4:59 AM
Shweta Pandey
The organisers of the London Olympics have been urged to work with the licensed manufacturers of official merchandise to make sure they have clear and transparent ethical production policies.
As of September 2011 about 3,500 individual product lines out of an expected 10,000 were already on sale, ranging from metal pin badges and keyrings to sportswear, bags, towels and train sets – many featuring the Wenlock and Mandeville mascots and official logos.
A report called Sustainably Sourced? analyses the work done by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) to implement sustainable merchandising policies, in line with the commitment to host the "greenest" Olympic Games ever.
It is published by the Commission for Sustainable London 2012, which was set up to monitor the sustainability of the London 2012 programme.
With retail sales expected to be in the region of £1bn, merchandise is a significant part of Locog's revenue generation. It expects to have 50-60 licensees – all major companies awarded the rights to produce a range of products carrying the London 2012, Team GB or Paralympics GB brands.
The commission is recommending that Locog works with these licensees to showcase improvements to sustainability, particularly given consumer concerns over T-shirts and sportswear produced in overseas sweatshops.
There are also concerns that, at a difficult time for the British manufacturing industry, the lion's share of the merchandise is being produced overseas. The bulk is being produced in China and Turkey with less than 10% bearing the hallmark "Made in the UK". Locog has justified this by pointing out that the majority of the licensees are British.
The report commends Locog's sustainable merchandising efforts as "to date, the best the Olympics and Paralympics have ever seen. Locog is setting new standards for the event and retail industries to follow."
But it goes on: "Traditionally, many of the industries involved in making merchandise have not sought to significantly address sustainability in their products and supply chain.
"Therefore, we recommend that a series of case studies be developed using examples from London 2012 merchandise to help move these industries forward. These should demonstrate successes in areas such as ethical supply and environmental standards."
It singles out clothing giant Adidas for having a transparent policy on sourcing, but stops short of naming and shaming companies it believes have fallen short of this high standard.
In a statement the commission said: "We have not had access to a comprehensive audit of environmental and ethical performance for each product, so it is not appropriate for us to comment on individual sponsors, retailers or licensees in this instance.
"Only Adidas has disclosed the location of all factories in its direct supply chain. This sets an example to the industry and the commission believes more partners and licensees should follow Adidas's lead and disclose their factory locations."
Elsewhere in the report, the commission also urges Locog to "better communicate" its sustainability standards to shoppers. "While Locog's efforts to make its merchandise more sustainable have been excellent, consumers may not realise this when they purchase products," it said.
"For example, when a customer buys a product, it should be possible to tell them more about the sustainability story of that product."
Shaun McCarthy, chair of the commission, said: "We recognise there are some sustainability issues which Locog can't solve on its own. However, we believe that by fully engaging with Locog's sustainable and ethical sourcing codes, London 2012 licensees can adopt more sustainable behaviour on a permanent basis."
A spokesperson for Locog said: "We welcome the commission's review of our merchandising and we are delighted our efforts to date are described as the best the Olympics and Paralympics have ever seen. We will now look closely at the commission's recommendations over the coming months."
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