Key Benefits

• Easy identification and prioritisation of key risk areas
• Alignment with internationally recognised and common principles
• Continuous updates of our system so it remains fit for the future
• Efficient monitoring and reporting thanks to a visual dashboard

We are able to monitor 12 Social Performances which allow us to conduct high-quality social audits and monitoring of the factories in our supply chain. This helps Chadwick Teamwear to identify, prevent, mitigate, account for and remediate labour risks as well as adverse human rights impacts in our valued chain.

The 12 Social Performance amfori BSCI allows us to measure;

• Social management and Cascade effect
• Workers Involvement and Protection
• The Rights of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
• No Discrimination, Violence or Harassment
• Fair Remuneration
• Decent Working Hours
• Occupational Health and Safety
• No Child Labour
• Special Protection for Young Workers
• No Bonded, Forced Labour or Human Trafficking
• Protection of the Environment
• Ethical Business Behaviour

About amfori

amfori believe in a world where all trade delivers social, environmental and economic benefits for everyone. They call this Trade with Purpose.

As the leading business association for open and sustainable trade, amfori bring together over 2,000 retailers, importers, brands and national associations from over 40 countries. Their membership reflects organisations of all sizes from a diverse range of sectors, representing a combined turnover of more than one trillion euros.

Headquartered in Brussels since 1977, they have a strong network of representatives based across 14 countries. They offer their members a practical framework and world-class tools to manage the social and environmental performance of their supply chains and anticipate trends. They also advocate for progressive policy and collaboration with high-level stakeholders to achieve social, environmental and economic progress.

Their work enables organisations to enhance human prosperity, use natural resources responsibly and drive open trade globally. These are major challenges across the world which require a collaborative effort to tackle. So, while their members can’t solve them on their own, together we can influence and drive positive change at scale.

Ultimately, amfori’s ambition is to leverage their unique position – their insight, influence and expertise – to drive open and sustainable trade, which contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The post amfori first appeared on Chadwick Teamwear.

The post amfori appeared first on Chadwick Teamwear.

Post Covid we have been able to “turbo charge” our investment in innovative new products & investment in people and the business. Our entire ethos is built around creating an infrastructure, which brings desirable co-ordinated teamwear ranges to market, maintain a high level of quality, offer great stocks, longevity of range and of course creating a great place to work! Our China office has recently increased in size to 8 employees. The China office primary function being to maintain a very high level of quality by inspecting every order at the factory before goods are shipped to UK.

Our turnover has doubled over the last 3-4 years putting even more emphasis on upgrading all aspects of our business to cope with the next phase of growth. We have rolled our new warehouse management software linked to handheld bar code scanners, which have improved the picking team’s efficiency and accuracy to improve speed of picking, meaning our customers receive orders quicker!  Also, more sales means the need for more warehousing space. On our current site we have recently built a 3^rd warehouse and by reconfiguring our other 2 warehouse with alternative racking enabled us to create 200 new pallet spaces and installing a floor to ceiling pallet racking systems increasing storage in our “picking warehouse” by over 500%. Continuing to improve working conditions and efficiency in the warehouse, we purchased four new high level cherry picking machines, two forklifts, and four powered pump trucks that increased unloading speeds and improved manual handling safety.

Such improvements to our systems/procedures have facilitated us being able to manage a literal doubling in the value of stock we are now holding compared to only a few years ago.

Continuous updates to our online portal give our customers much more functionality than just enabling them to place an order 24 hrs a day. Our online customer portal now enables you to make payments on account, view statements, check and track outstanding orders, product descriptions/size charts as well as being able to check live stock and next delivery. Now over 60% of all orders placed are on our online portal!

After 3 years in design, this September we are very pleased to announce the launch of our new KINETIC Range. A contemporary 8 piece range with up to 11 stock colour combinations using a combination of cationic melange effect shoulder panels with colour insert and signature “Kinetic” rubber print:

• Midlayer
• Crew neck sweatshirt
• Hoodie
• T-shirt
• Full zip top / jacket
• Tapered jog pant
• Premium rain jacket (Launch Jan 24)
• Polo (launch Jan 24)

In addition to our exciting Kinetic range we are also adding the following new styles to our stock Core range:

• Rain jacket – Plain black and navy
• Premium stretch midlayer – plain black and navy
• Premium polo – plain white, black and navy
• Backpack – plain black and navy
• Carbon premium short – plain black and navy
• iGen 2-in-1 short – plain black and navy

Looking to the future, we will continue to expand our product lines, explore new markets, and strive to lead the way in providing brand quality teamwear to resellers and suppliers of team sportswear

The post What’s new at Chadwick Teamwear? first appeared on Chadwick Teamwear.

The post What’s new at Chadwick Teamwear? appeared first on Chadwick Teamwear.

Why do we travel to China?

The team headed back west from Shanghai, inland by high-speed train for the first of more than a dozen meetings during the 12-day trip. This followed by a short plane ride back to the coast in the industrial southeast of China where the weather is generally warm or simply just hot year-round interspersed with the annual monsoon season. The number one priority of the 2023 trip was putting the final touches and signing off our eagerly awaited new range ‘Kinetic’. Kinetic has taken more than 2 ½ years to develop, which is twice as long as other ranges historically. Kinetic is collectively the most premium and technical range we have developed to date, the combination of new performance fabrics, prints and specialised trims utilised in this range has really taken Kinetic to a new level.

This trip has highlighted you really can’t replace being in front of suppliers, building knowledge and ensuring you have your finger on the pulse. The partnerships we have built with our trusted suppliers prior to the covid period has been invaluable – for Chadwick’s as a business the importance of always working directly with specialised factories is vital to our success.

Quality assured 

At Chadwick, we pride ourselves on the quality and consistency of our products. Our proven quality procedures is integral to delivering garments with the correct fit and function according to their intended use to give our customers confidence when offering Chadwick Teamwear over more famous name brands.

Quality is rigorously controlled at every stage of manufacturing with the help of our own full time ‘Chadwick’ QCs (not third parties) employees based in our China office. 1 or more of our 8 strong team will visit the factories on an almost weekly basis reporting back to the UK regularly. This enables us to make informed decisions quickly or solve an issue much faster than just waiting for samples to arrive at our UK office to make a decision. Travelling to China and spending time with our staff allows us to offer them invaluable training, product updates, problem solving sessions and continue to build their awareness of our expectations and business operations. It’s hard for us to imagine that many Chinese have never travelled outside China, their perception of ‘The Western world’ is a little different from the reality and helping them to understand why we insist on high quality is an education. That said, Chinese people are without doubt some of the most hardworking, honest, and clever people you will find in the world, their naturally respectful and gentle culture means they are happy to listen and learn.

Environmental impact and sustainability

Environmental impact and sustainability factors are now becoming just as important to china as it is in Europe and the rest of the world and in some respects, China has overtaken us in terms of implementation. A key part of our development here at Chadwick’s is to ensure we and our suppliers follow a sustainable code of practice, this was a key discussion point whilst in China with all suppliers. OEKOTEX is an independent testing certification for fabrics and trims is specified by Chadwick’s wherever possible and we have recently carried out full independent factory assessments in conjunction with ITS Intertek. In addition, all our vendors adhere to the Amfori / BSCI (business social compliance initiative) and we encourage all suppliers to follow a positive working culture for all workers and seek to continuously improve.

The addition of recycled packaging has recently been achieved and we are seeking to convert fabrics to recycled polyester step by step as long as the science is telling us this is the right thing to do. There is still much to do, but, we have already planned the next trip later this year by which time many of our new exciting new products will have arrived into UK stock. We are already looking at what next as well as looking forward to sampling yet more of that famous Chinese cuisine.

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The post China is open for business, post covid restrictions! appeared first on Chadwick Teamwear.

Delays have been blamed on Covid disruptions in Asia, a shortage of container ships and disruptions at ports. This issue has affected the whole sector and not even the ‘Big Boys’ have been exempt from the supply chain issues we have all faced over the past couple of years.

At Chadwick’s we have also faced these challenges and have put measures in place to ensure we can continue to offer our customers a high level of service. Since the outbreak of Covid we have invested in increasing stock levels, around 40% higher in many cases. We believe this investment will allow us to fulfil most of our ‘just in time’ orders straight away.

We also encourage our customers to make use of our online customer portal. This lets customers access information on our current stock levels and upcoming delivery dates, allowing them to help manage their own stock and upcoming orders.

By working closely with our customers and suppliers we hope to maintain minimal disruption to our supply chain.

To find out how we can help your business call us on 0161 9272565

The full BBC article can be found at https://zcu.io/SX1c

The post Sports Clothing Manufacturers Struggling With Supply Chains first appeared on Chadwick Teamwear.

The post Sports Clothing Manufacturers Struggling With Supply Chains appeared first on Chadwick Teamwear.

As an established importer, ensuring a reliable high quality supply chain and manufacturing process has been key to our success, especially given these turbulent times globally. All products are designed and developed in-house at our 40,000 sq. ft UK warehouse, office and showroom site based in Altrincham. We listen carefully to our wide customer base and seek to develop highly functional multi-purpose teamwear products of premium quality. Our complete development and production process is fully managed by a dedicated and highly knowledgeable team in the UK and supported by our experienced and very own Chadwick team in China.

Chadwick’s China Team

Established in 2005, our China office directly employs a dedicated team based locally to our main supply base. Overseeing, checking, and helping to manage the production process from start to finish – We do not work through third parties which helps to guarantee a consistent level of quality time after time and means we can react quickly to our customers’ needs. Having our own dedicated and specialised quality control team on the ground has many benefits. It enables quick decision-making during time-critical production while also ensuring that bulk production accurately replicates the original approved garment samples and specifications time after time.

Manufacturers associated with the production of Chadwick’s products subscribe to a range of recognised ethical trading initiatives and understand their social and corporate responsibilities to their employees, buyers, and end-users.

All manufacturers are also visited regularly by our UK team. We have recently introduced the first stage of our sustainable development programme with the help of an international and independent accreditation provider which will help to ensure that all employers within the factories continue to meet our key principles relating to employees’ working hours and rights combined with a suitable working environment overall.

Quality Management – What We Do

All Chadwick products are quality checked at every key production stage. Pre-production, inline and final inspections are undertaken by one of our QC managers following the international AQL level 2.5. Our regular inspections are performed in addition to any in house factory inspection process making sure we maintain a premium quality. Before any bulk production commences all fabrics, trims and packaging are signed off in the UK. Once approved all main bulk fabrics are independently tested with ITS INTERTEK to ensure all the fabrics’ physical properties meet international standards.    Garments are continuously checked for size conformity, stitch quality, overall trim application, and general appearance.

Continued Growth

As our range of products continues to grow and our stock levels increase, we also continue to build our team of sportswear specialists in China. With their help, we seek to forge stronger relationships and understanding with our established and trusted supply chain; benefiting enormously from their local knowledge and experience to both problems solve and develop communication overall. This keystone in our organisation has allowed us to confidently go head-to-head with other more famed sportswear brands in the UK and grow our business and our reputation as a market leader in premium ‘unbranded’ team and training wear.

The post Working globally to place quality first-CWB Magazine first appeared on Chadwick Teamwear.

The post Working globally to place quality first-CWB Magazine appeared first on Chadwick Teamwear.