Code of Ethics & CSR Policy
Brix + Bailey is a small, independently owned marketplace. We do not have a sustainability department, an impact team or a glossy annual report. What we have is a set of decisions we make repeatedly, and a reasonably clear view of where we are still getting it wrong.
This page sets out both.
What we require of our brands
Every brand agrees to the following as a condition of listing on Brix + Bailey:
- No child labour and no forced or bonded labour, anywhere in their supply chain
- Safe working conditions and lawful working hours
- Fair pay for the people who make their products
- No discrimination on any ground
- No real fur and no exotic animal skins
- No cosmetics, skincare or fragrance tested on animals
- Honest product information, and sustainability claims they can evidence if asked
- Compliance with the law in the countries where they make and sell
Where we find a breach, we remove the listing and speak to the maker. Where a breach is serious, we end the relationship.
Who we work with
Every brand on Brix + Bailey is chosen by a person. We look for craftsmanship, fair production, and the ability to answer a direct question about where something came from. Brands that cannot answer do not get listed.
The detail is on how we choose brands.
How we treat our brands
Independent makers are the reason this business exists, so the commercial relationship matters as much as the values statement.
Brands set their own prices and their own shipping costs. We do not require exclusivity, we do not demand discounting, and we do not ask makers to absorb costs so that we can advertise something as free.
Onboarding takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight, because we built the tools to make it so. A marketplace that is exhausting to join is a marketplace that quietly excludes the smallest makers.
Animal welfare
We do not sell real fur or exotic skins. Our full position, including animal-derived materials and cruelty-free beauty, is on our Animal Welfare page.
Waste and what we do with surplus
We donate our own samples, returns and dead stock to Sutton Night Watch, which supports people affected by homelessness across the London Borough of Sutton and beyond. We encourage our brand partners to do the same.
It is a small thing, deliberately unglamorous, and it is one of the few claims on this page that somebody else can verify.
More on our Giving Back page.
Shipping and packaging
Products ship direct from the maker rather than through a central warehouse. That removes a leg from the journey, though it does mean separate parcels when you order from several brands.
Packaging is chosen by each brand rather than by us. Many use recyclable or reused materials. We are not going to claim a standard across hundreds of independent studios that we do not currently verify.
Charities we support
Sutton Night Watch, registered charity 1171903, and Smart Works, registered charity 1080609, which helps unemployed women into work through coaching and professional clothing.
How we run the business
Independently owned and bootstrapped. No outside investors setting growth targets that would push us toward volume and away from curation.
We use a small number of contractors and suppliers, and we pay them.
Raising a concern
If you are a brand partner, a supplier, a customer or anyone else with a concern about conduct on Brix + Bailey, write to mail@brixbailey.com. We will look into it, and nobody will be penalised for raising something in good faith.
What we do not claim
We are not carbon neutral and we do not buy offsets to say that we are.
We do not audit our brands' supply chains. We ask, we record what we are told, and we decline the ones who cannot answer, which is a meaningfully weaker thing than auditing and we would rather say so.
We do not have measured impact figures. When we have numbers worth publishing, we will publish them, including the unflattering ones.
Anyone in our position claiming a solved position on sustainability is selling something.
Where we are trying to improve
Better traceability information from our smaller makers, gathered in a way that does not add hours to their week.
Extending the surplus donation route so more of our brands use it.
Understanding packaging across the marketplace well enough to say something true about it.
Tell us where we are wrong
If you think something here is overstated, or you have asked a question we have not answered well, write to mail@brixbailey.com. We would rather be corrected than congratulated.
More reading on our resources page.