As a leading specialty retailer, rue21 excels at fashion, fun and value. Our commitment to making you look good extends to doing good, often behind the scenes…before merchandise even arrives in stores.
Diversity
rue21 embraces diversity in the workplace. rue21 is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and ensuring that associates and potential associates are evaluated on the basis of qualifications and ability, without regard to sex, age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, citizenship, gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Philanthropy
rue21 strives to make a positive impact on the lives of our employees and customers in the communities where they live, work, shop & play, as well as in the interests that they care about and support.
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness month, rue21 sponsored a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in its stores called "Big or Small, Let's Save Them All." T-Shirts and jewelry was sold in all stores with a portion of all proceeds donated to A Glimmer of Hope Foundation. Glimmer is a Pittsburgh based non-profit organization currently funding the largest pre-menopausal breast cancer research study in the country. They raise awareness of breast cancer in young women and fund research for women under forty years of age living with the disease. Currently, there are more than 250,000 women under forty living with breast cancer.
Diana Napper, founder of A Glimmer of Hope Foundation, effused about this cooperative effort: "This partnership with rue21 is exciting for A Glimmer of Hope Foundation. We share a passion to make a difference in the lives of these young women who are fighting breast cancer. Hopefully, together, we can accomplish this common goal."
rue21 is also a proud, annual supporter of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program, collecting hundreds of new toys for less privileged children in our community. rue21 has worked with its Teen Board in community-based initiatives, including raising money for the National Wildlife Association (helping with relief from an oil spill) and assisting with a food drive for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
We continue to seek ways to partner with charitable organizations in our rue communities, helping people and making the world a better place.
Sustainability
rue21 believes that by reducing our environmental impact we can offer a better, more complete product for our customers. The mantra in our stores, in our Corporate Support Center and in our Distribution Center is to reduce energy consumption, encourage recycling and challenge our associates and customers to think globally and act locally.
Our recent sustainability initiatives include:
- Store Construction: Our new store construction standards include energy saving LED lightbulbs in signage and interior track lighting and high efficiency fluorescent lighting for all other light standards.
- Distribution Center: Our distribution center mandates recycling of cardboard, paper and wooden pallets to keep recyclable materials out of our nation’s landfills. Ongoing capital improvements to our distribution center in Weirton, West Virginia, continue to reduce rue21's energy consumption and carbon footprint.
- Logistics Partners: We constantly work with our logistics partners to evaluate and adopt the latest energy saving technologies and methods to bring our merchandise to rue21 stores across the continental U.S. Saving energy allows us to pass savings on to rue21 customers.
- Corporate headquarters: Every day is Earth Day at rue21. Mandatory paper recycling and energy saving building enhancements lower costs and reduce our carbon footprint so we can bring better value to rue21 customers.
Responsible Sourcing
Fashion is everywhere, and rue21’s commitment to value touches the world over. Our Vendor Compliance Manual and Purchase Order require vendors to follow all laws in countries that manufacture and supply our merchandise to ensure consistent compliance with health, safety and welfare laws, including minimum wage and child labor laws and freedom from forced labor and workplace abuse. We also request that each supplier provide documentation that raw materials used in the manufacturing process are produced in compliance with applicable laws on forced labor and human trafficking.
We regularly monitor and request vendor documentation of social audits of manufacturing facilities conducted by independent third parties, which audits include unannounced factory visits. Our Vendor Compliance Manual and Purchase Order give rue21 the right to cancel any transaction, reject or revoke acceptance of all merchandise produced in violation of our policies, and cancel any other transactions with Vendors not in compliance with applicable law.
rue21's highly trained supply chain management team actively monitors vendor compliance with our vendor compliance policies and applies its current training to risk mitigation in our vendor program. All rue21 management with direct supply chain responsibility are required to attend current training on our responsible sourcing standards to identify and mitigate risks of forced labor and human trafficking in the supply chain, and certificates of training completion are maintained to document compliance with our policy. rue21’s supply chain management team is also active on the NRF Strategic Supply Chain Council, which allows for immediate access to the latest regulatory action and regional trends/issues within the industry.
rue21 will continue to strive for improvement and transparency in our supply chain because our customers know that social responsibility is always in fashion.