Sioen apparel follows the guidelines as set in ISO 26000:2010

ISO 26000:2010 as a reference document

ISO 26000:2010 provides guidance rather than requirements, meaning that you can’t get a certification for this standard, unlike some other well-known ISO standards. Instead, it helps clarify what social responsibility is, helps businesses and organisations translate principles into effective actions and shares best practices relating to social responsibility, globally. It is aimed at all types of organisations, regardless of their activity, size or location.

Sioen is voluntary applying the ISO 26000 standard to integrate social responsibility and to enhance responsible behaviour into our organisation. We recognise ISO 26000 as a reference document that provides guidance in our journey towards a sustainable world. We’ve attested that the principles and guidelines of ISO 26000 are applied in a self-declaration NPR-9026-c1-2012.

Basics about Corporate Social Responsibility

ISO 26000:2010, Guidance on social responsibility, provides guidelines on how businesses and organisations such as Sioen can operate in a socially responsible way, displaying an ethical and transparent behaviour that contributes to the health and welfare of society.

This encourages us to go beyond legal compliance, recognising that compliance with the law is a fundamental duty of any organisation and an essential part of our social responsibility programme. When applying the ISO 26000 guidelines, we’ve considered societal, environmental, legal, cultural, political and organisational diversity as well as differences in economic conditions, while being consistent with international norms of behaviour.

Since the standard provides guidance rather than requirements, it cannot be used for certification unlike other well-known ISO standards. Instead, it clarifies what social responsibility is about, helps us translate principles into effective actions and shares best practices relating to social responsibility, globally. (source: iso)

The 7 key principles of ISO 26000

The 7 key principles of the ISO 26000: 2010 are translated in Sioen’s Mission, Vision, Values and Strategy. This means that they are top of mind for everyone working for and with the Sioen company. These key principles are:

• Accountability;
• Transparency;
• Ethical behaviour;
• Respect for stakeholder interests;
• Respect for the rule of law;
• Respect for international norms of behaviour.

Sioen reports about social responsibility in its annual report (declaration in respect to non-financial information), in its CSR manifesto and on this dedicated website.

Three pillars

Three pillars: economic, social and environmental are the fundamentals of sustainable development. The recommendations in the ISO 26000 standard are a great contribution to sustainable development as they focus on the creation of social welfare, among others. The latter is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development.

It is our firm believe that, as a sustainable business, we must not only provide products that are as eco-friendly as possible, we also must operate in a socially responsible manner. While creating welfare, everyone will thrive.

ISO 26000 and amfori BSCI

Sustainability and corporate social responsibility are covered by many norms, standards and associations. One example are the international conventions that must be respected.

The extract from the amfori BSCI Reference list shows the international conventions the BSCI requirements are based on. These are all also included in Annexe A of this ISO 26000 standard.

• The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948);
• the International Labour Organisation’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (1977);
• the Global Compact (2000);
• the UN Guidelines for Business and Human Rights (2011)
• and the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2011)

As Sioen is amfori BSCI certified, we’re compliant with the rules of the above.

ISO 26000 and STeP by Oeko-Tex ®

Below you will find the comparison between the STeP certification and the ISO 26000 (social responsibility requirements). OEKO-TEX® Sustainable Textiles Production (STeP) is a certification system for brands, retailers and producers in the textile value chain who wish to communicate their performance in terms of sustainable production processes to the public in a transparent, credible and clear way. Through a modular analysis of all relevant business elements, such as chemical management, environmental performance, environmental management, occupational health and safety, social responsibility and quality management, the STeP certification enables a comprehensive and reliable analysis of the degree of sustainable management within an organisation. With this modular approach, the STEP certification shows a large overlap with the requirements of the ISO 26000 standard.

Impact of CSR

We’re convinced that a good organisational performance on social responsibility can have a positive impact on many levels:

1. Recruitment as it attracts and retains employees and workers.
2. Marketing and customer engagement, since it improves brand reputation.
3. Commitment and productivity of employees, as they are our main ambassadors.
4. Other stakeholders, such as governments, the media, suppliers, communities and their perceptions of our commitments.

We’ve been working on CSR since our very existence. Upon publication of the standard ISO 26000, we’ve used it to reflect on the criteria set:

• Organisational governance;
• Human rights;
• Labour practices;
• Environmental responsibility;
• The fairness of organisational practices;
• Consumer and consumer protection issues;
• Involvement in and developing communities

We continue to use among others the STeP, amfori BSCI and ISO 26000 guidelines to evaluate ourselves and to set goals for improvement.

Voluntary initiatives

Annex A of ISO 26000 lists examples of voluntary initiatives and tools for social responsibility.

From table A1, we select the following “cross sectorial initiatives”

CSR in practice

On this website, dedicated to CSR at Sioen, you can find all initiatives that are related to the CSR. Actually, you can filter our initiatives by:

1. SDG
2. Triple bottom line (former 3 P’s that are nowadays 5)
3. Category
4. Norms and certificates