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Company Response

5 Nov 2024

Author:
SHEIN

SHEIN response on 2024 Ethical Fashion Report

Last year, SHEIN introduced our evoluSHEIN roadmap, our comprehensive strategy for delivering positive impact across key social, environmental and governance issues, and making continuous improvements across our value chain. We acknowledge that we have more to do and improve on, which we will continue to work on as part of our ESG journey. We have set ourselves realistic and credible near-term targets, to guide our actions and help us keep track of progress.

On labour and human rights, we are committed to addressing any potential abuses within our operations and supply chain, and taking concrete steps to understand, identify and respond to such risks.

▪ We have developed and implemented robust supply chain governance policies, including a Supplier Code of Conduct that strictly prohibits the used of forced labour and child labour as core principles, and outlines other requirements for suppliers related to the payment of wages, working hours, workplace health and safety, and labour and social welfare.

▪ We work with international third-party verification agencies to conduct regular on-site compliance audits, and have steadily expanded the coverage of these audits, covering suppliers that represented approximately 95% of the procurement value of SHEIN-branded products in 2023.

▪ Where suppliers commit severe human rights violations such as use of forced labour or child labour, or fail to remediate other serious violations within required timelines, we have not hesitated to terminate business relationships in line with our policies.

▪ We also provide supply chain workers with access to grievance mechanisms for reporting of concerns to SHEIN, and have clear policies prohibiting retaliation against whistleblowers.

▪ Finally, we pair our enforcement measures with investments in empowerment and capacity building, providing targeted remediation guidance to suppliers on violations found, and uplifting standards through regular group workshops and one-on-one training sessions for suppliers.

These efforts have helped us raise standards across our network of third-party suppliers. We have seen improved supplier grades on their compliance audits, and decreasing incidence rates of severe labour violations. Nevertheless, we recognize that there is still much to be done to further improve conditions across the manufacturing supply chain, and are committed to playing our part. Drawing on feedback from the Ethical Fashion Report and other similar benchmarks, we will strive to further strengthen our supply chain risk assessments and mitigation strategies, including in aspects such as worker engagement, responsible purchasing practices, and the governance of wages and working hours.

Given that manufacturing supply chains are deeply intertwined, and manufacturers typically cooperate with a wide range of different brands, we also recognise that this must be an industry-wide effort. We are prepared to work with other ecosystem players to address common challenges and uplift overall standards in the supply chain.

For more information on our progress made in 2023, please refer to our 2023 sustainability and social impact report (https://www.sheingroup.com/our-impact/reports/), published following the 2024 Ethical Fashion Report review process, and our UK Modern Slavery Statement (https://www.shein.co.uk/SHEINModern-Slavery-Statement-a-1067.html