Cotton Supply Chain Mapping, Traceability and Compliance
Working with our Supply Chain Partners to define & map each tier of the production process; from raw cotton fiber to finished product, ensuring full transparency and documentary traceability across the supply chain.
Farm
Ginning
Spinning
Weaving
Dyeing
Warehousing & Distribution
QST Pocketing Supply Chain Mapping
Generic version for illustration purposes only
Ongoing Quality Assurance Process
QST has implemented ongoing quality assurance programs across the supply chain to ensure compliance with our Supplier Agreement. We are proactively engaged in detailed documentary review for cotton traceability and supply chain visibility. We have partnered with an industry leading well-known, global, independent third party audit firm to conduct on site supplier Fiber Identification and Traceability and Social Compliance Audits.
Supplier Agreement
Supply Chain Partners are required to sign our comprehensive Supplier Agreement encompassing QST’s Code of Conduct, Quality Management, RSL, Cotton Traceability and Compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
Purchase Order Addendum
While QST has the Supplier Agreements in place, to ensure the focus remains at a more granular level, QST requires a signed Purchase Order Compliance Addendum from all Asian vendors supplying product containing cotton or any other product in whole or in part that is prohibited under UFLPA.
Fiber Identification and Traceability Audits
Designed to determine whether a manufacturer has the processes and process controls, to their stated product claims, relating to the nature\origin of fibers used in their products.
Social Compliance Audits
Designed to ensure suppliers provide and maintain proper working conditions for their employees, including but not limited to, compliance with local laws and forced labor protocols, wages/benefits, hours of work and health/safety.
Cotton Traceability and Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
QST Industries Inc. and its affiliates are committed to conducting business globally in a fair and ethical manner and to doing business only with partners who share our commitment to ethical and sustainable ways of operating. QST has established a Code of Conduct as a minimum set of standards for our suppliers and vendors. The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) fundamental labor standards is only a starting point for QST, but we go beyond that. For many years we have stood by a robust quality management policy, an ever-evolving Restricted Substance list that puts the environment first, and a Cotton Traceability Policy that goes above and beyond just complying with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that has recently been put in place by the US government. QST aspires to collaborate with companies that share our corporate values and are committed to continuous improvements in social, safety and environmental practices. We do not just meet the legal standards of today, instead we strive to do much more.
QST’s most important goal is to provide sustainable and ethical supply chain solutions to the world’s leading apparel brands. As such, we are obliged to comply with the legal and regulatory requirements of our customers, including the import controls and sanctions laws of the United States of America and other jurisdictions where they operate. Recent changes to U.S. laws require that we ensure that certain parties and products are removed completely from our supply chain and that QST can document the origin of our inputs and finished products. We do that with knowing that we are not only complying with the laws and regulations but also helping to make the world a better place for the citizens today and in the future.
QST is committed to supply chain mapping, traceability and transparency to ensure the seamless delivery of product to our customers in compliance with all those standards previously stated. On December 2, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued an order against all cotton products made by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corporation (XPCC) and China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act establishes a rebuttable presumption that any goods produced wholly or in part in XUAR or by certain entities or workers are produced with forced labor.
In response to the above, QST has taken immediate steps to revamp our supply chain and terminate all existing and engagements, exposure, and links to individuals and businesses with connection to products made by XPCC. We have implemented strict protocols to ensure compliance with the UFLPA as well as our own ethical standards. In the event that we discover the use of forced and/or child labor arise among any of our supply chain partners, we will take immediate steps to investigate and terminate any relationships.
We recognize the complexity of global cotton supply chains and the challenges suppliers face when tracking the cotton origin and flow through each stage of their supply chain. We hereby commit in good faith that QST and all our supply chain partners do not source any product, material, yarn, fiber or any other products or components linked to the XUAR or anyone in violation of the UFLPA.
QST requires that its supply chain partners maintain complete and accurate records of its transactions related to its production for QST. We can provide all necessary documentation upon request within a reasonable period of time, to help ensure the seamless movement of product. If requested for documentation by U.S. CBP, QST will cooperate with all customers and with the U.S. CBP to produce such documentation and/or affidavits that are legally required to be provided to U.S. CBP.
All of these steps detailed above are part of QST’s commitment to a better future. The laws recently put in place are only a starting point for what the industry can do to make this a safer, happier, and cleaner world. We, as QST, are happy to do our part.