Kate Spade

Rated: Not good enough

price: $$$$

location: United States

Kate Spade is not taking adequate steps to ensure payment of a living wage for its workers.

Kate Spade sustainability rating

Planet

2 out of 5

People

2 out of 5

Animals

2 out of 5

Overall rating: Not good enough

Our ratings are based on a scale from 1 (We avoid) to 5 (Great) How we rate


Kate Spade is owned by Tapestry .

Our “Planet” rating evaluates brands based on the environmental policies in their supply chains, from carbon emissions and wastewater to business models and product circularity. Here we rate Kate Spade “Not Good Enough”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

  • It uses few lower-impact materials.
  • There’s no evidence it’s taking meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals in manufacturing.
  • There’s no evidence it minimises textile waste in its supply chain.
  • It’s published a biodiversity protection policy that applies to some of its supply chain.

Workers’ rights are central to our “People” rating, which assess brands’ policies and practices on everything from child labour to living wages and gender equality. Here we rate Kate Spade “Not Good Enough”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

  • None of its supply chain is certified by crucial labour standards that help ensure worker health and safety, living wages, and other rights.
  • It received a score of 21-30% in the 2022 Fashion Transparency Index.
  • There’s no evidence it supports diversity and inclusion in its supply chain.
  • There’s no evidence it ensures workers are paid living wages in its supply chain.
  • It’s taken insufficient steps to remediate its links to cotton sourced from Xinjiang, a region in China at risk of Uyghur forced labour.

Brands’ animal welfare policies and, where applicable, how well they trace their animal-derived products are the focus of our “Animals” rating. Here we rate Kate Spade “Not Good Enough”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

  • It has a formal policy aligned with the Five Freedoms of animal welfare but no clear implementation mechanisms in place.
  • It appears to use leather, exotic animal hair, decorative feathers, and silk.
  • It states that it sources wool from non-mulesed sheep.
  • It doesn’t appear to use down, fur, angora, exotic animal skin, or exotic animal hair.
  • There’s no evidence it traces any animal-derived materials to the first production stage.

Based on all publicly available information we’ve reviewed, we rate Kate Spade “Not Good Enough” overall.

Last updated June 2023