Work safety and the issue of respecting the rights of those who produce our brand collections is an absolute priority for us. Since 2013, we have earmarked the amount of PLN 25.4 million for activities in this area, of which nearly 5 million in 2019 alone. All our suppliers are obliged to sign and follow the LPP Code of Conduct. This document lays down the requirements that LPP sets out for its foreign suppliers in terms of employment conditions, including, among others, remuneration policy, absolute ban on child labour, voluntary work, freedom of association and equal treatment of all employees. The Code also sets health and safety standards and obliges suppliers to take care of the natural environment. Compliance with the Code at the factories is verified by LPP inspectors. Moreover, we cooperate with external specialists from SGS – a reputable auditing company. We are also a member of ACCORD (The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety), acting on behalf of our industry to improve working conditions in the garment industry in Bangladesh. In 2019, we carried out a total of 1564 audits in 10 countries: Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Georgia.

In addition, ACCORD operates a free telephone helpline which can be used by all employees of our suppliers. Information about this tool is passed on during occupational safety training. The training system requires three meetings with all employees of the supplier and the establishment of safety committees at the factories. During these meetings, in addition to the oral information, leaflets with basic occupational health and safety principles and information about the system of reporting violations are also provided. To date, the programme has covered more than 260,000 supplier employees working for LPP.

The factories we cooperate with carry out orders simultaneously for many clothing companies from different parts of the world. We do not cooperate with any production plant on an exclusive basis. We are most strongly involved in remedial actions in Asia in those factories for which we are the main customer. There, our impact on improving working conditions and safety is most effective.

You can find more information about the way we control our supply chain here:  People.

The construction disaster, which came as a shock to the entire global clothing industry, completely changed our company’s approach to controlling working conditions at the plants we outsource production to. In 2013 we joined the recovery activities by giving a voluntary donation to the people affected and the families of the victims of the disaster. As the only company from Poland we also joined and have been an active member of ACCORD (The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety). Also years ago, we set up our representative office in Dhaka, whose employees are responsible for auditing the factories and cooperating with external entities involved in this process. Thanks to all these activities, we can already talk about many real, positive changes in the factories to which we outsource production in this country.

• In 97% of the factories electrical installations have already been replaced or modernised.
• In 91% of the entities additional fire protection facilities have been installed.
• In 88% of the factories the structures of buildings have been strengthened and in many cases production has been moved to new facilities.

100% of the factories we cooperate with in Bangladesh are under strict control of ACCORD.

Our strategy is to develop design facilities and sales channels and, like our global competitors, we do not have our own factories. We outsource the sewing of our collections to external companies operating in Poland and in many European and Asian countries. This business model allows our buyers to locate the production of particular models in factories that specialise in the production of particular types of clothing.

In Poland and other European countries; we mainly commission the production of the models incorporating the latest fashion trends, where we are particularly interested in delivering them to the customer quickly. In Europe, we cooperate with suppliers from Italy, Portugal and Turkey.

What part of our collections is created in close proximity to Poland?

• In total, over 10% of all brands’ collections,
• 21% are Reserved orders,
• 27% are Mohito models.

We entrust our contractors in Asia with making models designed many weeks before the première of the collection – usually it is clothing addressed to a wide group of recipients, available in all stores of a given brand and ordered by us in the greatest number of pieces. In Asia, we cooperate with suppliers from China, Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam.

Ideas for new collections always originate in Poland, where we employ over 13,000 people.

We outsource a significant part of the production of our collections abroad.  Since 2016, we have been manufacturing more and more in Poland and Europe. In total, over the last two years we have ordered almost 10 million pieces in our country. We are most likely to be the largest ordering party in the industry on the Polish market.

Production in Poland is of great importance to us because of the chance to quickly respond to changing trends. We deliver the desired clothes and accessories to the stores dynamically, according to demand and in a timely manner, thanks to the fact that the most time-consuming, complicated and fashionable models are produced close to the outlet. This solution eliminates logistics delays of 2 to 6 months. That is why we are constantly looking for sewing plants in Poland.

Currently, LPP cooperates with 300 entities, which in total employ about 3500 people in Poland.

In 2019 we adopted very ambitious and measurable environmental protection goals, you can see them here: The environment.

At the design stage

For several years now, products made of organic cotton have been present in Reserved collections.  In 2019, all LPP brands introduced the so-called green collections with Eco Aware label. In Reserved alone, the share of this collection was 16.55%, and it is ultimately going to reach 50% in 2025.
We have resigned from natural furs and angora, and in 2020 we withdrew from the use of mohair, which carries the risk of inhumane treatment of animals.

At the transport stage

• In 85.09% of cases we use the sea route to import goods.
• In 2019, 79% of orders from our stores were shipped in eco packaging.
• Shipments of Mohito and Reserved brand products are packed in recycled cardboard boxes.
• We use FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council) cardboard boxes when we introduce them on the market.

At the sales stage

• We try to use furniture from locations which have been shut down in other, renovated stores.
• 100% of our hangers are recyclable.
• All newly opened stores are equipped with energy-saving LED lighting and smart ventilation system.
• In September 2019, in all our stores, we replaced free plastic bags with paid recycled paper bags.
• In selected stores of our Reserved, House and Mohito brands we run a collection of used garments, which we then pass on to those in need.

We are aware of the environmental impact of the global clothing business. Therefore, we have increasingly focused on the issues related to respecting natural resources at various stages of the company’s activity — from the selection of raw materials for clothing, through sales, to the operation of the company’s offices and logistics facilities. We raise our employees’ awareness of the environmental care in their daily work.

As part of our Sustainable Development Strategy, we have introduced the Eco Aware collection, marked with a distinctive green label, in our brands.  The collection is made of environmentally friendly natural fabrics, such as organic cotton or fabric based on wood cellulose. We also use recycled fibres to reduce waste, water and energy used in the production of new materials.

In 2019, 8.2 % of our collections were Eco Aware models.

All materials used in the Eco Aware collections are either certified by an independent organisation or purchased from a supplier who owns environmentally friendly technologies. Our employees are obliged to verify the product certificate, confirm each purchase with the LPP Sustainable Development Department and prepare appropriate documentation confirming the compliance of the material used in production with our Eco Aware standard.

We also make sure that the process of creating the collection itself is sustainable, so we have developed our own Eco Aware Production standard. It requires confirmation that the factory limits the use of water, energy and chemicals during production. So far, six factories (three in Pakistan and three in Bangladesh) have met our standards, and by the end of 2023, we plan to cover 100% of the denim factories with the programme, as they exert the greatest environmental impact.

Find out more here: The environment.

The fate of animals has always been important to us, so already in 2014 we completely excluded angora from our collections, and in 2016 we entered into an agreement with the Open Cages organisation, whereby we committed ourselves to completely resigning from the use of natural furs. From 2020, we have resigned from the use of mohair.
The down and feathers that we use in the production of jackets, for instance, come partly from suppliers with valid RDS certificates. This means that it meets the standards developed by experts in the area of humane treatment of animals. By 2021, all our products with this raw material will be certified.
In 2019, we decided that also the wool (including cashmere) used in the production of our collections should come exclusively from certified sources.

LPP is a Polish company that supports the Polish economy. It is in Poland where the concepts of our brands are developed and where all strategic decisions are made. We pay taxes in Poland. Over the last five years, we have contributed more than PLN 4 billion in taxes to the state budget. According to the report of the Ministry of Finance for 2018, LPP ranked 30th among the largest CIT payers in Poland, paying over PLN 144 million of CIT tax. As a result, in 2018, we were also ranked third among companies from the commercial sector in terms of the amount of income tax paid. In 2019, LPP contributed a record amount of over PLN 1 billion to the state budget, of which PLN 134 million was Corporate Income Tax.