FOCUS ON Matrix APA Ethics in action


Onboard hospitality suppliers need to wise up fast to the social and ethical credentials of their products Matrix APA’s managing director, Charlie Bradshaw tells Julie Baxter.


the-scenes business in the onboard hospitality industry for over a decade and that has given it some interesting insights. Matrix started out producing amenities


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for the retail and hospitality industries but has been in the onboard sector for the last 10 years supplying the likes of Watermark, Buzz and a range of other big name suppliers with a range of 35 brands which it manufactures under license in China. Branded toiletries such as REN, Aromatherapy Associates, This Works, Penhaligon and Liberty, and bag brands like Dunhill and Smythson. Now however, it has struck its first ever deal direct with an airline – to supply a leading international carrier with its new First /Business toiletry product, which will be unveiled later this year. This direct relationship with a top-end flag carrier has turned the spotlight onto some big issues for Matrix md Charlie Bradshaw which he anticipates will have implications for all. Bradshaw says: “Retailers we work with


have been increasingly worried about the social and ethical credentials of their suppliers for some time. They have seen the damaging publicity of factory collapses, as happened in Bangladesh, or documentaries showing child labour and have begun to actively engage with the issues. “Airlines however are running about five years


Matrix APA's managing director Charlie Bradshaw (right) says the company is the first amenity supplier to concern itself with social and ethical credentials


ou may not have heard of Matrix APA but you probably have heard of its products. It’s been a behind-


behind retail in this regard. This new contract is the first we’ve heard of wherein the airline showed an active interest in how and where their amenity products are manufactured and the conditions in the factories and of the workers. This, I believe, will become the norm in coming years.” Bradshaw hopes his company’s track


record in this regard will allow it to be a leader in the field. Its links with retailing – working for the likes of Marks & Spencer, Top Shop and John Lewis – means it has already invested heavily in good practice in its factories and is an active member of the Ethical Trading Initiative, a non-governmental organisation pushing up standards and overseeing ethical audits.


Bradshaw adds: “We are one of the few amenity suppliers that know what these issues are all about. We have invested £140,000 in ethical and social policies in the past year, creating improvement plans on the ground and working to mentor and coach the factory management to ensure they are implemented. Onboard product suppliers need to wake up to the issues fast because pretty soon a lack of social or ethical credentials will become a bar to airlines taking your products.” Matrix has found its manufacturers


welcomed the drive to improve standards. Initiatives to improve worker conditions quickly improved efficiencies. Bradshaw says: “Retailers have led the push to improvement and now all share very detailed audits on social and ethical manufacturing through an organisation called SEDEX. It is only a matter of time before the onboard industry has to face and address these issues." matrixapa.com


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