KiK

KiK has, in the past, sponsored a number of football teams, namely Arminia Bielefeld, Werder Bremen, Hansa Rostock and VfL Bochum. They currently sponsor referees of the Austrian Football Bundesliga and in January 2009 also sponsored the German national team at the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship.

Verona Pooth has been the face of KiK's television advertising campaign. The cooperation ended in 2015.

Criticism

Building collapse at Savar

On 24 April 2013, the eight-story Rana Plaza commercial building collapsed in Savar, a sub-district near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. At least 1,127 people died and over 2,438 were injured. The factory housed several separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, and manufactured apparel for brands including the Benetton Group, Joe Fresh, The Children's Place, Primark, Monsoon, and Dressbarn. Of the 29 brands identified as having sourced products from the Rana Plaza factories, only 9 attended meetings held in November 2013 to agree a proposal on compensation to the victims. KiK was the second German company to contribute to the compensation fund. Several companies refused to sign including Walmart, Carrefour, Bonmarché, Mango, Auchan. The agreement was also signed by Primark, Loblaws, Bonmarché and El Corte Inglés.

The retailer was one of the first German signatories of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh set up in May 2013 to inspect and remediate factories for fire, electrical and building safety and was also among a group of global union federations and brands that have prepared the continuation of the work of the Accord in Bangladesh once its five-year remit comes to an end in 2018.

Swastika-styled clothing racks

In 2009, a man from the German state Schleswig-Holstein pressed charges against KiK under Strafgesetzbuch section 86a, which outlaws the "use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations", for the chain using swastika-styled clothing racks in their shops. KiK describes the allegations as incomprehensible.

Wages for factory workers

KiK has been criticised by the Clean Clothes Campaign for their bad practices in countries such as Bangladesh, where factory workers are paid low wages. In 2006, KiK has published a Code of Conduct, which imposes an obligation to suppliers to pay compensation to workers that cover at least the legal or the industrial minimum wage level, whichever is higher. KiK CEO Zahn has appealed on the government of Bangladesh to raise the minimum wage by ten percent.

Secret credit ratings of staff

While running almost 50,000 secret credit ratings of staff, overtime is often not paid. With the introduction of the legal minimum wage in Germany, KiK pays its staff minimum wage or higher.