The vast majority of hummel®'s products are manufactured in Turkey, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China. At hummel® we have our own sourcing offices in China alongside its own QC (quality control) staff in Bangladesh, Pakistan and China. The staff’s main role is to ensure that produced products live up to our high standards, but they are also our eyes and ears on the floor regarding the working conditions at the various factories.
Our Tier 1 manufacturers are segmented into A, B and C suppliers depending on the level of business we do with them. All A and B suppliers go through an independent social audit such as BSCI, SA8000 or SMETA (Sedex) at regular intervals to ensure that the manufacturers adhere to hummel®'s ethical code of conduct and ensure that all workers at the factories are treated well and fairly.
All C suppliers need to go through a hummel® audit conducted by SGS or our own hummel® staff at regular intervals as a minimum.
Moreover, hummel® is also a signatory on the International Accord. This is a building safety initiative in Bangladesh, whose purpose is to ensure that the buildings our manufacturers operate in are safe with regards to structure, electricity, and fire.
It is our goal to expand the audit requirements to our Tier 2 suppliers before 2030. In order to do so, we firstly need to gain full visibility of this tier of the supply chain and hereafter engage our Tier 1 suppliers in conversations with Tier 2.