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Responsibility Social
Supporting each other, growing together
Responsibility must be both lived and also shared. Especially in challenging times, community strengthens both individuals and the company. That is why we see ourselves as the OLYMP family. Our success is the result of collaborative partnerships: with people across our supply chain, with our employees at the Bietigheim-Bissingen site, and with our retail partners. As an internationally active family-owned company, we take responsibility for creating fair working conditions and offering individual opportunities for development wherever we operate.
"Taking responsibility for people means treating them with respect. Wherever we come together, within the company and beyond, interpersonal skills matter just as much as profes-sional expertise. Fair interaction forms the foundation upon which shared success is built."
Elke Feuerbacher, Head of Human Resources
OLYMP as an attractive employer: moving forward together
Achieving a common goal requires social responsibility and reliable frameworks. For OLYMP, the top priority is ensuring that our workforce operates under fair, safe, and healthy conditions. Fair compensation, opportunities for development and career growth, participation through the works council, and a culture of appreciation, where the achievements of our team members are recognized and celebrated, define the OLYMP family. This creates a work environment in which employees feel valued and want to stay for the long term. These conditions also serve as a unifying element in our company culture, even in challenging times.
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Supply chain responsibility: from person to person
Mutual respect, transparency, and fairness guide our interactions with partners across the entire value chain. These principles are an integral part of the careful onboarding process for our suppliers, who are listed in our publicly accessible supplier directory. Within this framework, all partners commit to adhering to the OLYMP Code of Conduct and the Fair Wear Code of Labour Practices.
Country-level and production-site risk analyses guide our selection of suppliers in sourcing countries. Our approach to human rights due diligence follows the OECD Guidelines and is externally verified by the Fair Wear Foundation. To gain further insights into production conditions and to support supplier development, we launched the iMPACT Program in 2021 in collaboration with the workwear provider HAKRO and the service provider LRQA (formerly ELEVATE Ltd.). This program combines social auditing with development initiatives.
We recognise, however, that we are not perfect. Any individual or organisation can submit a complaint regarding a potential violation of the OECD Guidelines through the following channels:
OLYMP: responsibility@olymp.com
Fair Wear: complaints@fairwear.org
Through the relevant National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises:
Complaints can be submitted to the National Contact Point at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy using the complaint form on the NCP website, by email at germanncp@bmwe.bund.de or alternatively by post to the following address:
Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie
Nationale Kontaktstelle OECD-Leitsätze (NKS)
Scharnhorststr. 34-37
10115 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0) 30 18 615 – 7651
E-Mail: germanncp@bmwe.bund.de
For Bangladesh: RSC Complaint Hotline Number: 01769-969000 or RSC Complaint Email Account: complaints@rsc-bd.org
OLYMP is committed to ensuring that no retaliatory measures are taken in the event of a complaint. Our Non-Retaliation Policy can be found here:
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Social milestones and highlights from 2024:
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Since 2023
all our factories in risk countries have been audited through iMPACT or Fair Wear. -
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7 members
of our sustainability team maintain constant, direct communication with our production partners to ensure environmental and social standards. -
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35 years
of collaboration with our longest-standing manufacturing partner. -
33
garment factories work for OLYMP globally. -
OLYMP is 1 of about 110
Fair Wear members worldwide. -
100%
of our shirt manufacturers are OEKO-TEX® STeP certified. -
"The well-being of the people who make our products is at the heart of my work. We face chal-lenges with determination and togetherness, actively nurturing partnerships, taking member-ships seriously, and engaging collaboratively with our partners."
Helen Zitzelsberger, Expert Corporate Sustainability at OLYMP Bezner KG
Our initiatives:
FAIR WEAR FOUNDATION
At OLYMP, we take responsibility for the people in our value chain and actively work to improve social standards. For this reason, we work with the multi-stakeholder initiative Fair Wear Foundation. This organization assesses OLYMP and approximately 110 other member brands through its Brand Performance Check (BPC). The BPC ensures that corporate management and purchasing practices contribute to implementing social standards and fair sourcing practices throughout the supply chain. In these checks, OLYMP’s efforts have consistently been rated as “Good”. This rating recognizes companies that are genuinely committed to implementing concrete systems and measures to improve conditions in the supply chain in line with the Code of Labour Practices (CoLP). We continue to take responsibility today strive to make further improvement in the future.
iMPACT PROGRAM
The iMPACT Program is OLYMP’s social audit and development initiative, launched in 2021 in collaboration with the workwear provider HAKRO and the service provider LRQA (formerly ELEVATE Ltd.). iMPACT stands for Insight & Motivation, Partnership & Action, Capacity Building & Transparency. Our goal is to gain honest insights into production conditions and to encourage our partners to act collaboratively, strengthen their capabilities, and achieve higher levels of credibility and transparency.
INTERNATIONAL ACCORD
As a signatory of the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry and also the Bangladesh Country Specific Safety Program, we protect the workforce in our value chain through international agreements. The International Accord keeps us informed about health and safety conditions in the relevant production facilities and enables us to actively improve them. It also provides a complaints mechanism in the countries where it is active.
EIS
The Employment Injury Scheme (EIS) is a pilot project in the Bangladeshi textile and garment industry. It serves as a foundation for the long-term establishment of a sustainable, nationwide system for employment injury insurance. The program is led by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and is implemented in cooperation with the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ) as well as the Bangladeshi Government. The aim is to provide workers and their families with financial compensation and medical benefits in the event of a workplace accident, work-related illness and commuting accidents. We at OLYMP are also supporting the pilot product. Through our involvement with the EIS in Bangladesh, we gain valuable insights into workplace and commuting accidents and support the country on its journey to establishing a national statutory scheme.
Social responsibility
Our understanding of responsibility also extends to people in challenging life situations. We offer them opportunities and development that they might not otherwise have had. Our efforts are channelled through the OLYMP-Bezner Foundation, established in 2008 by Eberhard Bezner together with his son Mark Bezner and daughter Birgit Bezner-Fischer.
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