JD Sports

Apr 22, 2023

JD Sports is a British fashion retailer founded in 1981 in Bury, United Kingdom, by David Makin and John Wardle. The multinational clothing-retail company creates sports fashion for men, women, and children.

JD Sports makes clothing, accessories, shoes, swimwear, eyewear, watches, and jewelry. The British investment company, Pentland Group, owns JD Sports and many other brands, like Speedo, Berghaus, Endura, Ellesse, Mitre, Red or Dead, SeaVees, and more.

Pentland Group is the majority shareholder of JD Sports, which operates about 3,400 stores across 32 territories, with a strong presence in the UK, Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific.

JD Sports is at the crossroads of sport and fashion and encourages self-expression. It aims to inspire the emerging generation of globally-minded consumers through a connection to the universal culture of sport, music, and fashion.

JD Sports helps millions of consumers live positive, active, sustainable lifestyles. It creates more sustainable products that support emotional and physical well-being.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

Rating FAQ

Category: Clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, jewelry

For: Women, men, children

Type: Basics, denim, dresses, knitwear, activewear, swimwear, loungewear, underwear, maternity, sneakers, boots, flats, sandals

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Price: $$

Sizes: XS-2XL, 6-18 (US), 8-20 (UK), 38-48 (EU), 8-20 (AU)

Fabrics: Cotton, lyocell, viscose, acetate, polyester, nylon, spandex, silicone, neoprene, polyurethane, rubber, wool, leather, down

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: Yes

Recycling: Yes

Producing countries: Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Italy, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea, UK, Vietnam

Certifications: BCI, GRS, FSC, SMETA, BSCI, SA8000

Sustainability Practices

JD Sports takes wide-ranging measures toward sustainability to improve its products' social and environmental impact. It focuses on bringing communities together and supporting causes that matter to consumers.

JD Sports recognizes the role businesses play in meaningfully reducing inequalities and tackling climate change. It runs positive business activities to help people and the planet through sustainability initiatives and charitable actions.

JD Sports use a tiny proportion of organic fabrics such as organic cotton. It also uses recycled materials such as recycled polyester and regenerated nylon.

Most of the fabrics it uses are either natural without relevant certifications, such as regular cotton, or synthetic petroleum-based fibers such as polyester, nylon, and more.

JD Sports publishes a list of all its manufacturers and some processing facilities on its corporate website, jdplc.com. It works with production partners committed to building a fair, ethical, and transparent supply chain.

The 2022 Fashion Transparency Index gave JD Sports a score of 23% based on how much the group discloses about its social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts.

JD Sports manufactures its clothes in Turkey and many other East Asian countries where human rights and labor law violations still happen every day.

The clothing retailer does show some labor certification standards that could ensure good working conditions, decent living wages, health, safety, and other human rights for workers in its supply chain.

JD Sports has a code of conduct that applies to all its suppliers and subcontractors based on the regulations set by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

JD Sports assesses compliance with its Code of Conduct through informal visits or third-party audits with or without notice carried out by independent auditing bodies of international standing.

JD Sports doesn't use exotic animal skin, hair, fur, or angora. But it uses leather, wool, and down feathers to manufacture many of its clothing pieces.

These animal-derived materials are cruel and unethical. They also harm the environment by producing greenhouse gases and waste. More sustainable alternatives exist.

Sustainability Goals

JD Sports has committed to reducing the environmental impact of its products. It will achieve net zero by 2032 through science-based carbon emission reductions and off-setting initiatives.

JD Sports plans to produce 100% of its packaging with more sustainable materials by 2024. It will increase recycled contents across all plastics used and minimize the amount of material used.

Buy Here

Discover JD Sports' sustainable collections at JDSports.com.

Reviews And Experiences With JD Sports

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What We're Up Against

Multinational corporations overproducing cheap products in the poorest countries.
Huge factories with sweatshop-like conditions underpaying workers.
Media conglomerates promoting unethical, unsustainable products.
Bad actors encouraging overconsumption through oblivious behavior.
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