Raising the Bar on Ethical Standards

In this article, we talk with Lena Wallenhorst, SVP Corporate Governance, who is the new co-sponsor of the goal of raising the bar on ethical standards, about the work she and her team are doing in this area at Zalando.

At the core of our sustainability strategy, do.MORE, are measurable and science-aligned goals across the categories of planet, product, and people, which we have set out to complete between 2023 and 2025.

Throughout 2021, acting on our vision to become a fashion platform with a net-positive impact on people and the planet remained a top priority for us. This can be seen in our second standalone Sustainability Progress Report 2021 where we share our learnings and insights with the progress we’ve made over the last two years.

We’ve built important foundations regarding some dimensions like carbon footprint, packaging, ethical standards, reskilling, circularity, and assortment, while we’re still in testing mode on others. Our ambition is to lead change and move the fashion industry forward.

As a co-sponsor of Raising the Bar on Ethical Standards, which achievement are you most proud of?

Toward the end of 2021, Zalando published a new Code of Conduct which forms the foundation of our due diligence framework that all partners need to fulfill. We updated our requirements for human and labor rights, environmental protection, fair and ethical business practices, monitoring, and complaints, and also added missing aspects such as diversity and inclusion, corporate digital responsibility, and greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not just about a policy — it’s about setting clear ethical standards and building processes across the company to ensure fair and consistent oversight of our partnerships.

What was the outcome of launching a new Code of Conduct?

We are committed to ensuring that our partners and supply chain align and comply with our ethical standards by the end of 2023 on the basis of our Code of Conduct which we’re currently rolling out. An essential element in this process is the introduction of new tracking processes in contract management systems. We then work on assessing, monitoring, and reviewing if partners fulfill these and other minimum requirements. Ultimately, we will end partnerships if partners fail to demonstrate progress on ethical standards within agreed time frames or are implicated in zero-tolerance issues with no sign of remediation.

What future developments do you expect?

There are a number of regulatory requirements that are shaping this space. From 2023 onwards, the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act requires that companies establish, implement, and update due diligence procedures to improve compliance with specified core human rights and, to a limited extent, environmental protection in supply chains. With our updated Code of Conduct and due diligence framework covering risk assessments, monitoring, and review, we have already taken important steps and will continue to develop these. We also look forward to the EU-wide initiative in this space.

If you enjoyed this interview and feel inspired to learn more, then please find our 2021 Sustainability Progress Report here.
You can also visit our Sustainability hub here or check out open positions on our careers site here.