The recent feminism campaign featuring “this is what a feminist looks like” t-shirt branding has come under fire this month due to claims of irresponsible sourcing of employees who are forced to work in ‘sweatshop conditions.’ The t-shirts have notably been worn by high profile celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Emma Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch and senior politicians Nick Clegg, Harriet Harman and Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Reportedly, the t-shirts, designed and produced by Whistles in collaboration with the ELLE December feminism issue, were made by women being paid only 62p an hour and sleep 16 to a room. Since the t-shirts aim is to promote equality, the issue of ill-considered labour procurement is all the more contentious. The Fawcett Society, the feminist group behind the campaign, has denied the allegations.

Responsible procurement in retail is a consistently hot topic with Whistles being only the latest in a long list of stores associated with poor labour conditions, including TopShop, Zara and Primark. Responsible procurement will be a main focus at the 2015 ProcureCon Indirect event on 21-13 April in Amsterdam. ProcureCon Indirect is the annual international meeting for Indirect Spend Leaders and their senior teams to identify new operating models, benchmark and network in one place at one time. Now in its 8th year, ProcureCon Indirect conference combines strategic experiences from CPOs and Global Heads of Indirect on proven value-adding procurement models you can implement today.

For more information on the conference, download the latest agenda here.