The 'Next' best thing?

Long time, no blog! In fact, no blog for the entire month of December, the Christmas effect! Despite my belief that new year resolutions don't actually work, I've set myself one - To sit down at least once a week and write a blog, email a shop, or read articles about clothes production. Let's hope I can prove myself wrong!



So on to the next shop I've been emailing, Next. Every year they publish their 'Corporate Responsibility Report', which makes for a fairly encouraging read. It talks about the importance of ethical trading, the minimum requirements their factories must have, the fact that auditing is done by Next themselves and not a third party, and the progress they are currently making. Next say they are working on understanding 'country specific issues' suppliers are facing, and working to help develop local communities, and workers conditions. They have launched 'project autopilot', which they hope will deliver sustainable work place improvements, and eventually replace the need to audit factories. The idea behind the project being increased responsibility to the employers and employees of the factories, with improved communication channels.

'A supportive and committed management is vital to the potential success and long term sustainability of this project, and this has been a key factor in the selection of the suppliers we want to partner with in this programme.' (Next Corporate Responsibility Report 2011).

I still had a few questions about how their auditing process actually worked, what effects 'Project Autopilot' would actually have on workers wages, and just how far Next was willing to go to improve conditions for their workers. Usually when i send these emails i get either ignored, very short replies that don't mean anything, or just copied and pasted pre-written waffle. I couldn't believe it when I saw the length of the reply I received back from Next's 'Code of Practice Manager'.
I was told that Next audit factories every 6 months to 2 years, and that if a complaint is made about that factory they revisit the factory and offer support to bring the factory up to at least the minimum standards, and that they only disengage with suppliers if all avenues for achieving change have been explored.
They say 'Project Autopilot' will help achieve living wages for workers, but that the success of living wage campaigns is also dependent on governments, NGO's (Non-governmental Organisations) and trade unions. Referring to the problem that simply paying a factory more does not guarantee that the workers will actually see that money!
Although Next do not have any fair trade products they said they do support the principle (paying a fair price for a product) and want their brand to be a 'force for good'. They also pointed to work they do such as 'Soul of Africa' where they support women affected by HIV/AIDS to help them develop sewing and business skills.

I replied again asking questions such as how is Next supporting the groups they mentioned who are influential in the success of a living wage, and why they are not more public about things such as 'Project Autopilot'.
The reply I received to this was much more brief, offering me a phone conversation, or a face to face meeting where we could discuss things further! So i should be off to London before too long to meet Next's 'Code of Practice Manager' (lets hope its not some big conspiracy to knock me off!)

So while i may not be shopping at Republic anymore, I did venture in to the ever so slightly scary world of the Next January sale...I bought a hat!