Built on Values that have stood the test of time

John Bull Footwear is part of the Blundstone Group of companies which operate according to a set of values that ensure legal, ethical and responsible policies and practices are adopted throughout the organisation at all times.

Our stated values are:

FAMILY - Our people are the driving force of our business. We care for, respect and value the diverse group who are a part of our family;

CUSTOMER - Our mission is to listen to, understand and deliver on the needs, wants and expectations of our consumers and our customers;

COMMUNITY - We are proud to be an active, positive and contributing member of our communities, locally and around the globe, today and for future generations;

DESIGN - We are committed to designing innovative, quality, honest products, services and experiences that are fit for purpose;

INTEGRITY - We always seek to do the right thing: to behave ethically; to act with integrity; and to minimise our impact on the environment.

The Blundstone Group fully supports and complies with the industry code of practice designed to prevent exploitation of home-based labour.

The Group also ensures that neither we nor our suppliers exploit adult or child labour.

Environmental Standards

John Bull’s history is closely linked with the social and industrial development of our island state from colonial times. We are conscious of our heritage and our responsibility to our environment and community.

New Zealand  is internationally renowned for the high quality of its natural environment, standard of air and water quality. These assets are of intrinsic value to us, and underpin our future quality of life.

John Bull pursues development policies which are evaluated with reference to environmental considerations. We maximise our use of recycled and recyclable materials in our manufacture and packaging. We minimise the use of raw material, chemicals and fossil fuels.

We conform, and where possible exceed, all local government regulations and encourage our suppliers to do likewise.

Ethical Employment

John Bull is committed to ensuring that the people making our product are employed ethically and are free from exploitation. At a local level, this means that employment standards within our suppliers exceed the minimum government-prescribed standards in the country of operation.

John Bull takes a proactive approach to satisfying itself that the standard is maintained. This is achieved through a variety of means:

• the maintenance of contracts with our suppliers that require third-party accreditation and an associated audit regime in regard to employment standards;
• the contracts also stipulate that employees must be free to collectivise, and that the collective be able to represent the employees in negotiations in regard to employment conditions (in all cases, in practice this involves employees being union members);
• access to the reports provided to our suppliers by the third-party standards accreditation agencies (generally this will be government departments of labour or internationally renowned commercial specialists in the field) and to follow-up reports regarding any issues raised in the audit process;
• an on-site Blundstone-employed presence that ensures that work undertaken on our behalf is completed in the establishment covered by the independent auditing regime;
• the on-site presence is also able to view the manner in which employees are treated by their employer at close hand;
• the understanding that, in all cases, people are employed in a market that values their skills, resulting in the opportunity to find employment elsewhere in the event that they were dissatisfied with the employment being provided by our suppliers.

Our Commitment and Compliance – Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018

Since inception, our parent company Blundstone Australia Pty Ltd has had a commitment and responsibility to the community which has remained unchanged. The difference is that our community now reaches the furthest points of the globe. We are grateful to those across the world that work with us to produce our quality products and will ensure that our commitment to doing the right thing extends to our direct and indirect employees and partners.

We believe it is essential to document, evaluate and transparently report our standards and continuous improvement, and that of our value chain partners, to demonstrate our focus to growing our business in a responsible way.

View our statement which sets out our commitment and outlines the steps we have taken to ensure compliance with the Australian Modern Slavery Act.