Istiaque Ali Khan Lodi
CEO & Chairman
Introduction
Reflecting on the past year, the role of business and corporate responsibility has been dramatically redefined. Whilst being accountable to our consumer and their expectations is still key, a business’s role and impact on society have never been more visible, or important. At Chisty Tex, this year has given us an opportunity to review and reset in order to best serve our customers whilst also supporting our colleagues through the pandemic to safeguard their happiness and mental well-being.
The turbulence of recent times has disrupted our status quo and driven innovation across our operation. Part of this journey has involved a renewed commitment to operating as a responsible business and seeking solutions that ensure the longevity of Chisty Tex.
We are committed to creating a sustainable future for our business, employees, and the communities in which we operate. Over the last 12 months, we have advanced our sustainability agenda and strengthened our governance structure by implementing a dedicated sustainability board comprising senior leaders from across the business and chaired by a Non-Executive Director. The board will ensure the clarity of vision and strategic direction of sustainability and hold the business to account for its actions and outcomes against the sustainability strategy. Alongside this, we have also continued to invest in the team bringing in additional expertise to support the delivery of our ESG agenda. Chisty Tex commits to remaining active participants of the UN Global Compact and sharing with and learning from our peers. This year we became members of the UN CFO Taskforce, pledging to work with fellow members to align company financial strategies to the delivery of the UN Sustainable
Our journey towards a more diverse and inclusive workplace continues and this year saw us celebrate Pride with our colleagues inviting speakers to educate and raise awareness within our organization. The theme of education continued with Sustainability Week taking place virtually, communicating to colleagues our business’ overarching ambitions for people and the planet and ensuring our commitment to doing business responsibly is understood by all colleagues. We also sought to learn externally, partnering with academic institutes to enlighten and support us in projects such as our fashion takeback scheme and measuring impact on the communities we work in.
As we face another year of uncertainty, we will maintain our promise of being responsible, continuing to work to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring respect for people and the planet. Enclosed is our progress report for the period July 2020 – June 2021, outlining an overview of our activities and our future plans. We hope you find it useful.
Development Goals. This commitment is underpinned by our ongoing work supporting the goals including the continued support offered to women in South India entering employment in textile mills. This project has now reached around 21,000 people and is planned to expand into partnerships with industry bodies over the coming years, ensuring scalable change in the industry. We are also committed to tackling climate change and our business’s carbon footprint. We are proud signatories of the British Retail Consortiums Roadmap to Net Zero and are working towards setting science-based carbon reduction targets within the next two years.