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Social Compliance

Our social compliance starts with an extensive vendor onboarding process to evaluate a potential vendor’s policies and practices against our Vendor Code of Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.

Once we have onboarded a vendor, we uphold our labor standards through a rigorous supplier monitoring process that includes yearly assessments for compliance with our policies.

Vendor Onboarding

The Ungal Kural Worker Helpline

Carter’s, along with seven other brands, has proudly contributed to the establishment of the Ungal Kural Worker’s Helpline. This initiative aims to address challenges faced by workers in manufacturing and processing facilities, including issues related to gender-based violence and forced labor.

The helpline provides a platform for workers to report any concerns they may have, ensuring external support for remediation and resolution.

The Ungal Kural Worker Helpline positively impacted the lives of over 4,500 workers in 2023.

Carter’s receives monthly reports to track complaints and evaluate whether the grievance mechanism is effective in engaging all stakeholders, including vulnerable groups. The reports capture disaggregated demographic data and metrics regarding usage, responses to grievances raised, and remedies implemented.

In 2023, we began expanding our supplier monitoring process into our mills (i.e., Tier 2 suppliers). We expect to be able to report additional information regarding the outcomes of this process in the future.

Supplier Compliance Auditing

2023

2022

2021

Number of Active Tier 1 Suppliers

Number of Active Factories

126⁹

137

142

Number of Factories with a Passing Score

125

137

125¹⁰

Number of Factories with a Below Passing Score

Number of Unannounced Audits Conducted

⁹ Includes 60 wholesale factories (CGS) with scores converted from external audit reports.

¹⁰ There were 13 factories we were only able to audit virtually due to the pandemic; we therefore chose not to issue a score.

Partnering for Worker Well-being

We believe multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration are often the most productive and effective approaches to address complex, industry-wide issues that cannot be solved by any one entity alone. We work with a variety of partners to help create better working conditions in our supply chain.

RISE

RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality supports industry collaboration to advance equality for women workers in global garment supply chains. RISE brings together the four largest women’s empowerment programs in the apparel industry—BSR’s HERproject, Gap Inc. P.A.C.E., CARE International, and Better Work—to build from proven approaches, scale impact, and improve efficiency. This single approach makes it easier and more efficient for industry and wider stakeholders to drive accelerated and lasting impact on gender equality. The four founding partner organizations work with 50 of the world’s largest apparel brands and have reached over five million women workers globally. Our participation in the program focuses on providing training programs to Carter’s suppliers.

CFC Garment Company

CFC Garment Company is a supplier of Carter’s in Cambodia with more than 590 workers, of which approximately 67% are women. Factory workers participated in a gender-sensitive training program aimed at improving financial literacy. Implemented by RISE and their local partner, Cambodian Women for Peace and Development, participants learned about mobile and digital finance, financial planning, budgeting, savings, and more.

Outcomes included an increase in using mobile money accounts for merchant payments, sending remittances, and paying bills. There have also been reports of increasing savings to better manage unplanned expenses like medical bills. The fear of unexpected expenses has faded, replaced by a sense of control and security.

Planet Water

In 2023, Carter’s partnered with Planet Water to bring a primary school and its community an AquaTower in Pursat Province, Cambodia. Volunteers from Carter’s assisted in the construction of a water filtration system that can provide up to 1,800 children and community members with access to clean, safe water. The project also included a comprehensive Water-Health and Hygiene Education program for the students and local community.

I would like to thank Carter’s because we no longer have to worry about the lack of safe water in school. With the AquaTower, you gave our children a healthier start in life and enabled them to survive and thrive."

Keat Veasna School Principal

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