Monsoon
Gift Memberships start from as little as £54 a year and allows 2 people entry to gardens.
Monsoon do a great job of clearly explaining their ethical trading and sustainability practices – if only all brands followed suit.
Why is it good to shop at Monsoon?
These days it’s so easy to shy away from high street retail stores – we’ve all read of deplorable practices used in factories in Bangladesh and Vietnam, where desperately poor workers slave away for day and night for a minuscule wage.
Yes, we want our clothes to be affordable, but is that the cost we’re willing to pay?
Many people have already shown that they are not OK with that as they no longer want to purchase clothes that have been made under those most heart-wrenching conditions.
Yet, there are very few companies who can afford operating their own factories and making sure their workers’ rights are respected.
Monsoon is no different, however they’v made every effort to ensure human rights, decent standards and proper working conditions are met in the factories where their clothes are made.
Monsoon’s Ethical Trading
A great section on Monsoon’s website that clearly explains their commitment to ethical trading and sustainability.
The Monsoon Code of Conduct
All of the suppliers must commit to their code of conduct, which among other things states firmly that there is absolutely no child labour used and that the wages and benefits paid meet at least the national legal standards or industry benchmark standards.
There is zero tolerance against excessive working hours and discrimination.
It’s not just the code of conduct for Monsoon that the suppliers need to sign – Monsoon also follows closely that they adhere to that, making unannounced visits to the factories and extending to the craftspeople who help to make some of their clothes.
They are also supporting SEWA (India’s Self Employed Women’s Association) in order to get more women involved in community programmes in India.
What’s more – Monsoon also cares about animal welfare.
Angora wool is popular in clothes production but it has raised concerns in how the angora rabbits are treated. Monsoon has closely followed the accusations and have investigated the matter – while the investigation is ongoing, they will not place any new angora wool orders.