavery Index estimated that more than 50 million people globally were living in modern slavery in 2021, including an estimated 29.3 million people in the Asia Pacific region alone. It also estimated that, on any given day, there were 41,000 individuals in Australia living in situations of modern slavery.

We expect all employees, suppliers and stakeholders to actively support efforts to eradicate modern slavery and, where relevant, ensure they meet their modern slavery reporting requirements. Since 2019, THE ICONIC has maintained a continuous and rigorous end-to-end process for managing modern slavery risks across our business, including enterprise-wide risk assessments of our business operations and supply chain. 

This analysis of known risks, existing controls and identified opportunities helps ensure THE ICONIC is operating to effectively combat any risk of modern slavery and other human rights abuses across our business operations and supply chain.

Read our latest Modern Slavery Statement here