Femnet e.V.

Pressemeldungen - Unternehmensverantwortung & Lieferkettengesetz

Zalando and its suppliers: The online retailer has little concrete information when it comes to labour rights

Joint press release by FEMNET and the umbrella organisation Critical Shareholders

On the occasion of the upcoming Annual General Meeting of Zalando on 19 May 2021, Gisela Burckhardt, shareholder and CEO of the women's rights organisation FEMNET, poses critical questions to the online retailer.

"Compared to the environmental efforts made by Zalando, statements on the implementation of human rights sound rather hollow. Many promises, few actions.", notes Burckhardt. She and her team at FEMNET have long been committed to improving working conditions in the apparel industry. So far, Zalando has not agreed to support the Clean Clothes Campaign's call for workers' social security to be better prepared for further disasters. Many textile workers in the Global South lost their jobs during the corona crisis or are affected by massive wage losses. In some cases, they receive only half of their already very low income.

Also in the focus of the critical shareholder: Zalando and its numerous suppliers in China. "Can Zalando exclude that its products are made under Uyghur forced labour?", Gisela Burckhardt wants to know.

The activist is also following up on a factory in Myanmar that supplies Zalando: ‘Did Zalando’s suppliers lay off workers because they participated in protests or were absent from the workplace, e.g. because they had to hide? Did the factory pay the workers the full wages for the last few months?’

Zalando promotes being a sustainable company and bringing clothing back into circulation. Advertising with recycled clothing is misleading consumers, Burckhardt argues. Because the recycled goods so far hardly consist of old clothes, but are mainly made of PET bottles. She also criticizes that the company speaks of sustainable cotton, although the use of organic cotton at Zalando is only 16 percent, and 54 percent of the cotton is certified according to the relatively weak BCI standard (Better Cotton Initiative).

The FEMNET Chairman praised the labeling of less sustainable articles, which Zalando uses to provide its consumers with a quick orientation. The offer of ‘pre-owned’ clothing also highlights them as a positive signal, because, according to Burckhardt: “Since 2000, the sale of clothing has doubled from 50 to 100 billion pieces. No one can wear it anymore. Almost half end up in the garbage can or in used clothing containers. We absolutely need to move away from overproduction”.

Question sets:

• Questions to Zalando on Human Rights and Covid-19 (PDF file)
• Questions about Myanmar (PDF file)
• Questions about sustainability and transparency (PDF file)