At Lyst Ltd (“Lyst”), we are committed to making a positive impact in the world of fashion. As a global shopping platform, we connect over 190 million fashion buyers with 17 thousand brands from all over the world and we take this responsibility seriously. Our vision is for a better, brighter and healthier future for fashion. Our mission is to help fashion shoppers make better choices and help fashion partners find better audiences.
We understand that our role extends beyond facilitating transactions. We are part of a global community and we have a responsibility to ensure that our operations and supply chains are free from modern slavery and human trafficking. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships. We implement and seek to enforce effective systems and controls with an aim of ensuring that modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains.
This Modern Slavery Statement reflects our commitment to preventing modern slavery in our operations and supply chains and it sets out the actions we have taken during the financial year ending 31 March 2023.
We are proud of the steps we have taken, and we remain committed to continually improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking.
Lyst was founded in 2010 and is registered in the UK. We operate from headquarters in London with over 150 employees in order to deliver a personalised shopping experience on our web and app platforms to customers all over the world. Lyst is committed to conducting its business fairly, honestly and openly; ensuring that there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to addressing modern slavery throughout our supply chains. We strive to maintain high ethical standards across all aspects of our operations and expect the same from our partners, suppliers and contractors.
We work with over 17 thousand brands whom we refer to as our partners. These partners are located in countries across the globe, but mainly in the USA, UK and Europe. The main service we provide to our partners is through our online fashion shopping platform, facilitating the sale of fashion products by our partners on our platform to customers.
Lyst does not design, manufacture, control pricing, store or ship goods itself; operating solely online to facilitate the sale of goods. However, we are conscious of the fashion industry context in which we operate and our responsibilities within our supply chains regarding preventing slavery and human trafficking. We recognise that our supply chains can be complex and involve various tiers, which increases the risk of modern slavery practices.
We have numerous suppliers who support the running of our business including, but not limited to, marketing, office management, professional services and technology services who support our systems, platforms and business functionality.
To combat modern slavery effectively, we have implemented the following measures:
1. Policies
We have developed a comprehensive Modern Slavery Policy that sets out our commitment to eradicating modern slavery. This policy applies to all employees and contractors associated with Lyst.
We also have policies in place to ensure that we meet our responsibilities to respect and protect human rights, including discrimination and human rights; promoting diversity and inclusion; access to grievance remedies; access to and communication of information and data; safety, security and wellbeing; health and safety and whistleblowing, all of which are easily accessible for our employees to view in our employee handbook.
In particular, our recruitment approach is designed to ensure compliance with UK employment law and encourages staff to report any concerns related to the activities of the organisation or its supply chain. Our talent team manages all recruitment activities and only uses reputable employment agencies and job boards to source candidates.
When engaging with new partners we also ensure that they are compliant with all applicable laws and regulations, including the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
2. Risk assessment
For our employees, our in-house people team ensures that all individuals directly employed by Lyst have the correct legal right to work in the UK and that the necessary legal documentation is collected on their first day of employment. The people team also carry out regular checks throughout the year to ensure that all right-to-work documentation is up to date. The payroll team then ensures that these details stay up to date during employment, for example addresses and bank account details. In this regard, we consider the risk of modern slavery to be low risk.
We conduct risk assessments to identify areas of potential vulnerability to modern slavery within our operations and supply chains. This assessment includes determining key suppliers for review by evaluating impact and industry sectors. We note that all our key suppliers have modern slavery commitments, thereby reducing the risk of modern slavery breaches within our supply chain.
We are committed to identifying and addressing any risks of modern slavery in our supply chains and include as a part of our risk management partner supply chain visibility in regards to modern slavery. When onboarding new partners to Lyst’s platform we seek to understand their assessment of the impact of modern slavery on their own supply chain in order to better inform any impact on Lyst’s supply chain.
3. Supplier engagement
We believe there is more to be done in regards to both supplier and partner engagement. We want to engage with our key partners and suppliers to raise awareness of modern slavery risks and our expectations regarding compliance. We can achieve this through communicating our Modern Slavery Policy to our key partners and suppliers and requesting them to adhere to the same principles.
4. Supplier due diligence
We conduct due diligence on key new and existing suppliers to ensure they meet our ethical standards. This includes assessing their policies, procedures and controls to prevent modern slavery. The same is true of new partners. We reserve the right to terminate relationships with stakeholders who do not meet our requirements.
5. Employee awareness and training
Our Modern Slavery Policy is easily accessible to all employees directly employed by Lyst. All new starters must confirm they have read and understood the content of our employee handbook, which includes our modern slavery policy. We encourage a culture of transparency and accountability throughout the organisation, which we enable through a whistleblowing policy, providing a mechanism for employees to report any suspicious activity or concerns.
Lyst is committed to continuously monitoring and evaluating our efforts to combat modern slavery. We regularly review our policies, procedures and due diligence processes to ensure their effectiveness. We collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including expert sustainability consultants, to share best practices and promote a collective response to eradicating modern slavery.
We are dedicated to making continual improvements in our efforts to combat modern slavery. In the coming years, we will:
We understand our legal requirements and therefore for the year ahead we have engaged with experts to start to implement a fit for purpose responsible sourcing system, relevant to Lyst’s activities. This will enable us to share information with both partners and customers, aiming to influence the sustainable choices they can make.
Lyst is fully committed to eradicating modern slavery in all its forms. We will remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure that our operations, supply chains and business relationships are free from any form of slavery or human trafficking. By working collaboratively with our stakeholders, we can make a positive impact and contribute to the global fight against modern slavery.
This statement has been approved on behalf of the Board of Directors of Lyst Ltd.