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Our Policies & Practices

HUMAN RIGHTS STATEMENT

OUR COMMITMENT to HUMAN RIGHTS
At J.Crew Group we build iconic American brands that allow customers to look and feel their best. We strive to be a leading and prosperous portfolio of beloved brands with great design legacies, and our mission is to set a standard that inspires us and the retail industry to do better. Improving the lives of the people we touch is of supreme importance to us, and so we have committed to fundamental, universal, and inalienable human rights that apply to our own associates, customers, and communities, as well as our operations, suppliers, and business partners. We respect and support global principles aimed at protecting human rights, and seek to operate in compliance with all applicable laws that impact human rights wherever we do business.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND OUR ASSOCIATES
How Our Associates Conduct Business: The J.Crew Group Code of Ethics and Business Conduct requires our associates, wherever they are located, to conduct business and perform their job responsibilities with the highest standards of ethics and respect for others. The Code applies not only to all our associates, but to our service providers, independent contractors, and our Board of Directors. It requires all to foster respect in the workplace and to show professionalism in working with other associates, customers, business partners, and the general public.

Valuing Our Associates: Our approach to human rights in our company begins with our own associates. We engage in business activities across the globe with more than 10,000 full and part-time associates from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. We foster safe, inclusive, and respectful workplaces in every location throughout the world. We are steadfastly committed to a workplace where equal treatment, dignity, and respect is provided regardless of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, legally protected physical or mental disabilities, or any other basis protected under the law.

Supporting Diverse Candidates and Associates: We are continually expanding our candidate pools by partnering with organizations and educational institutions that promote racial, socio-economic diversity. As part of our efforts to build inclusion, we offer regular DEIB training, open forums, and the opportunity to form and participate in associate-led groups that gather based on common interests or identities. These groups are open to all members of our team. We are also proud to celebrate key dates throughout the year which honor the diversity of our associates including Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Women’s History month, AAPI Heritage Month, Pride Month, and many more.

Equitable Pay: We believe in competitive and equitable pay for our associates. J.Crew Group routinely conducts compensation studies to ensure that all associates, regardless of gender or race, are paid fairly based on objective factors including experience, skills, position, and performance.

Employee Benefits: J.Crew Group provides an array of inclusive benefits that support our diverse population. We provide access to benefits that encourage wellness and recognize the need for a healthy balance between work and personal life. We are committed to providing life-enhancing benefits that go beyond typical health insurance such as adoption, surrogacy, parental leave, and mental health services. Our associates are able to select from a variety of options that can be tailored to their individual needs and supported by self-service technology.

Health & Safety: We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our associates and customers through dedicated safety programs to reduce or eliminate workplace hazards in our stores, our distribution centers, and our offices.

OUR CUSTOMERS
Our customers are the reason we are in business. We strive to meet and exceed customer expectations by providing safe, accessible, and sustainable goods and services. Through our marketing practices we strive to embrace inclusivity and celebrate the collective and individual identity. As a company, we actively welcome all customers regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, ability, size and shape, or sexual orientation. We partner with Open to All and signed their Mitigate Racial Bias in Retail Charter which honors our commitment to the customer experience and supports our goal of mitigating racial bias and fostering an inclusive shopping experience for all. We are committed to ensuring that store associates treat all customers with respect and according to our policies and related laws, including those pertaining to equal access for customers with disabilities.

We also respect our customers’ privacy as outlined in the J.Crew Group Privacy Policy which prohibits the collection of personal information from children and responsibly maintains and uses private customer information in order to enhance our customers’ shopping experiences in accordance with applicable laws. Our policy encourages customers to choose how their information is used by providing opt-out options as well as the ability to delete specific personal information or a customer account.

OUR COMMUNITIES
We are growing our associate volunteer program, connecting customers with nonprofits we admire, and creating opportunities to give back in the communities where we live and work. We are achieving these efforts through philanthropy and giving, volunteerism and corporate matching. Throughout the year, we team up with organizations across the country that are aligned with our values and connect our customers to their philanthropic mission. And we support their work through donations as a portion of a product purchase, or by collecting physical items like coats and clothing.

Locally, our stores sponsor events where a portion of the proceeds are donated to local charities, and in 2022 our J.Crew Group teams collectively volunteered over 2,600 hours to organizations that foster basic human rights of those living in their communities. We also believe that having enough food is a basic human right. We therefore partner with No Kid Hungry which has a mission to end childhood hunger in America. Finally, since March of 2020 we supported the American Civil Liberties Union with donations totaling over a million dollars to protect and advance civil liberties for all. We team up with other organizations all over the country that tackle important issues like inclusivity, female empowerment, and support for children.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
Our Business Partners and their Facilities: We do not own or operate any production facilities, so it is important for us to develop trusted relationships with our vendors to ensure that human rights are respected in our entire supply chain. Therefore, we seek long-term relationships with suppliers that share our commitment to abide by our Supplier Code of Conduct (“Code”) and respect the human rights of the more than 100,000 workers who contribute to the production of our merchandise.

Supplier Code of Conduct: Our Code clearly outlines our expectations for the treatment of all workers within our supply chain. It prohibits physical, psychological, verbal, or sexual harassment, threats, or abuse or corporal punishment. All workers must be treated with dignity and respect. The Code also forbids the use of any form of forced or child labor, involuntary or trafficked labor, including prison, bonded, and indentured, and any form of human trafficking. And it outlines our expectations and applicable laws pertaining to working conditions, including legal working hours, safe working environments, health benefits, legal wages, and the right to freely associate and participate in a formal grievance process. We are particularly committed to protecting the human and labor rights of at-risk groups including women, young workers, domestic migrant workers, and foreign contract workers; groups which are known to be more at risk for human rights abuses.

Risk Assessments : Prior to approval, each new vendor and factory goes through a thorough due diligence screening process as well as pre-approval audits to assess the level of compliance with our J.Crew Group Supplier Code of Conduct. J.Crew social compliance audits are conducted by reputable 3rd party audit firms on our behalf. Over the lifecycle of our relationship with our vendors we conduct frequent announced and unannounced facility audits to evaluate compliance, and we will not do business with any company that does not protect human rights or is deemed to be a risk to our business.

Remediation and Improvement: If serious human rights non-compliances are identified during an audit, we will investigate to assess the allegation and understand the root cause. Depending on the findings, we will assess possible remediations with a factory while always trying to focus our efforts to improve outcomes for workers. We expect all suppliers to improve their level of compliance with our Code from audit to audit. If a supplier is unable to respond to our continuous improvement model after 3 social compliance audits, we will consider an end to the business relationship.

Transparency: We will continue to implement processes and procedures to drive transparency, assess our supply chain, trace fabric and raw material origins, and prohibit forced labor of any type in the manufacture of J.Crew Group product.

Partnerships: We align with several organizations which support our efforts to ensure that human rights are respected in our supply chain. Through our partnership with Fair Trade USA we empower workers and ensure fair conditions and equal economic opportunities for everyone who manufactures our products. Better Work supports the human rights of workers in our supply chain by providing compliance assessments, training, advocacy, and research. The Mekong Club works to bring about sustainable practices towards the fight against modern slavery. They enhance our human rights efforts by providing modern slavery training for J.Crew Group associates, and providing ongoing research and advocacy in support of our efforts to ensure that modern slavery is not found in our supply chain.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
We hold ourselves accountable through our corporate governance structure beginning with our associates who have a shared responsibility for respecting human rights in our organization, our stores and in our supply chain. Our associates also have a responsibility to raise any observed or suspected violation of our human rights policies. Our Open Door policy provides the forum for our associates to raise human rights issues and concerns to their manager or through our Open Talk Line which supports anonymous and confidential reporting.

Our Board of Directors, comprised of 50% women and 50% who identify as members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, routinely review, and provide oversight over our human rights initiatives, sustainability efforts, and our overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy. Our Audit Committee regularly reviews our human rights compliance and ethics programs throughout our business. Finally, our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Council (DEIB), led by our CEO and Chief People Officer and senior leaders provides oversight, business alignment, and championing of our DEIB strategies and programs.

LOOKING FORWARD
We will continue to conduct the ongoing due diligence necessary to continually strengthen our understanding of human rights issues in our operations and supply chain. We will focus our efforts on infusing innovation in our training, our policies, and our business collaborations in support of our core values and our commitment to fundamental, universal, and inalienable human rights.

At J.Crew, we believe in delivering the best possible products to our customers while honoring our broader commitment to social responsibility. We continually work to ensure that we are sourcing the materials for these products responsibly, constantly keeping mind the quality of our products and the values of both our customer and our company. We aim to work with partners who are equally committed to ethical sourcing, including responsible and humane animal welfare practices in the supply chain.

We aim to work with suppliers who adopt industry-best practices that are based on the internationally recognized Five Freedoms. The Five Freedoms are also the guiding principle behind our Animal Welfare Policy. We require that all our suppliers adhere to the following baseline requirements for the materials allowed for use in our products, and for those who provide materials of animal origin, they must meet the standards for ethically sourced materials.

FUR-FREE
J.Crew prohibits the use of fur in our products. We define fur in accordance with the Fur Free Retailer definition as being: “Any animal skin or part thereof with hair or fur fibers attached thereto, either in its raw or processed state or the pelt of any animal killed for the animal’s fur. ‘Animal’ includes, but is not limited to, mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb and raccoon dog. ‘Fur’ shall not includex:

  1. Such skins as are, or are to be, converted into leather or which in processing have, or shall have, the hair, fleece or fur fibers completely removed
  2. Materials clipped, shorn or combed from animals, such as fleece, sheepskin or shearling
  3. Leather or hair attached to skin that is typically used as leather, e.g. cowhide with hair attached
  4. Synthetic materials intended to look like fur.”

Any hair, fleece or shearling used must be a byproduct of the meat industry, as outlined in our leather requirements below. We also ensure that faux fur is coming from nonanimal sources through our fiber content testing program.

DOWN
J.Crew does not currently source any down for our products. If we chose to do so in the future, all down will have to be Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certified or meet an equivalent standard for animal welfare.

LEATHER
All leather must be a byproduct of the meat industry.

EXOTIC-SKINS-FREE
J.Crew does not use real exotic animal skins, including but not limited to: snake, alligator, crocodile, lizard, fish or marine mammals.

ANGORA-FREE
J.Crew will not produce goods that contain angora or rabbit hair unless and until we can identify a source that meets our animal welfare standards.

WOOL
J.Crew supports the use of wool that is sourced from humanely raised and treated sheep. We are committed to sourcing wool certified to Textile Exchange’s Responsible Wool Standard or equivalent standards, in our products where possible. We also will not produce goods that contain mohair until we can identify a source that meets our animal welfare standards.

CASHMERE
J.Crew is the first U.S. retailer to join the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA), a nonprofit international organization working with the extended cashmere supply chain to promote a global sustainability standard for cashmere production in order to preserve and restore grasslands, ensure animal welfare and secure livelihoods. We are also members of Textile Exchange’s Responsible Cashmere Round Table, a multi-stakeholder group formed in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This round table is working toward increasing market support for best practices in cashmere production and the development of a standard for farmed cashmere, which is typical of Inner Mongolia.

ENDANGERED SPECIES
J.Crew prohibits the use of any protected, threatened or endangered species including, but not limited to, species appearing in:

  • The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
  • The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable
  • The Endangered Species Act (ESA)

The fundamental principles of J.Crew ’s Responsible Sourcing Program are outlined in our J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct (“Code”). The Code sets forth the essential foundation upon which our program is built. While J.Crew recognizes that there are different legal and cultural environments in which our Suppliers operate throughout the world, the Code sets forth the guiding principles for our Responsible Sourcing Program, applicable to all suppliers.

CHILD LABOR
J.Crew Suppliers must not employ workers younger than 15 years of age. However, if the age for completing compulsory education or the minimum working age in the country of manufacture is greater than 15, Suppliers must comply with all other applicable child labor laws and must ensure workers under the age of 18 do not perform work that may jeopardize their health or safety.

FORCED LABOR
J.Crew Suppliers must not use any type of forced, bonded, compulsory or prison labor. Suppliers shall ensure that all employment is voluntary, free from violence, threats, financial penalties or coercion. There shall be no restrictions on movement, or withholding of personal documents or deposits. Suppliers must take adequate steps to ensure that workers are not trafficked or otherwise exploited.

DISCRIMINATION
J.Crew Suppliers must not discriminate in employment practices including recruitment, hiring, compensation, training, benefits, advancement, termination or retirement on the basis of race, color, ancestry, national or social origin, religion, gender, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, political opinion or any other personal characteristics or beliefs.

HARASSMENT AND ABUSE
J.Crew Suppliers must treat all workers with respect and dignity. No worker shall be subject to corporal punishment or physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse. Suppliers shall not use monetary fines as a disciplinary practice.

WAGE AND BENEFITS
J.Crew Suppliers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to wages and benefits. Workers shall be paid at least the minimum wage or a wage that is consistent with prevailing local industry standards; whichever is higher. Overtime work shall be compensated at the premium rate as is legally required. Compensation must be provided at least monthly and should be provided without illegal or inappropriate deductions or penalties.

HOURS OF WORK
J.Crew Suppliers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to hours of work. Except in extraordinary business circumstances, workers shall not be required to work more than 60 hours per week (including overtime). Suppliers shall provide workers with at least one day off every seven-day period.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
J.Crew Suppliers must recognize and respect the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Where such rights are not provided by law, Suppliers should take steps to provide an open means of communication with workers.

HEALTH AND SAFETY
J.Crew Suppliers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations governing workplace health and safety. Suppliers shall provide their workers with a clean, safe and healthy work environment. The same applies for dormitory facilities, where provided.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS
J.Crew Suppliers must operate in full compliance with all applicable local, national and international laws, standards and regulations relevant to the conduct of their business.

CUSTOMS AND SECURITY
J.Crew Suppliers must comply with all applicable local, national and international customs laws including those prohibiting transshipment. Suppliers shall implement security measures consistent with the recommendations set forth by the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT).

ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS
J.Crew Suppliers must adhere to applicable local, national and international laws and regulations regarding the protection and preservation of the environment.

SUBCONTRACTING
J.Crew Suppliers must not subcontract any portion of the manufacturing process without prior written approval from J.Crew. As a condition of approval, subcontractors shall agree to comply with the J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct.

TRANSPARENCY
J.Crew is committed to working with Suppliers who are open and honest with us. J.Crew Suppliers shall maintain complete and accurate records and information so that compliance can be effectively assessed. Suppliers must not falsify or understate any aspects of their operations to J.Crew or our representatives. Suppliers must not coach employees on how to answer questions or respond to inquiries by J.Crew or our representatives.

MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE
J.Crew reserves the right to conduct announced and unannounced inspections of all manufacturing facilities. Suppliers should ensure that the requirements in this Code are understood and implemented at every level and must maintain all documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct. Suppliers must allow representatives of J.Crew full access to facilities, documents and workers. Suppliers shall submit an improvement plan to address any issues of noncompliance that may be found during the course of compliance inspections. J.Crew reserves the right to terminate its business relationship with any Supplier who is unwilling or unable to comply with the provisions set forth herein.

We take a multifaceted approach to managing chemicals in our supply chain and on our products, guided by the AFIRM Restricted Substances List (click here to learn more). We require our suppliers to comply with our J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct, which communicates our chemical safety requirements, and we use third-party testing of products and components of products to monitor compliance with global chemicals regulations and J.Crew chemical restrictions.

To supplement these efforts, we ask our strategic Tier 1 cut-and-sew suppliers and fabric suppliers to respond to SAC’s Higg Index FEM so we can assess chemical management in our supply chain. We are using this data to inform the evolution of J.Crew’s chemical management strategy.

At J.Crew we believe that fair and decent working conditions, the freedom of opinion and expression and an adequate standard of living are basic human rights. This is why we are committed to sourcing our products in an ethical, responsible and legal manner—and expect our Suppliers to share our core values and to partner with us in our commitment to continuous improvement and in promoting better working conditions.

We do this by holding our Suppliers and ourselves accountable, by identifying issues and their root causes and by building capacity for positive change. The cornerstones of our program are our J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct, our monitoring program and capacity building efforts, as well our multi-stakeholder collaborations.

J.CREW VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT
The J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct is based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and other internationally recognized labor rights. We expect these standards to be followed by all factories, subcontractors, suppliers and agents who are affiliated with the production of J.Crew goods (“Suppliers”). While J.Crew recognizes that there are different legal and cultural environments in which our Suppliers operate throughout the world, the J.Crew Vendor Code of Conduct (“Vendor Code”) forms the guiding principles for our Responsible Sourcing program. By choosing to do business with J.Crew, Suppliers commit to following our policies including the Vendor Code. As such, adherence to the Vendor Code constitutes a contractual obligation between J.Crew and its Suppliers.

MONITORING FACTORY CONDITIONS
While it’s relatively simple to communicate our expectations to our Suppliers, it is more complicated to verify compliance throughout all areas of our supply chain. In order to ensure objectivity, we carefully select independent external firms to conduct both semi-announced and fully unannounced inspections of our manufacturing facilities. We also make sure that each facility will not be inspected by the same third party on a continuous basis in order to ensure integrity. All new Suppliers are subject to inspection before any purchase orders are placed. Existing factories are inspected based on their compliance performance and overall external risk factors. A typical inspection consists of document review, private worker interviews and a walk-through of the facility to assess worker well-being and workplace health and safety. Where we may deem necessary, we also may employ additional measures such as more in-depth auditing, focused inspections, surveillance or off-site interviews, for example, depending upon the key concerns identified.

IMPROVING WORKING CONDITIONS AT FACTORIES
We believe that sustainable and positive change can only happen in partnership with our Suppliers. To this end, we provide our Suppliers with the tools they need to improve working conditions, including training and in-factory consultations. We also believe that the ability for workers to raise grievances and to collectively address issues and concerns to management are pivotal in improving working conditions. This is why we promote the establishment of worker committees at our factories through our participation in such programs as the Better Work and Fair Trade programs.

Our goal is to work to address issues of noncompliance in a cooperative manner in partnership with our Suppliers. However, in cases where a critical issue of noncompliance is identified or when a Supplier may be unwilling to meet our requirements, despite our efforts and engagement, we will terminate our business relationship where we deem necessary.

ZERO-TOLERANCE APPROACH TOWARD FORCED LABOR
At J.Crew, we recognize our responsibility to source our products in a legal, ethical and responsible manner consistent with the highest standards. Our Code of Conduct, which must be followed by all factories, subcontractors, suppliers and agents who are affiliated with the sourcing and/or production of J.Crew goods, is based on International Labour Organization conventions, in addition to other internationally recognized labor rights standards.

Embedded in our Code of Conduct is our commitment to our zero-tolerance policy to ensure that no forced labor or trafficked persons are being used in any parts of our business or in our global supply chain. Business partners must not use forced labor, whether in the form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or otherwise. No employee may be compelled to work through force or intimidation of any form, or as a means of political coercion or as punishment for holding or expressing political views.

Specifically, based on region-wide Withhold Release Order on products made by forced or slave labor in Xinjiang region, issued by US Customs and Border Protection, we prohibit the manufacture of any product or the use of any cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in China, as well as other areas where forced labor is knowingly practiced, including Uzbekistan.

Additionally, we are committed to working with our suppliers, industry groups, governments and other stakeholders to develop strategies to address forced labor throughout the supply chain. We participate in the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and with the Mekong Club to help advance human rights worldwide, which includes stopping the practice of forced labor. We also support the Joint Statement published by our industry partners in July 2020.

UZBEK COTTON
J.Crew is aware of and takes very seriously the reports of government-sponsored forced child labor in the harvest of cotton in Uzbekistan. The use of forced child labor is inconsistent with the requirements set forth in the J.Crew’s Code of Vendor Conduct. We are firmly opposed to the use of forced child labor in the harvest of Uzbek cotton and are collaborating with a multi-stakeholder coalition to raise awareness of this very serious concern and press for its elimination. We commit to not knowingly sourcing Uzbek cotton for the manufacturing of any of our products until the government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced child labor in its cotton sector.

INDUSTRY COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIPS
Industry collaborations matter when it comes to improving overall working standards and standards of living. While we make sure to work with each of our factories, there are certain issues which only can be most effectively be addressed in a collective manner. That is why we partner with several international organizations committed to improving global labor standards and conditions.

J.Crew is a member of Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC), a nonprofit organization that allows participating brands to share reports and thereby increase transparency. For more information, please visit fairfactories.org.

J.Crew is also a member of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), an organization for companies committed to socially responsible business practices, and we are proud to partner with them on initiatives that are committed to improving working conditions around the world. More information on BSR can be found at bsr.org.

J.Crew is a partner with Better Work, a partnership between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation to improve social dialogue and worker engagement in supplier factories. Better Work advisers engage with suppliers to improve working conditions by building out worker committees, establishing solid grievance mechanisms and providing training to factory supervisors. We currently work with Better Work in our factories in Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.

J.Crew is a member of the Mekong Club, an organization whose mission is to eradicate all forms of modern-day slavery. For more information, please visit themekongclub.org.

SANDBLASTING
Sandblasting is a finishing process that is primarily used to achieve a worn look for denim. The method involves sand particles being applied to garments under high pressure. The use of sandblasting without proper protective equipment endangers the health of factory workers. To ensure the well-being of the workers who manufacture J.Crew products, we have banned the use of sandblasting for all J.Crew’s products.

CALIFORNIA TRANSPARENCY IN SUPPLY CHAINS ACT (SB 657) AND UK MODERN SLAVERY ACT DISCLOSURE STATEMENT 2017
The ILO Forced Labour Convention No. 29 defines “forced labor” as “work or service exacted from a person under threat of any penalty, which includes penal sanctions and the loss of rights and privileges, where the person has not offered himself/ herself voluntarily.”

According to ILO data, human trafficking is the second most prevalent form of illegal trade in the world, just after the illicit drug trade and equal to the sale of illegal firearms. Sometimes referred to as modern-day slavery, it is also the fastest growing illegal business in the world.

J.Crew strictly prohibits the use of any form of forced labor or the trafficking of persons across all of our company operations and in our global supply chain. In accordance with our Code of Conduct standards, business partners must not use forced labor, whether in the form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or otherwise. No employee may be compelled to work through force or intimidation of any form, or as a means of political coercion or as punishment for holding or expressing political views.

For more details please see our policies.

J.CREW CODE OF ETHICS
Our J.Crew Code of Ethics and Business Conduct—the “Code of Ethics”— provides the fundamental underpinning for our ethical and compliant conduct for J.Crew associates. The Code of Ethics defines the way we do business worldwide and serves as a guide to help associates make responsible and prudent business decisions. Each of us at J.Crew is responsible for ensuring that the highest standards of conduct are upheld and encouraged. The Code of Ethics applies to all J.Crew associates and our Board of Directors. While the Code of Ethics applies to our associates and our Board of Directors, we also expect our Suppliers to behave in a manner consistent with and in furtherance of our Code of Ethics.

At J.Crew, we believe in delivering the best possible products to our customers while honoring our broader commitment to corporate social responsibility. We continually work to ensure that we are sourcing the materials for our products responsibly, constantly keeping in mind the quality of our products and the values of both our customer and our company. J.Crew is committed to the sustainable use of the world’s forests and lands, in order to protect ecosystems, prevent biodiversity loss and combat climate change. For this reason, we are committed to sourcing all pulp-based products, such as man-made cellulosic fabrics, from sustainable sources.

CONSERVATION OF ANCIENT AND ENDANGERED FORESTS AND ECOSYSTEMS
J.Crew will support approaches and systems to build a future that does not use ancient and endangered forests in manmade cellulosic fabrics (including rayon, viscose, lyocell, modal and other trademarked brands). We will influence our fabric supply chains in order to protect the world’s remaining ancient and endangered forests¹ and endangered species’² habitats.

To do this, we will:

  1. Assess our existing use of man-made cellulosic fabrics and eliminate sourcing from endangered species’ habitats and ancient and endangered forests such as the Canadian and Russian boreal forests; coastal temperate rainforests; tropical forests and peatlands of Indonesia, the Amazon and West Africa by 2022.
  2. Work to eliminate sourcing from companies that are logging forests illegally³ from tree plantations established after 1994 through the conversion or simplification of natural forests, from areas being logged in contravention of indigenous and local peoples’ rights or from other controversial suppliers.
  3. Work with Canopy and our suppliers to support collaborative and visionary solutions that protect remaining ancient and endangered forests in the coastal temperate rainforests on Vancouver Island⁴ and the Great Bear Rainforest⁵, Canada’s boreal forests⁶ and Indonesia’s rainforests.⁷
  4. Engage our suppliers to change practices and/or re-evaluate our relationship with them if we find that any of our forest fibers are being sourced from ancient and endangered forests, endangered species’ habitats or illegal logging.
This commitment is aligned with, and builds on, the work of not-for-profit organization Canopy, who collaborates with brands and retailers to ensure that their supply chains are free of ancient and endangered forests as part of the CanopyStyle Initiative.

SHIFT TO MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY AND SOCIALLY BENEFICIAL FABRICS
J.Crew will collaborate with Canopy, innovative companies and suppliers to encourage the development of fiber sources that reduce environmental and social impacts, with a focus on agricultural residues⁸ and recycled fibers. In 2021, J.Crew will put in place a preference for purchasing man-made cellulosics with a minimum of 50 percent of these innovative fiber sources and develop a 2025 procurement target for these closed-loop solutions based on viscose fiber producer innovation.

RECOGNIZING, RESPECTING AND UPHOLDING HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF COMMUNITIES
J.Crew will request that our suppliers respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and acknowledge indigenous and rural communities legal, customary or user rights to their territories, land and resources.⁹ To do so, we request that our suppliers acknowledge the right of indigenous people and rural communities to give or withhold their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) before new logging rights are allocated or plantations are developed. We request that our suppliers resolve complaints and conflicts, and remediate human rights violations through a transparent, accountable and agreeable dispute resolution process.

FOREST CERTIFICATION FOR FABRICS
Where the above conditions are met (including 1-4), J.Crew will request that all fiber sourced from forests are from responsibly managed forests, certified to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification system, and where FSC certified plantations¹⁰ are part of the solution.

SUPPORT BEST PROCESSING PRACTICES
J.Crew requires that our man-made cellulosic suppliers use best available environmental practices for processing, such as the closed-loop lyocell processing.

REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS FOOTPRINT
Recognizing the importance of forests as carbon storehouses, as part of our ongoing leadership on climate, J.Crew will support initiatives that advance forest conservation to reduce the loss of high carbon value forests, by encouraging suppliers to avoid harvest in these areas and by giving preference to those that use effective strategies to actively reduce their greenhouse gas footprint.

PROMOTE INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP
J.Crew looks to create a positive impact together with our suppliers, partners and customers. As implementation progresses, J.Crew will work with suppliers, non-governmental organizations, other stakeholders and brands that are part of the CanopyStyle initiative to support the protection of ancient and endangered forests and forward solutions to reduce demand on our forests. We will also seek opportunities to educate and inform the public on these issues and solutions through our marketing and communications.



¹Ancient and endangered forests are defined as intact forest landscape mosaics, naturally rare forest types, forest types that have been made rare due to human activity, and/or other forests that are ecologically critical for the protection of biological diversity. Ecological components of endangered forests are: intact forest landscapes; remnant forests and restoration cores; landscape connectivity; rare forest types; forests of high species richness; forests containing high concentrations of rare and endangered species; forests of high endemism; core habitat for focal species; forests exhibiting rare ecological and evolutionary phenomena. As a starting point to geographically locate ancient and endangered forests, maps of high conservation value forests (HCVF), as defined by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and of intact forest landscapes (IFL), can be used and paired with maps of other key ecological values like the habitat range of key endangered species and forests containing high concentrations of terrestrial carbon and High Carbon Stocks (HCS). (The Wye River Coalition’s Endangered Forests: High Conservation Value Forests Protection—Guidance for Corporate Commitments. This has been reviewed by conservation groups, corporations and scientists such as Dr. Jim Stritholt, President and Executive Director of the Conservation Biology Institute, and has been adopted by corporations for their forest sourcing policies). Key endangered forests globally are the Canadian and Russian boreal forests; coastal temperate rainforests of British Columbia, Alaska and Chile; tropical forests and the peatlands of Indonesia, the Amazon and West Africa.

²A good source to identify endangered, threatened and imperiled species is NatureServe’s conservation status rankings for imperiled species that are at high risk of extinction due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines in populations or other factors.

³Legal forest management is management that complies with all applicable international, national and local laws, including environmental, forestry and civil rights laws and treaties.

⁴Coastal temperate rainforests are rare and have only ever covered 0.2 percent of the planet. On Vancouver Island, only 10 percent of the productive old-growth rare coastal temperate rainforests remain. These stands of 1,000-year-old trees continue to be harvested despite their immense value to local communities for tourism. Their accessibility and beauty are a remarkable global asset and Canopy is working to see these last stands protected.

⁵Conservation solutions are now finalized in the Great Bear Rainforest. On February 1st, 2016, the government of British Columbia, First Nations, environmental organizations and the forest industry announced 38 percent protection in the Great Bear Rainforest and an ecosystem-based management approach that will see 85 percent of this region off-l imits to logging. Provided these agreements hold, sustainable sourcing has been accomplished in this ancient and endangered forest. We encourage ongoing verification of this through renewal of Forest Stewardship Council certification.

⁶Protection of boreal forests where the largest remaining tracts of forests are located worldwide is critical and dissolving pulp is becoming an increasing threat. Canada’s boreal forest contains the largest source of unfrozen fresh water worldwide and is part of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon sink—equivalent to 26 years worth of global fossil fuel use. Canopy is commited to working collaboratively on the establishment of new protected areas, the protection of endangered species and the implementation of sustainable harvesting in Canada’s boreal forest.

⁷Indonesia experiences the second highest rate of deforestation among tropical countries, with the island of Sumatra standing out due to the intensive forest clearing that has resulted in the conversion of 70 percent of the island's forested area (FAO Forest Assessment 2010; Margono, B.A. et al. 2012). Canopy and our NGO partners are focused on forwarding lasting protection of the Leuser Ecosystem. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd. (APRIL) have been identified as the primary cause and have been criticized by local and international groups for being implicated in deforesting important carbon rich peatlands, destroying the habitat for critically endangered species and traditional lands of indigenous communities, corruption, and human rights abuses (Eyes on the Forest. 2011. http://www.eyesontheforest.or.id). APP and APRIL have both put in place forest policies, tracking implementation closely will be key to understanding if either company offers lasting solutions for Indonesia’s rainforests. Cellulosic fiber producer Sateri, is part of the Royal Golden Eagle Group along with APRIL.

⁸Agricultural residues are residues left over from food production or other processes and using them maximizes the lifecycle of the fiber. Fibers used for paper products include cereal straws like wheat straw, rice straw, seed flax straw, corn stalks, sorghum stalks, sugar cane bagasse and rye seed grass straw. Where the LCA (life cycle analysis) shows environmental benefits and conversion of forest land to on-purpose crops is not an issue, kenaf can also be included here. Depending on how they are harvested, fibers for fabrics may include flax, soy, bagasse and hemp. (Agricultural residues are not from on-purpose crops that replace forest stands or food crops.)

http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

¹⁰Plantations areas that have been “established by planting or sowing using either alien or native species, often with few species, regular spacing and even ages, and which lack most of the principal characteristics and key elements of natural forests.” Plantations prior to 1994 are often FSC certified. Source FSC: http://www.fsc.org/download.plantations.441.htm

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) program, is a joint government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen overall supply chain and border security. For over two decades, C-TPAT has set the standard to protect the international trade community from narcotics smuggling, forced labor, terrorism, agricultural and cyber security threats.

J.Crew Group, a C-TPAT member since 2003, proudly maintains a Tier III status which is the highest achievable standing in the C-TPAT program. This is a reflection of our commitment to promoting a culture of security at all levels of our organization and a recognition that security is the responsibility of all business partners throughout the international supply chain.