Clothing retail
ARJ Group Holdings is the parent entity of several subsidiary companies, including Retail Holdings, Sportsgirl, Sussan 100, Suzanne Grae and the Sussan Corporation in New Zealand. The company operates over 500 stores around Australia. Owned by Naomi Milgrom, one of Australia's richest women.
Company Assessment
(Last updated Nov 2024)
Praise
Criticism
Information
ARJ Group Holdings Pty Ltd
Praise
Criticism
Information
Certified B Corp with score of 84.7
Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The B Impact Assessment measures a company's practices and outcomes in five areas: governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers. This company has a B Impact Score of 84.7 and has held B Corp Certification since June 2024. The median score for businesses is 50.9, with a score of 80 required for B Corp Certification.
Source: B Lab
(2024)
3/5 for packaging performance
This company received a packaging performance level of 3 (Advanced) in its 2024 APCO Annual Report. Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a not-for-profit organisation leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia. Each year, APCO Members are required to submit an APCO Annual Report and Action Plan, which includes an overall performance level from 1 (Getting Started) to 5 (Beyond Best Practice).
Source: APCO
(2024)
International Accord signatory
This company is a signatory to the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile & Garment Industry. The International Accord was established in 2021 as the successor to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which was established in 2013 in the wake of the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,000 workers and seriously injured thousands more. Company signatories to the International Accord commit to: Disclosing all factories producing for them in countries with International Accord programs; Ensuring all listed factories participate in the inspection, remediation, and safety training programs; Supporting factories to ensure remediation is financially feasible; Contributing to the operational costs of International Accord programs.
Source: International Accord
(2023)
No COVID Fashion Commitments
In 2020 Baptist World Aid Australia released The COVID Fashion Report, a special edition of their Ethical Fashion Report. The report is framed around six COVID Fashion Commitments that ask companies to demonstrate the steps and measures they are taking to protect and support the most vulnerable workers in their supply chains. This company showed no evidence of actions that it covered any of the COVID Fashion Commitments.
2/5 on Good On You
This company owns brands rated 'Not good enough' by Good On You, whose rating system considers the most important social and environmental issues facing the fashion industry to assess a brand's impact on people, the planet and animals.
Source: Good On You
(2022)
Fined by court - bullying and harassment
This company was ordered by a Supreme Court judge to pay more that $235,000 in damages to an employee subjected to bullying after returning from maternity leave. The judge said that the company failed to comply with its own bullying and harassment policy, and was scathing when the complainant was further not treated seriously or impartially and confidentiality was not respected.
Source: news article
(2014)
Angora ban
This company has taken angora items off the shelves and promised not to use angora again, following a PETA campaign launched in Dec 2013 which revealed the cruelty inflicted on angora rabbits in Chinese factory farms, where 90% of the world's angora is produced.
Source: PETA
(2015)
Ethical sourcing claims
This company has social responsibility claims on its website under the headings ethical sourcing, code of conduct and social responsibility (claims include no animal testing, uzbek cotton, angora fur or azo dyes)
Source: company website
(2020)
Community support
Sussan works with the Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) with support and fundraising. This helps the BCNA programs and services to meet ongoing needs of patients, survivors and their families. With customer support, they have raised over $2.4 million since 2006.
Source: company website
(2020)
39/100 in Ethical Fashion Report
Baptist World Aid Australia's '2024 Ethical Fashion Report' assessed 120 companies on their efforts to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policy & governance, tracing & risk, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental sustainability. This company received a score of 39/100. The average score was 31.3 and the highest score was 90.
No tax paid in 2019-20
According to data released by the Australian Tax Office in Jan 2022, this company was one of many local and foreign-based companies that paid no tax in Australia in 2019-20. Please note however that companies pay income tax on profits, not revenue (total income). While some companies use tax havens and loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax in Australia, other companies that paid no tax have perfectly legitimate reasons.
Source: ATO
(2022)
Company Details
Type:
Private company
Revenue:
473 million AUD
(2018)
Employees:
3,690
(2018)
Contact Details
Address:
11 Palmer Pde, Cremourne, VIC, 3121, Australia
Phone:
03 9413 2000
Website: