America's FLA accredits Fanatics Brands' social compliance programme

11 Aug '21

3 min read

Pic: Fanatics Brands

America’s Fair Labor Association (FLA) has announced that its board of directors voted to accredit the social compliance programme of Fanatics Brands, the private label division of Fanatics is a leader for licensed sports merchandise, which specialises in licensed fan apparel for the some popular leagues, brands, and collegiate and professional teams.

Fanatics Brands manufactures its products at three owned and operated facilities located in Tampa, Florida, Easton, Pennsylvania, and Norman, Oklahoma, and sources from 94 contracted facilities across 17 countries. Accreditation by the FLA recognises that Fanatics Brands has systems in place to identify and remediate unfair labour practices in its global supply chain, according to a press release by the FLA.

The FLA accreditation report is the result of a lengthy review of a company’s social compliance program against international labour standards.

Sustainability at Fanatics Brands, the company’s social compliance programme, includes 11 global staff members, including regional managers in six countries. The company publishes its labour standards commitments online, reinforcing its obligations. A long-range planning template and adherence to planning and operations calendars preserves production lead times and mitigates last-minute changes to orders. Regular cross-departmental meetings and weekly meetings with suppliers provide forums to analyse the impact of purchasing practices on working conditions.

Fanatics Brands has used the FLA Fair Compensation Dashboard to analyse wage data from 21 per cent of its suppliers in scope and map wages against living wage estimates. Fanatics Brands drafted a blueprint for making living wage progress using this information. FLA verified that 100 per cent of Fanatics Brands owned and tier one contract facilities received a full social compliance audit over a two-year period. Further, Fanatics Brands deployed an online workforce impact survey to all suppliers in response to COVID-19 restrictions that limited in-person audits. The survey focused on retrenchment risks, wage payment accuracy, and health and safety issues, according to FLA.

An extensive social compliance training programme for Fanatics Brands staff includes a required introductory training on responsible purchasing practices for all staff, and quarterly and annual sessions on workplace standards and topics such as grievance mechanisms, retrenchment, and freedom of association and collective bargaining for sustainability staff. The commitment to training extends to ensuring that global suppliers are aware of their responsibilities and the production workers are fully informed of their rights.

“Accreditation by the FLA shows that Fanatics Brands plays by the rules when it comes to protecting the rights of the workers who make its officially licensed gear for sports fans. FLA accreditation is a tangible sign of Fanatics Brands’ pledge to meet the world’s highest labour standards and its commitment to continuous improvement toward better conditions for workers,” Sharon Waxman, FLA president and CEO said in a statement.

“On behalf of the entire Fanatics Brands team, we are extremely proud to receive this accreditation from the FLA, one of our industry’s most important and purposeful organisations. We take great pride in running a socially responsible business that respects workers’ rights, and believe we have an obligation and opportunity to use our business to make a positive difference for the people and in the communities in which we operate,” Joe Bozich, president at Fanatics Brands said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)

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