Original Penguin

Original Penguin is owned by Perry Ellis International.

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 Original Penguin “Very Poor”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

• It uses some lower-impact materials including organic cotton.
• There’s no evidence it minimises textile waste in its supply chain.
• There’s no evidence it’s taken any action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain.
• There’s no evidence it’s taking meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals in manufacturing.

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 Original Penguin “Not Good Enough”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

• It partly traces its supply chain including all of the final production stage.
• There’s no evidence it provides financial security to its suppliers, which can result in poor working conditions and wages.
• 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 Original Penguin “Not Good Enough”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

• It appears to use leather.
• It has a policy to source wool from non-mulesed sheep but doesn’t provide any evidence to verify its claims.
• 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 Original Penguin “We Avoid” overall.