View our new policy here.
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (“AEO”), is committed to upholding a high level of social responsibility as it relates to the treatment of workers, by agents, vendors, factories, subcontractors and others in our supply chain. In that spirit, we work both as an individual company as well as with our industry partners – including the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), American Apparel & Footwear Association, National Retail Federation (NRF), and the US Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) – to help advance human rights worldwide, which includes stopping the practice of forced labor.
At AEO, we do not tolerate the use of forced labor in our supply chain. We have taken action and will continue to actively monitor our supply chain to help ensure that our partners abide by the same guiding rules and principles in which we believe and take pride. Specifically, AEO has a comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct which is based upon internationally accepted standards, including the International Labor Organization (ILO)’s core conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. AEO uses this Code of Conduct to work collaboratively with its factory partners to ensure they meet AEO’s requirements. To that end, the Code of Conduct explicitly prohibits its suppliers from using “any form of forced, involuntary or trafficked labor, including prison, bonded, and indentured.”
Additionally, in 2018, AEO signed on to the AAFA and FLA Apparel & Footwear Industry Commitment to Responsible Recruitment, a proactive industry effort to address potential risks that migrant workers can face related to forced labor.
Furthermore, in 2019, AEO implemented a Forced Labor and Migrant Worker Policy. The purpose of this policy is to eliminate the presence of forced labor and to ensure that migrant workers hired by suppliers are adequately protected from potential exploitation. Suppliers utilized by AEO must agree to comply with this policy prior to manufacturing anything for AEO.
We at AEO are extremely concerned regarding the allegations of forced labor in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in China; therefore, we prohibit the manufacture of any product or the use of any raw material from this region. In January, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued an order that forbade the import of products made in the XUAR or using cotton from XUAR.
AEO will remain vigilant in its commitment to social responsibility and to ensuring that its suppliers continue to adhere to our standards.