Burton Assessment for Accreditation - Fair Labor Association

The FLA Board of Directors voted in February 2020 to accredit the social compliance program of Burton, a Vermont-based, privately held, snowboarding and mountain lifestyle company founded in 1977.

Accreditation by the FLA recognizes that Burton has systems in place to identify and remediate unfair labor practices in its global supply chain. Burton manufactures products in 72 contract factories in 10 countries and one owned prototyping facility in the United States.

Protecting the people who build our products has been important to us from the beginning when our founder and my late husband Jake Burton was hand-shaping snowboards in his barn in Vermont in the late 70s. Now, as a global brand, we remain committed to holding our suppliers to the highest standards for fair labor practices and the ethical treatment of their workers. It is especially critical during this time of COVID-19 and economic distress to continue to protect workers’ rights throughout the world. We are honored to earn FLA accreditation and will continue to dedicate ourselves to improving labor practices in our supply chain.

Donna Carpenter, chair of the Burton Board

The FLA accreditation report is the result of a lengthy review of a company’s social compliance program against international labor standards. The accreditation report on Burton’s program noted the following:

Public promise: Burton publishes information about sustainability on its website, including a public list of its finished goods suppliers.

Organizational commitment: Burton makes sustainability a high priority for the company with a team dedicated to sustainability, regular inter-departmental meetings on compliance matters, and a reporting structure that connects to company leadership.

Responsible purchasing practices: Burton has developed strong relationships with its contract facilities and implemented purchasing practices that are in line with the FLA’s Principles of Fair Labor & Responsible Purchasing Practices.

Extensive training: Burton provides training across its supply chain, including training on union engagement for the sustainability team, on its responsible purchasing practices policy for relevant staff, on workplace standards for company staff and supplier managers, and labor violation remediation for factory management.

Comprehensive monitoring: Burton maintains a program for prospective and active suppliers that includes strong rating systems based on audit results.