Empowering women with HERproject
UGG is working with BSR’s HERproject™ to provide essential training to the women in our supply chain. It’s all part of our commitment to do good for the planet, be good to people, and make good products.
At UGG, we want everyone who works within our supply chain to have access to education and opportunities that can help them FEEL GOOD. We aim to ensure every worker can realize their true potential, and this can only happen when the society that surrounds them is equitable and fair.
To speed up the shifts we want to see, we’re helping to empower the women working in our factories through essential education programs, all while ensuring that their male colleagues are clued up on equity as well. We’re doing this by partnering with HERproject™ to deliver training to the women and men employed by our production partners.
What is HERproject™?
HERproject™ is a collaborative initiative that brings global brands like ours together with suppliers and local NGOs.
It works to unlock the full potential of women in global supply chains through workplace-based training on health, financial inclusion, and gender equality. Over the last decade, the organization has reached over 500,000 women in 420 workplaces across 14 countries with its core programs:
● HERhealth helps to raise awareness about healthy eating, personal and menstrual hygiene, and maternal health, strengthening workplace health services too.
● HERfinance covers guidance on financial planning and budgeting while promoting the conversion of payroll from cash to digital to support the financial inclusion of employees.
● HERrespect addresses the root causes of violence in the workplace such as dominant unequal gender norms and a lack of essential management skills.
Why is female empowerment so important to UGG?
Although women make up most of the factory workers in the footwear and apparel sector, male-dominated management is still the norm. That’s why we believe that these issues are still incredibly necessary for every brand to support.
With increased wellbeing, confidence, and economic potential, women will drive change in the wider community. We can already see that educating women has a powerful ripple effect of positive change, starting within families and spreading out into the world.
How is UGG working with HERproject™ to empower women?
Since we started out in 2016, we have helped provide training to 33,220 women workers across 19 of our partner factories.
Just last year, we enrolled six new supply chain partners into HERproject™ programs. This included four of the suppliers that make our materials and components (Tier 2), where we provided workers with training to take control of their own health.
We were also excited to be selected as one of the first partners to offer a new program, HERmanagement, to two of the partners that make our finished products (Tier 1) in the Philippines.
What are UGG brand’s empowerment targets for the future?
By 2027, along with our parent company Deckers Brands, we aim to enrich the lives of 100,000 women globally. At UGG, we’ll facilitate this target by working on two activations with HERproject™ per year. We’re on track toward this target and anticipate reaching the halfway point in 2022.
UGG is also proud to be a member of the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index (GEI). This year, we join 417 other public companies committed to transparency in data reporting. This commitment is one of the many we’ve made in order to truly Do Good for people and the planet.
