Sustainability
Social
We’re committed to protecting the human rights of people throughout our business and our global supply chain.
In addition to the charitable activities we support in the UK, we take a keen interest in the working conditions, livelihoods and wellbeing of communities within our global supply chain.
We believe that everyone in our supply chain should work in safe, fair conditions and be treated with dignity and respect. Our approach is aligned with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code.
Supporting workers goes beyond protecting their rights at work, and we continue to provide training, education and other types of holistic support in countries including India and Bangladesh.
Suppliers commit to our code of conduct, outlining standards for working conditions, wages and environmental responsibilities. We also require annual ethical audits for all of our tier 1 factories and priority tier 2 factories.
Our social targets
2024
Delivered financial literacy training in five key communities
2024
Developed a human rights strategy in response to our Human Rights Saliency Assessment
2025
Map all tier 1 to tier 3 factories, to ensure conditions meet our standards
2030
Fully map all factories in our supply chain, up to and including tier 5
Our social progress
- We have fully mapped tier 1 factories and over 800 tier 2 factories in our supply chain on the Open Supply Hub, which supports the improvement of human rights and environmental conditions. We also publish an updated factory list every six months.
- We have supported more than 10,000 supply chain colleagues and over 23,000 outside of the direct supply chain during FY23/24. This has been done through projects and training on topics including women’s empowerment, financial literacy, social dialogue and health in Bangladesh, China, India and Turkey.
- We continue to ensure our approach to respecting human rights, aligns with internationally recognised standards and have this year completed a human rights saliency assessment.
Latest social news
Very hosts local high school students to encourage more girls into tech
Very’s 80s-themed ball raises £180,000 for children’s reading charity Coram Beanstalk
