What we know, and what we have not checked.

Our structure and supply chain

Vessim is an early-stage company based in Ontario, Canada. It owns no manufacturing. Every physical product is made to order by an independent print partner and shipped directly by them; those partners operate in 10 countries, listed on the partners page.

Our direct supply chain is therefore short — a fulfilment network and the carriers behind it. The supply chain behind that network is not short: blank garments, ceramics and electronics have their own upstream, and that is where the real risk in this category sits.

Where the risk actually is

Naming it plainly, because a statement that describes the risk as “low” across the board is not describing anything:

• Cotton. The highest-risk input in printed apparel, and the one with documented forced-labour exposure in parts of the global supply.
• Garment assembly. Tier-two and tier-three factories that a print partner buys blanks from, several steps removed from any contract we hold.
• Electronics and accessories. Components with long, opaque upstreams.
• Logistics. Lower risk, but not zero, particularly in freight and last-mile subcontracting.

What we require

Every partner we work with is required to confirm, as a condition of taking our orders, that:

• No forced, bonded, indentured or prison labour is used in making our products.
• No person under the legal minimum working age, and in no case under 15, is employed on them.
• Wages meet the legal minimum where the work is done and are paid directly to the worker.
• Workers are free to leave employment on reasonable notice and hold their own identity documents.
• The same obligations are passed down to their own suppliers.

A credible report of a breach ends the relationship, and we would rather lose the catalogue coverage than keep it.

What we have not done

This is the section most statements of this kind omit, and it is the only part that tells you anything.

• We have commissioned no independent audits of any facility. Not one.
• We have not traced raw materials to source. We do not know which cotton is in which blank.
• We have not visited a partner facility.
• We rely on contractual assurance and on the fulfilment partner’s own programme, which is a weaker instrument than an audit and should be read as such.

An early-stage company claiming a verified supply chain would be claiming something it cannot have. We would rather write this paragraph than imply an assurance that does not exist.

What would change it

Volume. Audits, traceability and site visits cost money per facility and are only meaningful at a scale that gives a supplier a reason to answer. The honest sequence is: establish volume, concentrate it on fewer facilities, then audit those. When the first audit happens, its date and its findings — not a summary of them — will appear on this page.

Reporting a concern

If you have information about labour conditions in any facility making Vessim products, write to legal@makevessim.com. We will not require you to identify yourself, we will not share a report with the facility it concerns without your agreement, and we will tell you what we did about it.