Chilly’s Anti-Modern Slavery Statement outlines the approach we have taken (and continue to take) to prevent slavery and human trafficking within our supply chain during our 2024/25 financial year, and what we are planning to do in our financial year 2025/26.

While Chilly’s is not legally obligated to publish a Modern Slavery Statement, we believe it is an important statement that reflects on what we have done in the previous year, and to outline our ambitions for our future approach. 

We recognise that no supply chain is without risk of modern slavery, and it is our responsibility to ensure that we understand these risks and work in partnership with our suppliers and other stakeholders to identify and mitigate them. We are committed to preventing acts of modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within Chilly’s business and supply chain.

Our statement includes six areas outlined by the legislation and takes into account guidance issued by the Home Office.

Organisation structure and supply chains

Chilly’s is a multi-channel consumer product business incorporated in England and Wales with a head office registered in London. We employ around 50 people in the UK. 

Chilly's mission is to accelerate the adoption and everyday use of reusable products. We aim to do this through creating products for an active urban lifestyle, with the perfect balance of distinctive style and unrivalled performance.

We have millions of customers around the world who shop directly with us or through other distribution channels. Chilly’s primarily operates as a multi-channel consumer product business worldwide.

To produce our reusable water bottles, cups, food pots and related products, we work with a range of suppliers. The products we sell are sourced globally from the UK, Europe and China. Producing our products for resale, we have 6 tier 1 suppliers and 26 tier 2 suppliers. There are additional tier 3 and 4 suppliers in our extended supply chain, but we are currently focusing our efforts on our tier 1 and 2.

Among our 6 tier 1 and 26 tier 2 suppliers, 2 tier 1 and 3 tier 2 suppliers are considered strategically significant. This is due to their role in the production and assembly of our core products.

• Supplier 1 is responsible for manufacturing the metal components of our products, including processes such as powder coating and pattern printing. They also produce metal-capped lids and assemble our core products using lids sourced from other suppliers.

• Supplier 2 does not manufacture directly for Chilly’s but instead manages three key tier 2 suppliers who produce the main components of our Series 2 range. As a result, our focus with this tier 1 supplier is on engaging and monitoring the practices of their tier 2 partners, who are included in the data analysis that follows.

Image 1: Chilly’s key suppliers in FY 2024/25

We also source goods and services not for resale (GNFR) in the UK, Europe and beyond.

Policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking

Chilly’s has the following policies relating to social standards within our supply chain, including anti-modern slavery standards. Chilly’s is also updating the following for the 2025/26 financial year.

Chilly’s Supplier Code of Conduct

It outlines the social standards that we require our suppliers who make our products to adhere to. Our Code includes standards related to working conditions, freedom of association, working hours and health and safety. This is aligned with the ETI Base Code, an internationally recognised code of labour practice, founded on the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Ethical Trade & Human Rights Policy

Our Ethical Trade & Human Rights Policy outlines our baseline requirements and links back to our Code of Conduct. It also includes how we address non-conformities and corrective action plans.

Supplier Assessment Questionnaire

To understand how our suppliers who produce Chilly’s products are meeting our standards outlined in our Code of Conduct, we ask them to complete a supplier assessment questionnaire. The questions align directly with the standards within our Code of Conduct, enabling us to highlight any non-conformities or areas for improvement. As members of Sedex, we would like to move this onto Sedex’s online platform, which will analyse the results and identify risks and trends within our suppliers.

Our due diligence processes & risk assessment and management

Being an online e-commerce and wholesale company, Chilly’s outsources a number of functions for both goods and services. We recognise that our most significant human rights and modern slavery risks are in our supply chain.

As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our supply chains, we undertake due diligence in relation to our Code of Conduct and general anti-modern slavery standards. This is done through two means: our Sedex platform and our offline Supplier Assessment Questionnaire. 

Supplier Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)
To understand how our suppliers who produce Chilly’s products are meeting our standards outlined in our Code of Conduct, we ask them to complete a supplier assessment questionnaire. The questions align directly to the standards within our Code of Conduct, enabling us to highlight any non-conformities or areas for improvement.

Chilly’s SAQ has been used throughout 2024/25 to understand the performance of our supply chain. As members of Sedex, we will be moving away from our own SAQ, instead utilising Sedex’s SAQ. The platform will enable us to analyse the results and identify risks and trends within our suppliers.

Sedex
Sedex is a key part of how we monitor modern slavery risks in our current supply chain, as well as identifying risks based on location and sector when sourcing with new suppliers.

For our current suppliers: 
In 2023, Chilly’s became a member of Sedex, a data platform for supply chain assessment which enables us to effectively monitor our suppliers' social and environmental practices, including modern slavery risks. Through the platform, our suppliers can share information relating to their practices through self-assessment questionnaires and SMETA audits, and the data is stored, analysed, and reported on through the platform. This provides us with a clear overview of our suppliers' sustainability practices, analyses risks and identifies trends.

Key Suppliers:
Chilly’s works closely with our key suppliers, and these are the ones where we focus most of our efforts, as they produce the majority of our products. Below is an overview of our key suppliers on Sedex and the status of their Self Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) and audits.

Chilly’s requires our key suppliers to undertake and share a SMETA audit. SMETA is the audit methodology defined by Sedex, providing a process that is in line with international standards of best practice. 

A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is produced as part of the SMETA audit. This outlines where non-conformities have occurred and identifies how the supplier can rectify this and a date to achieve this by. Chilly’s uses the CAP and audit report to track performance and progress. 

Below are the audit findings from the latest audits for our key suppliers:

All product suppliers:

Although we focus on our Key Tier 1 and 2 suppliers, our target for 2024/25 was to Onboard 100% of tier 1 and tier 2 product suppliers onto Sedex by the end of 2024. We achieved 100% onboarding for Tier 1. However, we faced challenges with our Tier 2 suppliers, onboarding 8% of our Tier 2 product suppliers. Many tier 2 product suppliers are unfamiliar with these types of reporting expectations and are not being asked for this information by other brands, making engagement more difficult. It’s become clear that this target requires a more flexible, phased approach.

In response, we are shifting our strategy. Rather than pushing for full Sedex onboarding at once, we’re starting with lighter-touch assessments with our tier 2 product suppliers. Initially, we are prioritising working with our key Tier 1 product supplier, who will support with engaging their suppliers (our Tier 2). 

We also have established a target for all Tier 1 product suppliers to complete the Environmental Self-Assessment Questionnaire (ESAQ) on Sedex by June 2026.

The table below provides an overview of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers of goods for resale that are registered on Sedex. It includes the following key indicators:

• Number of Suppliers – Total number of resale suppliers in each tier.
  

• Percentage of Suppliers Linked on Sedex – The proportion of suppliers in each tier that are active on Sedex and have connected their accounts with ours.
  

• Percentage of Suppliers with Non-Active Sedex Membership – Suppliers whose Sedex memberships have expired. We expect renewals to occur shortly, but we are noting these cases for transparency. When a supplier’s profile is not active, we are unable to see live information regarding their social performance.
  

• Percentage Completed SAQ (Self-Assessment Questionnaire) – Indicates the percentage of suppliers that have completed their SAQ, which provides information on social impact and performance. Please note that once a membership expires, SAQ and audit data are no longer visible on the platform. We have stored this information offline, but updates cannot be viewed until memberships are renewed.
  

• Has SMETA Audit Within Last 2 Years – Reflects whether a supplier has undergone a SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) within the past two years. For suppliers with expired memberships, audit reports are retained offline.

• Number of Suppliers No Longer Active Since 2023/24 – Refers to suppliers we previously worked with and may have been connected to on Sedex but are no longer in our active supply base. The reasons for discontinuation are provided in the final column.

For our future suppliers:
We use the Sedex risk assessment that looks at key social and environmental risks when sourcing from a specific region and sector. The assessment provides the level of risk. We use the highest risk scores to influence the questions that we ask suppliers to see if and how they mitigate the risks identified.

Key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of the steps being taken

Chilly’s is using the Sedex platform to understand the performance of our suppliers. At the moment, we have not set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of how we’re approaching modern slavery. However, in 2025/26, Chilly’s will be finalising its procedure for reviewing audits and CAPs and creating triggers so that action is taken by Chilly’s to work with the supplier to implement improvements. 

As part of this, we will also create KPIs for measuring the effectiveness of our approach. This will likely include using key data from Sedex, including the “Combined Risk Score” of suppliers/production sites. Sedex calculates this score by aggregating the “Inherent Risk” (general risk of sector and location) and the “Site Characteristics” which reflect the procedures the site has in place and audit results that may mitigate and lower the “Inherent Risks”.

Training on modern slavery and trafficking

In August 2024, Chilly’s provided general sustainability training to its customer service team. This included elements on supply chain and how we work with our suppliers and utilise Sedex. As part of a breakout task, the team created an answer to “How does Chilly's ensure ethical labour practices?”, which trained them how to talk about supply chain and social risks.

In October 2024, Chilly’s ran training focused on modern slavery and trafficking at the weekly whole team company meeting. Chilly’s will run further training in 2025/26 on modern slavery and trafficking. 

Read our historic Modern Slavery Statement here