VS&Co is committed to mapping our products through every stage of the manufacturing process, from finished goods to raw materials. We have mapped 100% of our Tier 1 manufacturing facilities, Tier 2 nominated cotton-related suppliers for our lingerie and apparel products and have identified all Tier 3 cotton spinning mills. We have onboarded, trained, and audited these partners. For non-cotton materials and trims, the majority of Tier 2 nominated suppliers have been mapped and engaged.

Please visit Open Supply Hub to view our list of Core Intimates and Apparel Factories.

Tier definition:

As an industry, the use of supply chain tiers (1, 2, 3, and 4) is widespread, which is helpful to categorize and organize the stages of production and sourcing. The Apparel Alliance is a partnership among four organizations: Apparel Impact Institute, Cascale (formerly Sustainable Apparel Coalition), Textile Exchange, and ZDHC. This alliance recently created the Supply Chain Taxonomy, which provides an interpretation and classification of tiers to ensure consistency and alignment in the industry. Using the tiered classification can help manage the complexities of the supply chain more effectively. VS&Co will align with this approach, and the following table provides the updated tier definitions related to our product manufacturing:

 

Source: 2024 Supply Chain Taxonomy

For the Beauty supply chain, Fillers will be categorized as Tier 1 and Component Suppliers will be categorized as Tier 2.

VS&Co requires that our policies and standards apply to suppliers and their factories, sub-suppliers and subcontractors. For Tier 2, we identify these facilities in two categories:

1. Nominated Suppliers: A supplier that VS&Co issues Raw Material Commitment Contracts (RMCC) to and requires the Tier 1 supplier to use this supplier based on product specifications. Examples include fabric mills, elastics, and lace. Nominated suppliers also includes beauty component suppliers that VS&Co sources from directly.
2. Vendor Sourced Suppliers: Raw Material suppliers selected by the vendor or factory.

Cotton Traceability

VS&Co is committed to ensuring the traceability of cotton in our supply chain, and we align ourselves with suppliers who share this commitment. Through our chain of custody traceability process, we are able to trace lingerie and apparel products back to the Tier 3 cotton spinning mill and to Tier 4 for cotton fiber origin verification.

Our suppliers are required to retain all documentation for the origin of raw material, processing and manufacturing to ensure the transparency and traceability of our cotton supply chain and ensure compliance with VS&Co's Cotton Policy. Independent Production Services (IPS) is conducting chain-of-custody audits to verify cotton fiber, yarn, fabric and finished goods manufacturing of cotton products and products containing cotton components to ensure they are from the approved countries in VS&Co's Cotton Policy. In addition, Oritain testing is being conducted on fabric and finished goods containing cotton to confirm compliance with VS&Co’s Cotton Policy. To view the full policy, click here.

Our Tier 1 manufacturing and Tier 2 nominated suppliers that produce cotton products have signed our Cotton Policy, which lists approved countries for cotton fiber origin, as well as approved countries for cotton yarn spinning, processing, and final assembly manufacturing of finished goods made wholly or in part of cotton. The countries were selected based on our current and future strategic sourcing plans and additional countries were added for future flexibility. In addition, we confirmed these approved countries can meet or exceed our compliance standards regarding labor practices, traceability and transparency.

Starting in 2024, we are conducting quarterly visits to Tier 3 cotton spinning mills used by Tier 2 suppliers in Vietnam and Indonesia as a way to continue promoting awareness and understanding on requirements related to VS&Co’s social compliance program.  For Tier 3 cotton spinning mills in India, visits have been conducted annually as part of our ongoing monitoring approach. To date, tier 3 cotton spinning for our nominated tier 2 suppliers occur in Vietnam, Indonesia and India.  All of these mills are included in our social audit scope, with annual audits and targeted remediation efforts to ensure continuous improvement.

In support of our cotton traceability efforts, VS&Co continues to work directly with cotton farmers in Alabama through our identity-preserved cotton program to ensure the traceability of cotton in our supply chain and align ourselves with cotton farmers who share this commitment. Our farm partners use mechanical cotton harvesters. This direct partnership allows us to better understand and support farmers' needs and have direct visibility into the environmental impact of our cotton sourcing. Click here to see an introduction to our Cotton Journey.