corporate social responsibility
At George we take our responsibilities very seriously indeed; we call this 'Doing the Right Thing'.
working with our manufacturers
Delivering value often begs the question about how we can do it. That's why we carry out 13,000 audits across the globe every year both announced and unannounced.
We check that our factories provide satisfactory facilities for their workers such as a canteen, portable water facilities, first aid and medical facilities with every single audit we carry out. We ensure that the pay and hours of work meet the minimum requirements of the country of manufacture.
Further more, as part of the audit we check that the environment is safe to work in, considering fire safety and evacuation training, as well as ensuring workers are equipped with any safety and protective clothing based on what they need to do their job. In fact, we consider everything you'd expect your own employer to provide for you,
how can we bring you such great value?
Well there's one big difference between us and the rest of the high street, many of whom share the same factories as us - one word, 'volume'.
We keep our prices low for our customers by buying fabric in bulk (by the mile not the yard) and place large orders for garments with factories - that's what makes us different.
We've also been working with some of our suppliers for over ten years - this enables us to forward plan and work with them to produce greater volumes consistently without any affect on quality.
We're also part of the Ethical Trading Initiative, which sets out an international code of conduct that all our suppliers are asked to comply with.
Want to know more about the Ethical Trading Initiative? Then go to www.ethicaltrade.org.
George in the community
All across ASDA we're proud of the relationships we've built within the local communities where we're based. At George House we've a close relationship with people in the local area, local schools and universities and many of our colleagues are involved with lots of different charities both locally and nationally.
supporting local students
We support the students at Lutterworth College by providing fabrics to the Textiles Department, supporting Career Days and running projects to develop their skills for the future.
For example, in April 2008 George ran a project with Lutterworth College, where colleagues from George House visited the school to launch a project for them to design a George T-shirt for the ASDA Tickled Pink Campaign. Some students visited George House to present their proposal to the Buyers and Designers there and learn more about these roles. The project was a great success and the winning design featured on a George T-shirt and sold in store.
We also get involved with our local universities such as Nottingham Trent and De Montfort to help prepare the students for the careers they are working towards.
Download our Ethical FAQs (pdf, 38kb).
Read more about the ASDA People Prices Planet initiative on our corporate website.