Australian denim label Outland Denim has taken out a Thomson Reuters Stop Slavery Award.
Shortlisted in the Enterprise Small-Medium sized business category, Outland Denim came out on top against Alsico Laucuba and Regenesys BPO.
The business was recognised for its efforts to combat poverty through its employment of seamstresses who have previously been exploited.
Outland Denim founding CEO James Bartle told Ragtrader that winning the award reaffirms the business’ purpose.
“Being awarded a Stop Slavery Award is extremely significant to us.
“This is the reason Outland Denim began, to show that business can be the solution to our world's greatest social injustices.
“To be recognised by Thomson Reuters Foundation for the impact we have had and the progress we have made, even as a young brand, means the world to us, it shows we are on the right path,” he said.
Despite taking out the award, Bartle said the business will introduce new measures to increase transparency.
“Through the use of technology, we are enabling a new project that will take Outland Denim to a new level of transparency in our operations and that will hopefully become standard across the fashion industry as a whole to reduce incidence of exploitation and slavery.”
In the meantime, Outland Denim will reveal a new initiative for its customers and debut new garments.
“2020 is proving to be a really exciting year for Outland Denim," Bartle said.
“In the next month we are announcing a venture that will invite our incredibly supportive customers to have an even greater social and environmental impact. We'll be sharing more about this on March 3.
“We've also just launched our State of Being collection which represents a lot of 'firsts' for us.
“We're introducing a wider range of options including chambray shirts, our first dress and our first rigid denim offering.
“This is also our first vegan collection and first season in Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and David Jones Men's,” he said.