CSR and David Jones

Image by Kgbo

For decades, the global garment industry has been haunted by poor business practices. Practices that turn a blind eye towards the production of their products, motivated by quick profit and market dominance. In as recently as 2013, a garment manufacturing building in Bangladesh collapsed killing approximately 1,129 people and injuring 2,500. The 'Savar building collapse' is now acknowledged as the deadliest accident within the industry in history. To combat this, several companies have introduced socio-ethical practices into their business models, including one of the largest garment retailers in Australia, David Jones.

As of 2015, David Jones has begun a drastic new program to eventually being about a consensus among its producers. This program requires all of their manufacturers to produce garments "sustainably, environmentally friendly, and child and slave-labour free." This equates to around 1600 individual manufacturers both within Australia and abroad. They have even begun extending this code to their electronic and appliance brand suppliers and hope that by partnering with other like minded businesses they may make a profound difference within the community. 

Sources Accessed 13/3/16:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/david-jones-sets-ambitious-target-for-every-product-to-be-ethically-sourced-20150428-1mvi3v.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse