A Groundbreaking Commitment: Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s Family of Brands Celebrate the Company’s $50M Commitment to Purchase Nest Ethically Handcrafted Products
Since 2014, Nest has been proud to partner with Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s family of brands—including Including Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, West Elm, and Mark & Graham—to set the industry standards for ethical handcraft work.
As a founding partner in Nest’s efforts to launch an industry-recognized set of compliance standards for home-based craft production – a fundamental source of employment for women around the world – as well as the corresponding Nest Seal of Ethical Handcraft, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has played a pivotal role in protecting the rights and privileges of women artisans around the world.
And this International Women’s Day, Pottery Barn and parent company Williams-Sonoma, Inc. are taking their pledge one step further by celebrating their tremendous commitment to source $50 million in Nest Ethically Handcrafted products by 2025.
“Since we began our partnership in 2014, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has demonstrated a deep commitment to protecting workers throughout their supply chains – including the homeworkers and handworkers who create handcrafted product at scale,” shared Rebecca van Bergen, Nest’s Founder & Executive Director.
“By playing a pivotal role in the launch of the Ethical Handcraft program, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has both impacted the lives of thousands of handworkers in their own supply chains, as well as over 45,000 handworkers that we’ve reached through the program to date.”
Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s partnership will support artisan businesses that have completed Nest’s Ethical Handcraft program and have demonstrated a commitment to creating safe and fair working conditions for handworkers throughout their supply chains. To date, the program has impacted tens of thousands of handworkers, the majority of whom are women, across 25 countries.
“When women are able to earn income, they invest in their children. They become leaders and community activists,” remarked Rebecca van Bergen, Nest’s founder and Executive Director. To this point Alpana Mandal, a quilter who has been impacted by the Ethical Handcraft program, said, “Earnings from my quilting go into a deposit account for my children’s higher education, easing the financial load on my family.
”Nest’s Ethical Handcraft program offers a first-of-its-kind means for assessing ethical production outside of traditional factories where production standards end. Using the Nest Ethical Compliance Standards for Homes and Small Workshops, which have been recognized by the UN as meaningful metrics for evaluating home-based craft production, Nest supports participating vendors in determining how workers’ interests and rights are being observed throughout their supply chains. This set of 100+ standards expands upon the minimum benchmarks set by the International Labor Organization to prioritize workers’ wellbeing.
After successfully completing evaluation and remediation, artisan businesses qualify as Nest Ethically Handcraft and are awarded the Nest Seal, a visible token of their commitment to creating safe and fair working conditions throughout the far reaches of their supply chains.
Following their employers’ participation in the Ethical Handcraft program, Nest notes a 20% increase in the number of women reporting an above-average health status. And, 89% of female workers report they are better able to provide care and education for their children, which demonstrates the program’s ability to ripple out impacts into families, communities, and future generations.
“We invest in programs that positively impact the people that make our products and the communities where we source our products from,” said Laura Alber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. “Our work with partners like Nest… help support a resilient, sustainable supply chain that delivers concrete business value.”
Williams-Sonoma, Inc.’s commitment is part of the company’s pledge of having 75% of all products meet one or more of their social and environmental initiatives by 2030 – a commitment that represents $1B in product purchases annually.