Wacoal

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

• It uses some lower-impact materials including organic cotton.
• 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.
• There’s no evidence it’s taking meaningful action to reduce water use.

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

• It partly traces its supply chain including the final and some of the second production stages.
• 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 implements practices to support diversity and inclusion in its direct operations or supply chain.
• The brand claims to audit some of its supply chain but doesn’t specify what percentage.
• 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 Wacoal “It’s a Start”. These are a few factors influencing its score:

• There’s no evidence it has an animal welfare policy.
• It appears to use leather, and silk.
• 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 Wacoal “Not Good Enough” overall.