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YESS CONDUCTS INAUGURAL DUE DILIGENCE ASSESSMENTS:


TWO YARN SPINNING MILLS IN PAKISTAN UNDERWENT INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENTS OF THE
YESS: YARN ETHICALLY & SUSTAINABLY SOURCED STANDARDS



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS: Emilie S Jakobsen, comms@sourcingnetwork.org, (415) 340-0809;
Tina Van Langenhove, tina.vanlangengove@elevatelimited.com

BERKELEY, CA–March 16, 2023–Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN) collaborated with
ELEVATE, an LRQA company, as part of its Global Trace Protocol (GTP) project to
conduct the inaugural third-party due diligence assessments of its initiative,
YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced. Spinning mills and fabric mills are
assessed on their management systems and inventory controls to mitigate the risk
offorced labor in their cotton supply chains against the YESS Standards.

The YESS assessments were organized by GTP with funding by the U.S. Department
of Labor. They were performed in conjunction with a series of due diligence and
traceability workshops held in Faisalabad, Lahore, and Karachi with the theme of
Pakistan’s cotton and textile sectors gaining a competitive edge by improving
their labor rights due diligence—including the elimination of child and forced
labor—and increasing supply chain transparency with enhanced traceability.

Two leading Pakistani textile manufacturers, Artistic Fabric Mills (AFM), Ltd.
and Nishat Mills, Ltd., underwent YESS assessments at their spinning facilities
to identify and address cotton produced with forced labor that may be in their
supply chains. Auditors from ARCHE Advisors conducted the assessments, with a
GTP ELEVATE observer in attendance.

“This is a historic event,” said Patricia Jurewicz, CEO of Responsible Sourcing
Network (RSN) and founder of YESS. “Several years have gone into researching and
developing the YESS Standards for spinning and fabric mills, so it is exciting
and gratifying to see them implemented with the first-ever independent YESS
assessments. We applaud the mills that took this on.”

To normalize due diligence, introduce traceability tools, and educate
stakeholders on growing expectations from international brands and retailers,
three YESS workshops were delivered to Pakistani industry stakeholders, one in
conjunction with the KnowTex conference at the National Textile University in
Faisalabad.

“RSN’s YESS initiative provides a very valuable tool that enhances a robust
approach to due diligence, supported by traceability, in line with GTP
objectives and the business interests of Pakistan’s cotton and textile sectors,”
said Jeff Wheeler, Director of the Global Trace Protocol project at ELEVATE, an
LRQA company.

“We appreciate the methods of YESS and ELEVATE regarding forced labor and
sustainable cotton inputs. Nishat is committed to only sourcing cotton inputs
that are sustainable and free of forced labor. By implementing the GTP tools and
YESS Standard, we can demonstrate that we are indeed being
responsible with our sourcing practices,” said Muhammad Mumtaz, General Manager
Spinning & Cotton Procurement, at Nishat Mills, Ltd.

“Brands require complete transparency along the supply chain,” said Saba Iqbal,
Director of Operations at Artistic Fabric Mills (AFM), Ltd. “We believe the
approach that ELEVATE and YESS are promoting will be effective in enabling us to
provide this information with ease.”

The Lahore workshop was co-sponsored by the All Pakistan Textile Mills
Association (APTMA) and WWF-Pakistan, both leaders in promoting sustainable
textile production in Pakistan. The workshops were well received because they
come at a time when strict legislation and regulations are being imposed on
global brands to protect workers’ rights, secure safe working environments, and
minimize environmental footprints within their supply chains.

“WWF-Pakistan supports harmonization across different standards and promotes
standards in local supply chains, so their benefits don't remain limited to just
export-oriented companies,” stated Arjmand Qayyum Amjad, Sr. Manager Freshwater,
from World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan. “The YESS Standards very much address the due
diligence gap in textile supply chains since standards for cotton farming,
processing, finishing, etc. are already in place.”

"I'm honored to have played a role with the inaugural YESS due diligence
assessments and capacity building workshops in Pakistan," said due diligence
expert Liz Muller, principal of liz muller & partners. "YESS is great for the
industry because it educates spinning and fabric mills on how to strengthen
their management systems, conduct risk assessments for forced labor, and
collaborate around risk prevention and mitigation. Understanding of a due
diligence approach is sorely needed throughout the textile industry, and YESS
does it in a way that empowers the manufacturers."

As part of Verité’s STREAMS project, YESS will conduct its first third-party due
diligence assessments and capacity building workshops in India starting in late
April.

# # #

Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), a non-profit for-benefit organization based
in the U.S., strives to end human rights abuses and forced labor connected to
the raw materials found in products we use every day.

ELEVATE, an LRQA company, is an industry leader in sustainability and supply
chain services globally that designs, builds, and manages data driven
sustainability linked programs with assessment, advisory, program management,
and analytics that drive positive impact.

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