Mamas & Papas was established in 1981 and every day, we help to welcome a new generation of children into the world, and we want them to grow up in a world that’s sustainable. We are committed to being a socially and environmentally responsible business.
We have a diverse portfolio of products from pushchairs and nursery furniture through to soft goods including, baby clothing, toys and interiors. Our diverse product range means that we have a variety of different partners and a complex supply chain. Our own brand products are designed from our head office in Huddersfield, but we work with suppliers and business partners across the globe.
Mamas and Papas currently have 21 standalone stores across the UK and Ireland. We also now have 41 concession stores and supply to both retail and distribution partners globally.
Our foundation membership journey
Mamas & Papas joined ETI in 2022 as foundation members. The relationship was first established by our CEO, Nathan Williams and then further developed by the product technical team. The M&P executive team continues to support our work and ensures human rights and sustainability feature within the wider company strategy in an accountable way.
Upon joining ETI we quickly learnt just how much is involved in managing human rights within the supply chain. It has been very reassuring to understand all ETI members are in a similar position, working towards the same overall goals and open to collaboration. We are constantly learning, and aware everything can’t be done at once, instead, we want to keep taking realistic steps forward.
Throughout our foundation membership, we have taken several successful actions to illustrate our commitment and enhance our human rights due diligence processes. Firstly, we now have a dedicated team for Product ESG and Sustainability, providing us with the resource to truly drive our work forwards. This team consists of two dedicated colleagues focussing solely on Product ESG and Sustainability. Working with colleagues across the business on projects covering topics including carbon and materials, through to our salient human rights risks and transparency of our supply chain.
Secondly, to show our commitment to responsible business we developed a Supplier Code of Conduct which contains our own 11 Sourcing Principles, which have been developed in accordance with the ETI Base Code. It sets out the minimum expectations of our suppliers and their extended supply chain. Alongside our Code of Conduct, we have also enhanced our Ethical Trading Policy which details key aspects of our responsible sourcing strategy including our supplier audit programme and Sourcing Principles. This policy is available to view on our Mamas & Papas website. We launched both documents together and encouraged our tier one suppliers to share onwards with their supply chain.
In addition to collaboration and engagement with suppliers, we wanted to engage our M&P colleagues as a priority during the first two years of our ETI membership. Our colleagues who regularly visit international suppliers are our eyes and ears in the supply chain and we want them to have the knowledge and confidence to ask questions when on site and provide their honest feedback to us. Colleagues have been provided with the Code of Conduct and Ethical Trading Policy, as well as a site visit checklist to use as a guide and prompt when visiting suppliers. Our checklist includes a list of questions covering factory presentation, onsite facilities, workers and climate.
Louise Smith our Head of Soft Goods shares her experience:
“Over the past year, we’ve had the opportunity to visit factories and engage our suppliers on our ETI membership by asking key questions. While this process is new for both our suppliers and us, tools like the supplier checklist have been invaluable. They’ve helped us highlight what’s important, focus on our priorities, and provide a clear structure to follow. It’s been a learning curve for everyone, but it’s truly inspiring to see our suppliers eager to join us on this journey. A positive experience all around!”
After graduation and looking ahead
Since our graduation to full ETI membership in 2024 we have developed our internal Product ESG Strategy which contains strategic priorities, covering topics including transparency, salient risks, policies and collaboration. We are continuing to review, enhance and develop our policies to ensure we have strong foundations in place, allowing us to build an action plan to prevent and mitigate risk within our supply chain.
Over the last couple of years, we have been communicating more with our suppliers on ESG topics than ever before. Our buying team have strong, long-term relationships with many of our suppliers and we want to utilise this to build trust and transparency within our supply base. Working with our suppliers and building our supply chain transparency beyond tier one is a key next step for us and something we are already working on.
Going forwards as we prepare for our first Corporate Transparency Framework submission, we want to continue building on the foundations we have set out over the last two years and start to develop a clear action plan for our salient risks. Through ETI group progression sessions, quarterly sector meetings and workshops we want to continue to work collaboratively with other stakeholders to progress our work.