Orion policy on Fair Trade What is ethical trade?

According to the ETI (Ethical trade Initiative):

Ethical trade means that retailers, brands and their suppliers take responsibility for improving the working conditions of the people who make the products they sell. Most of these workers are employed by supplier companies around the world, many of them based in poor countries where laws designed to protect workers' rights are inadequate or not enforced.

Companies with a commitment to ethical trade adopt a code of labour practice that they expect all their suppliers to work towards. Such codes address issues like wages, hours of work, health and safety and the right to join free trade unions.

We have a strict policy on fair and ethical trading and most of our factories already produce products for major sports brands that have the same high standards. We regularly check the factories by visits from head office personnel as well as having QC controllers moving from factory to factory. This ensures no child labour and excellent working conditions.

We are also currently in the process of applying to join the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) as a corporate member http://www.ethicaltrade.org. The (ETI) is a ground-breaking alliance of companies, trade unions and voluntary organisations that work in partnership to improve the lives of workers across the globe who make or grow consumer goods - everything from tea to T-shirts, from flowers to footballs. As a part of this process we have adopted the ETI base code for dealing with our suppliers.

As we develop a more formalised process, SGS the worlds leading inspection and certification company will be reviewing factories according to their social accountability standard SA8000. SGS are an approved inspector for the ETI.

This inspection process allows Orion detailed information on:

The factory’s Social Accountability according to SA8000 standard, and vender/factory’s production capability, facility, capacity, quality management practices and their system non-conformities, including technical capability, machines maintenance, incoming material check, in-process quality control, final quality assurance as well as communication, document control, complaints handling, private label product development capability, and good employment/labor practices. It provides relevant objective data such as photos and hardcopy to our project managers. Deviation will be documented and communicated to the Orion quality manager for resolution.

The SGS auditor will communicate with Orion about non-conformance points found during the auditing, and also, the SGS quality supervisor should recommend the next action to Orion accordingly.

Quality Standards

Our quality standards are based on branded textile standards. We have  very experienced QC managers based at our factories who have experience in the sportswear trade supplying major sports. This is an area we pride ourselves on. We supply the best quality articles in the industry.

Commitment to Environmental Sustainability

We are constantly reviewing all issues on this area and have a policy of shipping full containers from the Far East which saves on shipping and transport as well as using the newest environmentally friendly dyes stuffs on products to protect the environment. We further design all garments to be washed on a max temp of 30 deg.