GSUS Company Profile
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GSUS Clothing industries Novem ber 2004 A m sterdam , 2004 Contents 1. Introduction of the research ..................................................................... 3 1. GSUS Clothing Sindustries: clothing com pany of streetw ear............................... 4 1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................4 1.2. Strategy towards the market.........................................................................................5 1.3. Ownership structure GSUS ..........................................................................................6 1.5. Financial facts and figures............................................................................................7 1.6. Number of employees ..................................................................................................7 2. GSUS: CSR Policy.................................................................................... 7 2.1. GSUS and its CSR history ...........................................................................................7 2.2. Transparency ...............................................................................................................8 2.3. Responsibilities within the company regarding CSR ....................................................8 2.4. The environmental policy of GSUS.........................................................................8 3. Fair W ear Foundation (FW F) M em bership ..................................................... 8 3.1. The Fair Wear Foundation: an introduction..................................................................8 3.2. Strengths of FWF.......................................................................................................12 3.3. Weaknesses of FWF ..................................................................................................13 3.4. Where GSUS is at......................................................................................................14 3.5. Conclusion: the value of FWF membership................................................................14 4. GSUS and its suppliers............................................................................15 4.1. Outsourcing trends of GSUS......................................................................................15 4.2. Production strategy ....................................................................................................15 5. Conclusions by SO M O on the CSR policy of GSUS............................................16 Annex 1: D istributors Gsus..........................................................................18 G SU S and the Clothing Industry 2 1. Introduction of the research SOMO is a centre for research on multinational corporations. SO M O has been critically follow ing and researching developm ents in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate accountability for m any years. SO M O ’s expertise in this field lies prim ilary w ith labour standards, hum an rights and environm ental issues in developing countries, and the (inter)national initiatives that are being developed to im prove corporate behaviour in these areas. This is done both through research into the actual practices of m ultinational corporations in developing countries, and by exam ining such issues as im plem entation, m onitoring and independent verification of CSR standards. In 2003 and the first half of 2004, SO M O conducted a sector study on the garm ent industry.1 The study described trends and ‘critical issues’ in the sector from the perspective of poverty eradication and sustainable developm ent. The trends and critical issues w ere identified through discussions w ith organisations and trade unions w orking on garm ents and textiles. The study aim ed to give insights and background inform ation for groups w orking on im proving the situation in the garm ent industry and to provide argum ents for civil society organisations to feed the debate on trade & investm ent and corporate accountability. The study w as conducted by SO M O in collaboration w ith Southern partners. SO M O focused on the corporate structures and relations throughout the sector and the production, supply and subcontracting chains. Another part of the sector study conducted by SO M O includes a w ider study on Turkey’s changing position in the w orldw ide garm ent industry, country case studies on M alaw i and Indonesia, and five bulletins, each focusing on a particular issues that currently directs the garm ent industry. As part of the SO M O study on the garm ent industry, SO M O conducted tw o com pany case studies on the Dutch com panies GSUS and W E International. These com panies w ere selected for a num ber of reasons: W E International w as selected because of its involvem ent in the SA 8000 system . SA 8000 is one of the initiatives that receives m uch attention in the CSR debate. Therefore, SO M O w as interested to assess the level of im plem entation of CSR norm s by one of the m ain proponents of SA 8000, nam ely W E International. GSUS, a sm all Dutch garm ent brand, w as selected because it is a young, fast-grow ing com pany. SO M O w as interested to assess to w hat extent such a young new com er in the field w as w orking w ith CSR issues. The case studies on these tw o com panies have focused on their corporate structures, CSR policies and im plem entation system s in place. H ow ever, it w as beyond the scope of this research to assess the actual labour conditions in the factories that produce for these com panies. 1 This study w as co-financed by the Dutch M inistry of Foreign Affairs G SU S and the Clothing Industry 3 1. GSUS Clothing Sindustries: clothing com pany of streetw ear G SU S2 Clothing Sindustries B.V. Johan van H asseltw eg 27 1021 KN Am sterdam 1.1. Introduction G SU S is a Dutch clothing com pany of street w ear. The founders of G SU S started w ith a shop selling clothing designed and produced by others in 1993. In 1996, they had their ow n collection produced for the first tim e. The original idea w as to design clothing for the youth and related to pop m usic. N ow adays, pop artists w ear G SU S clothing, like Anouk, Krane, Krezip, 100% Isis, the Am ericain band Fun Loving Crim inals, the hardrockband Sepultura and Fear Factory.3 4 G SU S Sindustries has grow n to a w ell-know n brand available throughout all of Europe, Australia, South-Africa and the U SA. The brand nam e G SU S ranks num ber 2, before AJAX on num ber 3, in the Dutch national brand com petition, according to a poll conducted by the m arketing m agazine Adform atie in 2004. The poll m easured the popularity of brand nam es from all industries5. The European headquarters are located in Am sterdam -N oord w here about 70 em ployees are w orking. The design team of G SU S presents 4 collections per year. At the end of 2003, 3 G SU S stores w ere operating under the nam e “H eavens Playground” in The N etherlands and 1 in Spain6. In total there are about 200 selling points in The N etherlands, like the ‘Chill O ut” departm ent of departm entstore ‘De Bijenkorf’ and in streetw earstores throughout the country7. 2 Different w ays of spelling G SU S are used: - on the w ebsite of G SU S: gsus in sm all letters and som etim es in capitals G SU S. - in the Cham ber of Com m erce docum ents: G -SU S and G -Sus. In this profile SO M O decided to use G SU S in capitals 3 N RC H andelsblad, 09-11-2002, Schaam haar bijknippen, zo laag zijn onze broeken, by H ester Carvalho 4 G SU S is sponsoring the follow ing nam es: TV International: Viva Fernsehen, M TV G erm any. TV National: Arne Toonen, Angela Schijf, Chris Zegers, Ruud de W ild, Tatum Dagelet, VJ Kris, Froukje de Both, Sylvana, G eorgina Verbaan, Daniel Louis Rivas. Restaurants: restaurant Leipzig, restaurant Praag H aarlem , restaurant Blender, Joia, restaurant N oa. Dj's: Dj 100% Isis, Dj Bas "the funky bastard", Dj Laidback Luke, Dj Rene Vidal, Rank 1, dj Annem iek, dj Shane. Singers/bands: Ellen ten Dam m e, Tasha's W orld, M iss Bunty, Vj Ed, Anouk, Krezip, Arid. Perform ance: ISH , http://w w w .g- sus.com / 5 Source: Dagblad Flevoland, April 17 2004, Etalage 6 U nder franchise. Further expansion of the num ber of stores is expected in 2004. Source: Interview SO M O w ith M r. Peter Steenstra, the M anaging Director of G SU S, Decem ber 2003 7 Source: Q uote, April 30 2004, Polderm ode G SU S and the Clothing Industry 4 Tradem arks used by G SU S are: G SU S and Jeans tradem ark G O D (G SU S O riginal Denim ). The collections consists of all types kinds of clothings: coats, bikini’s, skirts, jeans, T-shirts, sw eaters etc. 1.2. Strategy tow ards the m arket On Friday the thirteenth of August 1993 the slogan 'GSUS is coming' introduced a new shop with a totally new concept for that time: streetwear labels were combined with active sports brands, clubwear combined with all kind of 'boardsport' labels. From the beginning on, they had the plan for starting a collection using the shop as a lab, a test-store for their own small GSUS label. At the time that the oversized skate-look was still very common, they bought a large quantity of tight vintage t-shirts from the seventies, and printed these with all kind of vintage funky seventies glittertransfers. Other retailers became interested soon and started selling them: a collection was born8. GSUS: what's in a name? A lot, the name GSUS was a big help in the success of the brand.