Our Ethical Journey: How it all began

In an era where consumers are increasingly demanding transparency and responsibility from the brands they support, the RMIT Store took a bold step in 2019 to embark on a transformative journey towards social responsibility. This was prompted by the University's Supplier Code of Conduct improvements to align with the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. 

With unwavering support from the RMIT Sustainability team, the store embarked on a journey to scrutinise its supply chain, identify potential risks, and establish a new benchmark for ethical business practices. At every step, it was clear that this marked the starting point, and the commitment to these new procurement practices would be unwavering.

The Ethical Sourcing Agency, acting as consultants, played a pivotal role in facilitating the store's transformation into a socially and corporately responsible entity. Through their guidance, our conventional understanding of supplier practices was unravelled using a comprehensive questionnaire. This process served as an eye-opening moment for the store – a realisation that we had inadvertently fallen into complacency and that without deep oversight of our supplier there is a high risk of unethical practices being performed, including modern slavery, unbeknownst to us.

Upon receiving the questionnaire results, we were prepared to move forward with the next phase of our ethical journey - a new sourcing model! There would be challenges to overcome and established processes and supplier relationships we'd need to rework, however, we knew it would be worth the effort.

Stay tuned next week to learn further about our road to social corporate compliance.