If you are interested in reading more about the process of selecting our manufacturing partners and our code of conduct, check out the page below
http://www.lululemon.com/community/legacies/factories

I’m going to send you an email so we can connect and chat about this further.
~Jenna

If you tell me that in the coming years you will be posting more information, it only seems to me that meanwhile, we will have a doubtful idea of your actions and affairs with so called partners in the third world.

If your company preaches the real philosophy of Yoga, it must strive toward a more transparent and more clear vision of it, otherwise it is only creating an illusion and hiding the truth.

The factories we work with around the world – from one two blocks away in Vancouver to one in Southern China – each take responsibility to be involved with their individual and local communities. This takes the form of women’s empowerment projects, employee community clean-ups, health education and even an employee garden.

We’re proud of the fact that our supplier partners share similar core values. In the coming year we will be providing additional information, pictures and stories on the good things going on in our supply chain. In the interim, please take a look at the factory pictures and detailed information on lululemon.com.

You need to be more specific about the community development projects. You mention that factory partners donate money to local charities. What are these? Are there any web sites, more detailed info on these?.

It seems to me that dealing with ‘factory partners sort of serves as a middleman between your company and the employees.

Fair trade should be handled in a more direct and participative activity.

For all that you can tell me, your partners are doing a great job at being fair and developing the comunities. This is very relative.

I remember back in Nicaragua in the 70,s after a big earthquake hit Managua, people from the outside would come and see that help would be given to the most needed.

The governement of the time would orchestrate a beautiful view of the governement helping the poor.

In the end, most of the help given in 1972 from international relief was sold to the people and some couple of people became richer.

The international community was made to beleive that all help was handled properly.

I would like to see more concrete proof of what goes on in your factory partners communities.

Thank you!

From a concerned Fellow Canadian citizen

Jah Bless!

Regarding wages and employment, our products are technical and of the highest quality so to retain a skilled work force for these products, our factory partners offer their employees competitive wages higher than the industry average in their region. An outcome of this is that many employees have been with their factory for more than 5 years.

Several factories in our supply base are unionized. lululemon has detail and specific requirements in regard to freedom of association and collective bargaining in our Code of Conduct. Our Supplier Compliance team regularly audits our factories to ensure all factory employees can exercise their rights freely.

Our factory partners also actively engage with their local communities at various levels, most commonly supporting community development through regular donation to local charities. A few examples…some have their own scholarship and education programs for the employees and their children, some build their own dairy farm to provide milk to the employees, some set up clinics and provide free medical treatment for over 30,000+ workers, and others develop recycling programs to help local communities turn waste into reusable materials.

You can also check out the ‘Legacies’ section of lululemon.com for more information, our Code of Conduct and pictures of our factory partners.

- Amy, Global Compliance, Quality Assurance and Community Legacies

For our factories, we use standards set by the International Labour Organization and guidelines from the Fair Labour Association (www.fairlabor.org) to provide a framework for lululemon’s Workplace Code of Conduct. Before establishing a working relationship with our global partners, we visit the offshore factories to assess the health, safety and working conditions. We take great care in selecting the factories that manufacture for us to ensure that they share our commitment to quality and ethical business practices, and that they comply with the labour standards of their own country.

We work hard to remain true to our manifesto and to our beliefs in all areas of our growing company. We want to ensure that lululemon is a socially responsible organization that is committed to manufacturing and designing garments that can be made and worn in good conscience.

What is the company doing within their employee communities in the third world?

Do they give community empowerment so that these workers and their kids have future alternatives? Example: Education programs, community development…etc.

Are these people unionized? are they guaranteed a long term employment and wages? Or are your factories just another plain old Maquilladoras?

-Mary

It’s also worthwhile to take a look at our Code of Conduct, which is based on international principles and sets the standards for the type of work environment where our garments are produced, and the values sharedby our manufacturing partners. http://www.lululemon.com/community/legacies/code

All our active Cambodia factories are participating in an ILO program called Better Factories Cambodia. The program benefits workers, employers and their organizations by monitoring and reporting on working conditions in Cambodian garment factories according to national and international standards, by helping factories to improve working conditions and productivity, and by working with the Government and international buyers to ensure a rigorous and transparent cycle of improvement. The ILO auditors will inspect the factory every six months without notice to the factory. Our factories share with us all ILO reports and action plan and our compliance team visits the factory regularly to ensure all ILO recommendations are put into action.