An American discount retail business, Ross Stores, Inc., commonly known by its company name “Ross Dress for Less”, is one of the United State’s biggest discount retailers, based in Dublin, California.
Ross was established in 1982, by Morris Ross. Ross now owns about 1523 stores in 37 states of the United States, including the District of Columbia and Guam, since 2019. He had a total equity of US $2.47 billion in 2015.
Ross is a high-end fashion brand that appeals to a young, urban demographic. Although it may not be the best brand for everyone, it has a large following among those who appreciate its contemporary style.
The quality of the clothing is good, and the prices are reasonable. Some people find the Ross line too trendy and want more traditional clothing brands, but others find it chic and stylish.
The brand is very versatile and that can be seen from their product line. Ross sells products in the following categories.
- Clothing
- Footwear
- Jewellery
- Cosmetics
- Toys
- Furniture & Bedding
- And other households products
While the quality of Ross Fashion products is generally high, some customers are unhappy with the company’s customer service.
However, the main focus of this article is on whether or not Ross is a fast-fashion brand, and whether it uses child labour and sells damaged products or is an ethical retailer?
Continue reading to find answers to these questions.
Is Ross A Fast Fashion Brand?
Fast fashion refers to clothing/fashion designs that come rapidly in stores from the ramps. Fast fashion brands are also relatively inexpensive because they do not use high-quality fabrics.
In order to follow up with the latest trends, the fast fashion industry uses cheap and dirty materials to manufacture their clothes. And by using these materials, fast fashion has become one of the most polluting industries on our planet.
As a result of this excessive use of poor clothing, we are now facing a lot of pollution, textile waste, and natural resources loss because of these fast fashion brands like Ross.
If you see Ross from the outside, you could say Ross is a fast-fashion retailer. And you’d be right because most of their clothing can be worn only in one season.
Ross brand’s clothing is cheap and irregular because they buy their stock from lower-end local shops. Manufacturers purchase products from retail stores and resell them at discounted prices during the same season.
Is Ross An Ethical Retailer?
No! Ross is not an ethical retailer, since it has broken the basic business code of conducts and defied their own policies and ethics.
The company has come under scrutiny for its ethical practices. Critics say that the company is complicit in exploitation of workers.
Since 2016, LA labourers employed by Ross have been struggling for justice.
They sent emails to Ross’s brand headquarters for their fair share of salaries but they refused to cooperate with them and even refused to repay the portions of their full salaries that mounted up to $800,000.
In response to human rights and sourcing, Ross claims to be practising ethical business standards at the base of their culture, which goes against their reputation for treating their electorates, employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders badly.
Additionally, they claim that all their suppliers make sure that all the relevant rules and regulations are followed during production. Once again, the authenticity of this claim is yet to be confirmed.
Does Ross Use Child Labor?
Even though Ross has received criticism for being an unethical brand by many users and employees, they have made every effort to portray its image as a brand that’s aloof from unethical practices.
One of their commitments to ethical business practices is that Ross will never purchase any item from any manufacturer who uses child, forced, slave, or jail labour.
It claims on its website that it doesn’t participate in, or indulge in any activities that involve child labor. Whether or not this claim is true remains a point of contention among critics.
Does Ross Sell Damaged Products?
Yes! Ross sells some damaged products sometimes. However, all such products are properly labelled and discounted if reported. For any defective product, Ross marks that item with an “irregular” label.
As they get a wide collection of apparel as a result of overstocking, overproduction and seasonal changes, some of their products may be defective.
You can also get a discount on irregular products, but you must buy any item before carefully checking whether or not it’s defective.
We hope that this article provided you with valuable information about the Ross brand, its policies and other features.
