Ethical fashion continues in influence changes in manufacturing and distribution in the industry and H&M has always been at the forefront of sustainability. So it comes as no surprise that the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, recognized H&M as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company®.
This is the fourth time that H&M has been honored with this award, which recognizes organizations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. World’s Most Ethical Company honorees understand the correlation between ethics, reputation and daily interactions with their brand and that the award belongs as much to their associates as it does to them. H&M is one of only three companies in the Apparel industry honored this year. The other brands in the apparel industry include The Gap and Levi Strauss.
“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “H&M joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at H&M for this extraordinary achievement.”
“We are very proud to be named as one of the world’s most ethical companies this year again. It is a great recognition of H&M’s strong ethical approach,” says Karl-Johan Persson, CEO at H&M.
The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and culture of ethics (20%).
The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.
For information about ethical fashion and sustainability contact us about our Sustainability and the State of the Future Youth Culture Study 2014. Label Networks will also be presenting at the Sustainatopia Conference on youth markets and ethical fashion on April 17th in Miami, FL.
