Mutual, partial, and one-sided recognition of social compliance programs consolidates efforts across standards and codes, and can reduce the amount of resources required for their implementation. SAI actively seeks opportunities to align the SA8000 certification with systems provided by other organizations.
SA8000 Recognized By Brands
SAI works closely with several brands that have decided to accept the SA8000® Standard as part of their social compliance program. These companies have found several benefits in recognizing SA8000 in lieu of conducting their own audits.
Some of the advantages include:
- SAI’s regular revisions ensure the Standard’s continued relevance in the face of new and emerging social and human rights issues.
- The Standard emphasizes strong management systems that encourage facilities to continuously measure their social performance and improvement.
- Recognizing the Standard can result in significant savings in audit costs and in an opportunity to allocate resources more effectively to those facilities that need more support.
- The accredited SA8000 certification system provides an additional, independent layer of oversight to assure all SA8000 audits are conducted in a fair, reliable, and consistent manner.
Brands that recognize SA8000
The following is a list of brands and retailers that accept SA8000 (in part or in whole) in lieu of their own social compliance program. If you know of a brand that accepts SA8000 that is not included on this list, or if you notice an error on the list, please contact sa8000@sa-intl.org.
- Walmart
- Lidl
- The Walt Disney Company
- Gucci
- Woolworths
- Amazon
- Coop Italia
- Home Depot
- Eileen Fisher
- Aldi
- Estee Lauder
- El Corte Ingles
- Li & Fung
SA8000 Recognized By Governments
ISEAL Alliance: Governmental Use of Voluntary Standards Case Study 10: Tuscany Region (Italy) and the SA8000 Standard for Social Accountability (2008)
Business Social Compliance Initiative
The Foreign Trade Association’s Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) recognizes the SA8000® Standard as a credible system for BSCI participants to detect and monitor labor conditions in their supply chains. BSCI participants sourcing from organizations that are SA8000-certified may include this information in the BSCI IT Platform to avoid audit duplication.
Green Button 2.0
The Green Button (Grüner Knopf) is a government-run certification label for sustainable textiles and is awarded on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It provides consumers as well as public and private procurement agencies with guidance when purchasing textiles. It recognizes certification labels, under certain social and ecological criteria, which verify that textile products are produced by companies that operate responsibly.
SA8000 is recognized under the manufacturing scope for Green Button 2.0. by Green Button scheme owner, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), after meeting content requirements of the Green Button Standard, as well as eligibility and credibility requirements. Find more information here.
