Asos and Anti-Slavery International sign new partnership to 2025

Asos and human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International have agreed on a new three-year partnership to 2025 to support the online retailer in delivering its ‘Fashion with Integrity’ programme.

The existing partnership launched in 2017, with Asos stating that Anti-Slavery International has been a “critical friend” providing advice, guidance and critique on ethical trade and tackling modern slavery.

Under the new agreement, Anti-Slavery International will advise Asos on the development of the next phase of its modern slavery strategy. This will form a core part of its forthcoming human rights strategy, due to be announced by the end of next year as part of its 2030 programme for ‘Fashion with Integrity’ launched in September 2021.

Simon Platts, responsible sourcing director at Asos, said in a statement: “Our new, three-year partnership with Anti-Slavery International builds on the solid foundation of collaboration and ‘critical friendship’ that we’ve established in our work together since 2017. With dedicated resource and the opportunity to work together to drive change at scale, this new agreement takes things to the next level – and we’re so excited to be hitting the ground running in 2022.”

A core priority for Anti-Slavery International leading up to 2025 is to focus on responsible business to bring about stronger legal frameworks to address the global systems that enable forced labour in supply chains. This entails ensuring people have rights to decent work and companies are obliged to take meaningful action to eliminate slavery in supply chains, as well as strengthening access to remedy and justice for workers, in particular people in situations of slavery and forced labour.

This new partnership will underpin these objectives, with best practice and learnings from Asos to be used as an evidence base in Anti-Slavery International’s advocacy and campaigning, helping to drive legislative improvements that protect people in, or vulnerable to, modern slavery.

In addition, each year, the partnership will focus on one or more of Anti-Slavery International’s intersecting strategic areas of ending child slavery, migration and trafficking, and modern slavery and climate change. With both organisations working together to develop new solutions to address these challenges within Asos’ supply chain.

Jasmine O’Connor, chief executive at Anti-Slavery International, added: “Our ‘critical friendship’ with Asos means that we can continue our work together to push for a fairer, more sustainable fashion industry that no longer relies on forced labour. We know that the fashion industry has a huge impact on people and planet, and we are looking forward to working with Asos for much-needed industry wide change.”