Child Labor Report

Identifying Information:

Designer Brands Inc. (“Designer Brands”) is one of North America’s largest designers, producers and retailers of footwear and accessories. Headquartered in the United States, Designer Brands generated over $3 billion in revenue and employed more than 3,000 full-time employees worldwide during its 2024 financial year, February 3, 2024 – February 1, 2025 (“2024”). Designer Brands is classified as a public corporation that does business in the footwear retail industry. This is a joint report covering the following Designer Brands entities: DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc., Designer Brands Canada Inc., and Rubino Shoes Inc. (collectively, the “Reporting Entities”). Rubino Shoes Inc. (“Rubino”) existed as a distinct legal entity under the Designer Brands umbrella for the entirety of 2024 but amalgamated with Designer Brands Canada Inc. effective as of February 2, 2025. Accordingly, Rubino no longer exists as a distinct legal entity. The Reporting Entities are and/or were all subject to policies and procedures implemented by Designer Brands.

1) Designer Brands’ Vendor Compliance Program.

The Designer Brands Vendor Compliance Program (as defined below) applies to the Reporting Entities. The Reporting Entities take steps to prevent and reduce the risk that forced labor or child labor is used at any step of the production of the products it produces and/or imports from outside of Canada (“Products”). We are committed to the implementation and observance of ethical business practices. As part of the Reporting Entities' commitment to fair and just business practices, we require all sourcing agents, vendors, factories, manufacturers, and their own suppliers (“Vendor(s)”) to comply with several corporate responsibility policies (collectively, the “Vendor Compliance Program”):

• Vendor Code of Conduct: We have developed a Vendor Code of Conduct that we require all Vendors to adhere to. The Vendor Code of Conduct states our expectations for each Vendor, including expectations that neither forced labor nor child labor be used by Vendors.
• Forced Labor and Traceability Policy: We have a robust traceability policy for all Vendors, which requires Vendors to comply with the Reporting Entities’ strict prohibition on all forms of forced labor, observe all applicable customs enforcement requirements, and support Designer Brands’ supply chain traceability initiatives.

The Reporting Entities hold each of their Vendors accountable for ensuring that Products are produced in compliance with the standards specified in the Vendor Compliance Program, by requiring full participation in our corporate social responsibility policies and initiatives.

2) Additional Due Diligence.

As part of our due diligence process, the Reporting Entities have embedded socially responsible business conduct into additional policies and management systems. These policies and systems include Terms of Purchase, Purchase Order requirements, and a Subcontracting and Supply Chain Traceability Policy. Additionally, the ultimate parent entity of the Reporting Entities, Designer Brands, is a signatory to the American Apparel & Footwear Association/Fair Labor Association Apparel & Footwear Industry Commitment to Responsible Recruitment. We are working to cease, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts, track implementation and results, communicate how impacts are addressed, and provide for remediation when appropriate.

3) Risk Identification.

Our Sourcing organization performs select risk-based supply chain tracing along with external assessments and social audits of the risks of use of forced labor and/or child labor in our supply chains. We developed and implemented an action plan for addressing forced labor and child labor. We have processes in place to gather information on worker recruitment and maintain internal controls to ensure that all workers are recruited voluntarily. We have also developed and implemented due diligence policies and processes for identifying, addressing and prohibiting the use of forced labor and/or child labor in our supply chains. We have a prioritization exercise to focus due diligence efforts on the most severe risks of forced and child labor. We audit suppliers, employ grievance mechanisms, and engage with civil society groups, experts, and other stakeholders on the issue of addressing forced labor and child labor.
The Reporting Entities have a process of identifying Product supply chains that carry a risk of forced labor or child labor being used in the retail trade sector. These processes allow us to screen for potential areas of risk for the use of migrant, forced and/or child labor associated with (a) the type of Product we produce, sell, distribute, or import; (b) locations of our activities, operations or factories; and (c) tier one, two and three suppliers. To date, all identified supply chain risks were general risks, not specific to the Reporting Entities’, based on either the geographic locations of factories or risks based on past issues that were already remedied. As these risks fell outside of the Reporting Entities’ specific production, remediation has not been warranted.

4) Remediating Forced or Child Labor.

No remediation activities have been taken because no instances of forced or child labor have been identified.

5) Remediating Loss of Income to Most Vulnerable Families.

To date, the Reporting Entities have not identified any loss of income to vulnerable families, a result of the measures taken to eliminate the use of forced labor or child labor in our activities and supply chains.

6) Effectiveness.

Currently, the Reporting Entities have policies and procedures in place to assess their effectiveness in ensuring that forced labor and/or child labor are not being used in our activities or in any step of our supply chain. To assess our effectiveness, we track relevant performance indicators, such as levels of employee awareness, numbers of cases reported and solved through grievance mechanisms, and numbers of contracts with anti-forced labor and -child labor clauses. Additionally, the Reporting Entities partner with an external organization to conduct an independent review and/or audit of the organization’s actions. To ensure effectiveness in our sourcing base, we work with suppliers to measure the effectiveness of their actions to address forced labor and child labor, including by tracking relevant performance indicators. The Reporting Entities do not currently provide training to employees on forced or child labor.

The Board of Directors of DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc., the parent entity of the Reporting Entities, has approved this report on behalf of DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc., Designer Brands Canada Inc., and Rubino Shoes Inc. pursuant to section 11(4)(b)(ii) of the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act.

In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and in particular section 11 thereof, I attest that I have reviewed the information contained in the report for the Reporting Entities. Based on my knowledge, and having exercised reasonable diligence, I attest that the information in the report is true, accurate and complete in all material respects for the purposes of the Act, for the reporting year listed above.

Full name: Jared A. Poff

Title: Director, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc.

Date: 05/29/2025 | 10:43 AM EDT

I have the authority to bind DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc. and Designer Brands Canada Inc.

Approval/Signing of Disclosure: