Sustainable Supply Chain

Sustainability stretches beyond our own operations as we have a global manufacturing partner network. Approximately 70% of our products are produced in Europe and the rest in Asia. A total of about 70 contract manufacturers make products for us.

Wherever our products are made, special attention is paid to manufacturing conditions. We are a member of the international Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) which aims at promoting the monitoring and developing of working conditions in global supply chains.

Read more about BSCI on their website.

We want to be as transparent as possible about our supply chain and aim to have long-term partnerships with our manufacturers. We have also published a list of our significant contract manufacturers. The list is updated on an annual basis.

See the list of Marimekko's significant contract manufacturers (updated in June 2017).

How do we select our partners?

We value long-term partnerships and some of our partnerships have lasted already for decades.

Our sourcing is guided by quality and competence. Our buyers have guidelines for assessing sustainability aspects, which they follow when selecting new suppliers. Also, the purchase agreements signed with the suppliers bind them to comply with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and BSCI Code of Conduct.

Read more about the BSCI Code of Conduct.

How do we know what's going on?

Our suppliers' adherence to the ILO conventions and the BSCI Code of Conduct is monitored during our own factory visits and, outside Europe, also by independent auditors specialised in factory audits. External specialists also carry out factory monitoring before or between the actual audits.

We think that open communication between us and our manufacturing partners is very important in order to ensure sustainable operations. Our buyers are in contact with the manufacturers on a daily basis, so any problems can be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Read more about the audits in our Sustainability Review 2016.

Human rights in supply chain

We are committed to respecting human rights in all our operations. Our approach to human rights is based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). According to these principles, governments have the obligation to protect human rights and companies have a responsibility to respect human rights and to avoid the violation of human rights in all their operations.

Respect for human rights is also included in Code of Conduct to our suppliers which includes principles concerning, for example, the prohibition of child labour and forced labour, the right for workers to organise and the right to equal treatment. We monitor the realisation of human rights in the supply chain both ourselves and through third-party BSCI audits.

We assess the risks of human rights violations in our value chain based on, for example, the product or material to be sourced, the country of origin and the type of production process. The risks related to human rights violations apply primarily to indirect suppliers and to the highest-risk countries.