labor & human rights
As Fanatics grows, our dedication to maintaining fair, respectful workplaces—both in our own facilities and throughout our global supply chain—remains steadfast. We uphold rigorous labor and human rights standards as a core part of our commitment to ethical business practices, ensuring accountability, transparency, and respect for all workers wherever we operate.
Our Approach
Fanatics’ labor and human rights programs are led by our Fanatics Commerce division, which manages a global supply chain for licensed apparel and hard goods. As of December 31, 2024, we work with 233 Tier 1 global cut, sew, and embellishment contract factories, along with several U.S.-based owned facilities. 135 of these facilities are used by Fanatics Brands and approximately 100 are used by our Mitchell & Ness, Wincraft, Fexpro and Japan businesses.
Our in-depth programs are guided by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing. Fanatics Brands is a fully accredited participating company in the FLA, and our Mitchell & Ness, WinCraft, Fexpro, and Topps businesses are affiliated with the FLA through their collegiate partnerships.
As part of our FLA accreditation, we extensively audit working conditions at our supplier facilities to ensure compliance with our standards and to drive improvements. Our Director of Labor and Human Rights also serves on the FLA’s Manufacturing Committee, helping to shape tools to ensure effective compliance monitoring.
For more information on Fanatics’ approach to labor and human rights, please see our Workplace Code of Conduct, the FLA evaluation of our human rights program and other commitments we have made: [FLA Accreditation Report] | [Statement on Forced Labor & Modern Slavery] | [Fair Compensation Statement]
SUPPLIER SELECTION & EVALUATION
Tier 1 (cut, sew and embellishment) suppliers must pass a detailed labor risk assessment by third-party auditors trained in our Workplace Code of Conduct. These detailed audits include, among many other things, extensive document reviews, confidential employee interviews, and onsite inspections.
Suppliers are required to commit to our standards and undergo ongoing evaluations. We monitor their performance and sustainability efforts throughout the relationship. In 2024, we conducted 288 audits and 74 in-person facility visits focused on compliance and capacity building.
When violations of our Workplace Code of Conduct occur, suppliers must address root causes through corrective action plans that both resolve issues and prevent recurrence. While remediation is our committed goal, we will exit facilities that fail to improve or are found to have “zero-tolerance” issues such as child or forced labor, sexual or physical abuse of workers, or serious health and safety issues – in particular fire safety and building structural integrity.
We’ve learned that strong supplier relationships—built through consistent communication and on-site visits—lead to impactful changes, such as safer workplaces, better worker-manager engagement and collaboration, and improved recruiting practices. We have expanded our audit programming to include Mitchell & Ness, WinCraft, Fanatics Japan, and Fexpro, and are currently in the process of also expanding this work to the Collectibles business.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Recognizing that we can’t tackle these difficult issues alone, we work closely with a wide range of external stakeholders on everything from facility audits to living wage analysis to recruitment standards and combatting forced labor in our supply chain. For an example of how we’re working alongside factories and labor organizations in Indonesia to empower workers and promote gender equity, click here.
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fair labor association
Fully accredited Participating Company
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ILO BETTER WORK
Buyer Partner
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ANKER RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Living Wage Corporate Sponsor
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transparency pledge coalition
Signatory
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international accord
Signatory
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commitment to responsible recruitment
Signatory
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social & labor convergence program
Signatory
LOOKING AHEAD
We are committed to further strengthening labor protections across our supply chain by:
Shifting to a more targeted, risk-based approach to auditing and capacity building.
Enhancing our vendor scorecard to track performance over time and to reward top performers based on business and sustainability metrics.
Addressing forced labor risks deeper in the supply chain infrastructure.