Advancing Accountability

Our Vendor Code of Ethics (VCoE) outlines the standards that we expect all of our Vendors to comply with. This includes that all workers in our suppliers’ facilities are consistently paid, at a minimum, in compliance with legal requirements for regular work and overtime.

The global challenge of achieving fair compensation in supply chains requires collaboration with governments, industry, and civil society.

As a participating company in the Fair Labor Association, we have established a Fair Compensation blueprint, an operational action plan to support fair compensation progress for workers as well as continually evolved purchasing practices for lululemon.

No Fee Program

Our Foreign Migrant Worker “No Fee Program” works toward eliminating workers paying recruitment fees.

Initially rolled out in Taiwan in 2017, we engaged with our suppliers to understand and raise awareness of ethical recruitment and the unique challenges faced by foreign migrant workers. Together, we created a program that included collective dialogue, problem solving, and tools to effectively implement “no fees” road maps. All supplier facilities in Taiwan continue to implement the program’s “No Fee” requirements, and we are now scaling the program beyond Taiwan, in facilities in Japan, Jordan, Korea, and Thailand.

Responsible Purchasing Practices

lululemon is committed to responsible purchasing practices, which we believe helps contribute to the quality of life of the people who make our products (makers), the strength of supplier relationships, and supplier resilience.

Our responsible purchasing practices strategy is informed by supplier feedback and reflects our goal to foster long-term relationships based on collaboration and continuous improvement. It focuses on three areas:

  1. Setting internal targets and measuring our performance.
  2. Embedding responsible purchasing practices principles, working groups, and education across key functions.
  3. Engaging our suppliers on responsible purchasing practices to gather feedback, for example via Better Buying.

Fair Compensation

We believe that makers should earn a fair compensation within regular working hours, enabling them to have a decent standard of living.

We know that achieving fair compensation in supply chains is a global challenge that must be approached in collaboration with industry, governments, and civil society. Through our Responsible Supply Chain assessments, we assess that compensation in supplier facilities is, at minimum, in compliance with legal requirements for regular work and overtime.

We partner regularly with key suppliers to collect wage data to better understand wage management systems, compensation levels, and the effects our purchasing practices have on maker wages. This data, collected through the Fair Labor Association’s Wage Data Collection Tool, informs our fair compensation strategy, which focuses on three key areas:

  1. Brand Influenced Wage Drivers – Identifying areas of opportunity within our purchasing practices and through participation in collaborative pilot projects.
  2. Factory Enabled Wage Levers – Supporting suppliers in improving wage management systems that enable progressive wage increases.
  3. Industry Support Mechanisms – Partnering with organizations that support collaboration to advance fair compensation through programs and living wage research.

Updates on our progress will be provided annually through our reporting channels, which you can find here.