Australian fashion label Camilla has revealed why it had exited contracts with three tier 1 suppliers in FY23.
In its latest modern slavery statement, published earlier this year and covering the FY23 period, Camilla confirmed that the primary reason for exiting one of its suppliers in Brazil was due to a lack of third-party social audit compliance.
“This was after many attempts to encourage a globally available compliance program, to no avail,” the brand confirmed in the modern slavery statement.
“The other supplier we ceased to work with in FY23, was an Indian accessory supplier, where volume of business was small and mutual opportunity and success were limited.
“For the Australian fragrance agent we excited, we had not identified on-going opportunities.”
During the reporting period, Camilla worked with 24 individual tier 1 manufacturing facilities, including 15 direct factory suppliers, five agent partnerships, three licence agreements and one sale or return agreement.
Despite most of these facilities originating in China - including two licence, two agents and eight direct - 73 per cent of Camilla’s fashion production by volume is produced in India, while 25 per cent is produced in China. This makes up five direct factories and one consignment.
More than two-thirds (65 per cent) of Camilla’s overall tier 1 suppliers are direct relationships and make up nearly 97 per cent of the intake at cost.
Camilla added that all communication and transactions are conducted directly with the factory teams.
“Direct engagement with the supplier through transparent communication develops trust, supporting both parties’ operations,” Camilla noted. “The partnership includes site visits and on-site third-party auditing with direct discussion of corrective action plans.
“These connections are very important as the open dialogue encourages any suspected risks of modern slavery to be less hidden in the complex supply chains.”
Camilla has mapped its entire tier 1 supply chain, and is currently working on tier 2, with visibility into 23 fabric, yarn and tannery facilities, three major trim producers, six finishing suppliers - including packaging - and five of its major digital print mills.
Camilla is also continuing its long-established relationship and commitment with a supplier based in Gurugram, India, which owns three of Camilla’s main tier 1 manufacturing facilities and one printing factory.
During the reporting period, 71 per cent of Camilla’s total garment and accessory production by value was produced by these core entities.
“Our key partner manages our main warehouse logistics operation in India, employing nine staff,” Camilla confirmed. “This warehouse does an annual Sedex social audit, to date no major or critical non-compliances have been found. Our production and logistics teams engage directly with the warehouse staff through daily communication.
“Many of the other manufacturing partners also have longstanding relationships. After our key partner, our top five suppliers average a six year relationship.”
Camilla also onboard three new accessory suppliers in FY23, with the brand’s accessory ranges including bags, shoes, belts, scarves and jewellery.
This include a luxury scarf producer in Italy, and two manufacturers in China - with one producing small accessories and the other being a licensee agreement with an eyewear supplier.
“They now form part of our primary supply chain manufacturing in the US, Brazil, India and Pakistan,” Camilla reported. “It is Pakistan that Camilla has a relatively limited collection of bed linen, which is sourced under a licence agreement and manufactured with cotton sourced locally. This represents a very small (less than 1 per cent) part of our overall business at cost.
“We have a limited production of towels from China. They source the cotton from Switzerland from one of the largest cotton dealers in the world.”