We make fashion more fair and safe
Social responsibility all along the textile supply chain
OLYMP maintains very reliable and long-term business relations with its international manufacturing partners, above all for our core product, the shirt. In total, we work together with only a few, well selected shirt companies – and with some of these for decades. In this way, we ensure that our quality standards are maintained and we provide the foundation for the ongoing improvement of social standards.
"The well-being of the people who produce our products is at the heart of my work. We face these challenges with determination and together with our partners."
Helen Zitzelsberger, Corporate Responsibility at OLYMP
The seven-person sustainability team at OLYMP is in constant and direct contact with the production companies outside of Germany in order to ensure compliance with environmental and social standards. We consider ourselves here as a partner on equal footing, accompanying the producers in their development towards a more sustainable production. As important as audits and certifications are: We attach great importance to getting an accurate picture for ourselves of the local conditions during regular visits to our production partners.
In addition, we are involved in initiatives and organisations in the industry with the aim of jointly achieving sustainable improvement in working and social standards in the supply chain.
Responsible Business Conduct Policy
Our commitment at a glance
Fair Wear
The Fair Wear Foundation is an independent, non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative with more than 140 members, dedicated to improving working conditions in the clothing industry's supply chains. By joining Fair Wear, OLYMP clearly commits to maintaining high standards and to creating more transparency. On a yearly basis Fair Wear conducts a “Brand Performance Check” and closely reviews all our measures towards monitoring and optimisation of working conditions at our international production partners as well as the impact of our general purchasing practices. The results are then published on Fair Wear’s website.
International ACCORD for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry
The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh was created in May 2013 and was a response to the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh. The Accord is a legally binding agreement between western brands, retailers and trade unions designed to permanently improve the safety of workers in the clothing industry in Bangladesh. OLYMP signed the Bangladesch Accord in November 2013as well as in the years thereafter all subsequent agreements signed and has since made great progress in terms of implementing fire safety and building safety measures.
iMPACT Program
The iMPACT Programme is OLYMP’s social audit and development programme, which we developed in 2021 together with the workwear supplier HAKRO and the service provider LRQA (formerly ELEVATE Ltd.) iMPACT stands for:Insight & motivation, Partnership & action, Capacity-building & transparency. We want to gain honest insights into production conditions and motivate our partners to act – collectively and collaboratively – to develop our capabilities and achieve a higher level of credibility and transparency.
