Isabella Socks' Ethiopian facility gets BSCI 'A' status

12 May '17

2 min read

Ethiopian facility of Sri Lanka based Isabella Socks Manufacturing PLC has received an 'A' status under Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) of Foreign Trade Association. BSCI is a leading supply chain management system that supports companies to drive social compliance and improvements within the factories in their global supply chains.

Isabella specialises in manufacturing socks for kids, ladies and men. The company exports its products to global destinations, mostly to the EU market.

Isabella operates a manufacturing facility in Hawassa Industrial Park, which has already attracted 17 leading global apparel and textile companies from the US, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, India, China, France, Belgium and Taiwan.

This positive audit result for the company, and having achieved this status at first audit is exceptionally rare, said Industrial Park Division deputy commissioner, Dr. Belachew Mekuria, in a statement released by the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) Public Relations Directorate.

The certification will be of paramount importance in enhancing the acceptance of the company’s products among international buyers, Mekuria added.

Built in record time of less than one year, the eco-industrial Hawassa Industrial Park is expected to generate $1 billion and create over 60,000 direct manufacturing jobs when fully operational.

BSCI implements the principle of international labour standards protecting workers’ rights such as International Labour Organization conventions and declarations, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and guidelines for multinational enterprises of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India