YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
It's never too late to make a difference. Reducing our impact on the environment has been our top priority since day one. We know some consumers are skeptical around companies making sustainable claims without being able to back this up (also known as greenwashing). That's why we want to ensure that we are being 100% transparent about our practices, certifications and our commitment to change.
The Betts Group is a leading footwear retailer, passionate about exceptional product value and customer service. We offer our customers the best service, quality product and range at the right price. We want our customers to have a great experience, in store and online.
The Betts Group is a family company that was founded on the core value of treating people the way you would like to be treated yourself. This means living the values of respect, integrity and honesty with our customers, employees and everyone we come into contact with in our operations and supply chain.
As a high performance organisation, we understand that we have a corporate responsibility to manage our operations in a sustainable manner and to source our products in accordance with high ethical standards. Whether it be in the corporate office, our warehouses or our supply chain we strive for sustainable and ethical conduct with a focus on human rights, ethical sourcing and the environment.
The Betts Group is actively working towards ensuring that all our suppliers:
As a group, some parts of our business are more advanced than others in relation to striving for sustainability and ethical conduct, for example, Oceanic Brands Pty Ltd (“OB”). Based in Houjie Town, Southern China, OB is a 100% owned subsidiary of the Betts Group. It offers excellent customer service while developing virtual sample collections of shoes and handbags. Consistent with the Betts Group approach on sustainability, OB is committed to upholding human rights, fair working conditions and environmental awareness. All trading agreements with suppliers are based on the expectation that they will comply with the Oceanic Brands Ethical Sourcing Policy.
Betts Group sources some of its products from the same suppliers as Oceanic Brands.
Human rights is an important part of how we conduct our business. We align our Code of Conduct, policies and procedures with internationally recognised human rights principles and those based on Australian laws. We provide training to our employees to ensure they are aware of the Betts Group Code of Conduct and policies and procedures.
This means we are committed to:
Prohibiting discrimination and harassment in the workplace and providing equal employment opportunities;
Ensuring occupational health and safety and fair and reasonable terms and conditions of employment, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining;
Prohibiting child, forced and trafficked labour;
Prohibiting bonded labour and slavery; and
Prohibiting bribery or crimes against humanity.
We work closely with our suppliers to understand the human rights and working conditions they provide to their workers. The Betts Group believes that the new Australian Modern Slavery Act (Cth) will help with the goal of eliminating modern slavery in Australian organisations and their supply chains.
We expect our suppliers to conduct their business in an ethical and socially responsible manner. In addition to respecting human rights, we expect them to follow all relevant local laws, not engage in corruption, fraud or bribery and to notify the Betts Group of any conflict of interest.
To ensure our suppliers and being ethically and socially responsible, we request that they adhere to codes of conduct and participate in independent audits such as the BSCI audit. The audit process identifies any gaps between expected and actual ethical conduct. The results are published to assist suppliers with continual improvement of their ethical production processes.
A core priority for the Betts Group is to adopt more sustainable packaging. Since 2011, we have been a signatory to the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC), a federal government initiative, which sets out how government and businesses share the responsibility for managing the environmental impacts of packaging in Australia. As a signatory to the APC, we submit five-year action plans, which confirm our commitment to sustainable packaging. In 2011, we committed to:
Reducing the use of plastic carry bags by customers making footwear purchases;
Influencing our supplier of shoe boxes to use recycled material;
Introducing biodegradable carry bags; and
Reviewing all new packaging based upon the sustainable packaging guidelines.
Since then, we have almost eliminated single use carry bags and redesigned our shoe boxes to include a carry-string made of recycled, biodegradable materials. This has reduced the amount of packaging that reaches landfill.
In 2021, we introduced an alternative reusable carry bag. Each bag is made of eight recycled plastic bottles, which has further reduced the amount of packaging and plastic bottles reaching landfill.
We continually review all our packaging to ensure that:
Shipping packaging is made of recycled content;
Packaging materials are fully recyclable in Australia; and
Cardboard packaging is made from recycled pulp.
Further, we are committed to:
Providing information to our customers about packaging sustainability by including packaging information on our website and applying labels that confirm packaging is made of recycled materials;
Sourcing products that are made from eco-friendly materials and from suppliers that are environmentally responsible;
Complying with Australian Standards, legislation and regulations; and
Focusing on becoming carbon neutral.
Our packaging is either FSC certified (FSC 100%, FSC mixed, FSC recycled); or PEFC certified (PEFC certified, PEFC recycled); or made of at least 70% pre and/or post-consumer recycled material).
In 2020, we introduced innovative technology in the production of some shoe styles, which has led to further positive environmental impacts. This technology uses algae as a raw material for the production of outsoles and insoles. As a result, we have cleaned 756,347 litres of water, absorbed 347kg of CO2 from the air (as at 12 May 2021) and minimised the use of less sustainable materials in those shoe styles.
Our commitment to conducting our business in a sustainable manner means that we can reassure our customers of our compliance with all applicable Australian Standards, legislation and regulations. In addition as a business we are looking to go over and above, hence, a growing proportion of our products now adhere to strict minimum requirements with regards ISO, EN and DIN standards and ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines. These products undergo testing in approved laboratories to ensure compliance with these standards.
