Vendor Code of Ethics (VCoE)

We strive to work with suppliers who share our values and collaborate with us to uphold robust standards, address systemic challenges, and support the wellbeing of the people who make our products. We approve a new supplier if they successfully meet the rigorous requirements of our New Vendor Approval Process, which evaluates suppliers from a social, environmental, sourcing, quality, and production perspective at the facility level.

Learn more about our VCoE

Pre-Production Assessment

Before we engage in a new partnership, suppliers sign our VCoE Certificate of Acknowledgement and Agreement, and we conduct a Responsible Supply Chain Assessment against our VCoE and Benchmarks.

Compliance with our VCoE is the first step towards beginning a business relationship with a new facility. If non-compliance issues are found, a Corrective and Preventative Action plan (CAPA) is put in place. This includes agreed-upon solutions, a timeframe for implementation, and key responsibilities.

Assessment Activities

Facilities producing for lululemon are regularly assessed against the requirements of our VCoE and supporting benchmarks. We aim to assess all Tier 1 and Tier 2 facilities every 12 months. Follow-up assessments may be performed based on certain risk factors or grievance investigations.

Annual supplier assessments are carried out on site and include visual inspections of the facility, documentation reviews, and interviews with management and their workers. Our VCoE assessment tool guides our assessments, which typically span 1-5 days, depending on the number of production workers at a facility. Each assessment ends with a closing meeting with facility management where our team presents the findings, ratings, and a timeframe for implementation of an action plan that is mutually agreed upon, when necessary.

Continuous Improvement

Our zero-tolerance policies must be followed at all times, without exception.

We know that most suppliers will not achieve a 100% rating across all assessment criteria, and when an issue is flagged in an assessment, we require suppliers to develop Corrective and Preventative Action Plans (CAPAs) to address identified issues. We have zero tolerance for lack of transparency, disclosure, and cooperation; forced labor; unapproved subcontractors; minimum wage violations; child labor; corruption and bribery; and egregious circumstances. All zero-tolerance issues are addressed and remediated with high priority. As part of our due diligence approach, we actively work to mitigate any identified risks and conduct annual human rights and social risk mapping across our product supply chain.

Ongoing Assessments and Follow-Up Visits

Our aim is to reassess a facility’s performance on-site every 12 months with all facilities and at least annually with strategic suppliers, subject to supplier performance.