Response by NKD
...As an immediate response NKD liaised with Amfori and further concerned competitors mentioned in the report, to discuss on how to get engaged and take action to address any possible violations where applicable. However, the report does not link NKD to a specific factory or case, so that it is not clear to us, where the investigation for the report was conducted. This makes it impossible for NKD to address remediation activities in a specific factory...Despite NKD not operating their own production facilities, we take our responsibility towards workers in the supply chain very seriously by conducting our own internal audits (Factory Evaluations) before allowing any production to take place and additionally require production facilities to undergo a 3rd party audit e. g. against an internationally accepted and accredited standard like Amfori BSCI = Business Social Compliance Initiative. In case non-conformities are raised during an internal or external audit, we follow-up and closely monitor remediation by working jointly with our suppliers to find sustainable solutions. If a supplier is not willing to undertake appropriate measures to sustainably remediate non-conformities, we reserve the right (as a last option and after all efforts are exhausted) to sanction the supplier by not allowing any further production or orders to be placed for NKD. In addition to continuous auditing and monitoring, NKD conducts a broad variety of CSR-related capacity building measures and regularly trains workers and mid-level management to raise awareness...NKD wishes to address any possible violations that are possibly linked to our company. However, due to the lack of detailed factory information in the report and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is impossible for us to conduct own investigations at site or to appropriately give a statement against the raised allegations. We believe in a fair and constructive dialogue with NGOs and take any allegations raised against our company very seriously. Hence, we are sincerely hoping for further information that could be provided to us, so that we can get involved and improve the situation in factories working on the production of our products where applicable.