Sheffield-based action group ‘People & Planet’ is calling for the Students Union (SU) ‘to apologise’ after claiming it has failed to comply with student led fast fashion policy.
In a letter directed to the SU, People & Planet claims the Students Union ties with JD Sports meant its initial apology after unknowingly supporting SHEIN “mean’t nothing”.
People & Planet, said: “We are writing to you over our concerns around the recent and repeated ongoing violations of the ‘Fast Fashion Free Campus’ Policy.
“The SU actively holds the position “That profiting from practices that harm people and the environment is highly unethical and companies acting in such mode should have no presence in the Union”… With further commitment “To have no dealings with their brands or sub-brands in any way.
“However, over the past few weeks, we have seen repeated policy violations.
“We call on the Students’ Union to apologise for its repeated violation.”
The policy, which was initially passed in 2020, intended to campaign against fast fashion and any other potential links on campus.
The action group went on to outline why the SU’s ties violated the student-led policy.
The letter said: “However this apology meant nothing; weeks later, the SU began displaying advertisements from JD Sports indicating it had been accepting money from them.
“JD Sports operates hundreds of sites across the UK, where it plays host to a number of brands that are accused of using sweatshop labour.
“JD Sports also operates a number of its own in-house brands, such as Mckenzie; when analysed by consumer watchdogs Good On You they found that ‘JD Sports is not taking adequate steps to reduce textile waste in its supply chain’, with no evidence it’s on track to meet its climate targets.
Adding: “Furthermore, in their analysis of workers’ rights with JD Sports they found that the company only scored 29% on 2023 Fashion Transparency Index… With findings that the JD Group ensures the living wage in the final production stage but not the entire supply chain.
The SU initially apologised after SHEIN sponsored a club night which was held at the buildings club, the Foundry, last month.
The institution claimed they hadn’t received any sponsorship money from SHEIN.
The apology statement read: “We would like to apologise for an event that took place in our building last weekend which included sponsorship by fast fashion company SHEIN,
“On this occasion, the sponsors of the event were not disclosed to us beforehand by the external company who hosted the event in our venue.”
They also claimed they will “ensure that sponsorship of all events by external companies are declared in the future so that this doesn’t happen again”.
The full apology can be read here.
People & Planet went on to say that the initial apology demonstrates “the Students Union disregards the student-led policy it is mandated to follow”.
The Students Union have been approached for a comment.
