our mission

We partner with vendors to achieve outstanding quality for Target-brand and Target imported products. Our mission is to ensure that our vendors utilize efficient, safe and ethical factory environments where they can produce safe, reliable, high-quality products.

Teams focused on responsible sourcing, product safety and quality assurance, product investigations and recalls, and operations all work together to make sure we provide the best products for our guests.

our philosophy

When it comes to sourcing products, we take a page from our company's founder, George Dayton, who was well-known for his strong business ethics. Today, we still strive to ensure our suppliers manufacture all of our products under the highest ethical standards, with compliance to all applicable laws, and work with vendors and factories who share those commitments. We also work with regulators, manufacturers, industry organizations and other retailers around the world to continually set the bar higher for our industry as a whole. We continually look for opportunities to improve our standards and processes.

view our Vendor Code of Conduct link opens in a new window

where our products come from

Our Target Sourcing Services team sources merchandise from all over the world, anticipating issues and potential risks while making the best decisions for our business. We continually evaluate the mix of countries from which we source and adjust for many factors, including production quality, social responsibility, environmental sustainability, capacity, speed to market and pricing. We clearly label all products with the country of manufacture in compliance with regulations established by U.S. governmental agencies.

our global factory list

Target is committed to increased supply chain transparency. To meet this objective, we publish a list of all tier one factories that produce our owned-brand products as well as tier two apparel textile suppliers and wet processing facilities. The increased transparency creates meaningful opportunities to enhance responsible and sustainable production practices.This list is subject to change and updates will be provided on a quarterly basis.

view the list

supply chain security

We're a founding member of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorismlink opens in a new window (C-TPAT), a collaborative government-business initiative that strengthens international supply chain and U.S. border security. As part of the partnership, we conduct routine audits to ensure our international supply chain processes continue to meet standards.

ensuring we source responsibly

We take steps in the following areas to make sure all of our products are sourced responsibly.

• product safety & quality assurance
• social compliance
• supply-chain sustainability

food animal welfare

Target believes in the humane treatment of animals and expects vendors to engage in practices that are consistent with all applicable laws and industry guidelines and that promote the welfare of animals. We do not support the use of routine, non-therapeutic antimicrobials—including all antibiotics—to promote growth.

We expect our suppliers and the producers they work with to phase out this practice and only use antimicrobials when medically necessary.

cage-free shell eggs
In January 2016, we announced that we will work with our suppliers to increase our offerings of cage-free shell eggs nationwide, working toward a 100 percent cage-free shell egg assortment by 2025, based on available supply.

pork sourcing
We’re partnering closely with our pork product vendors to eliminate the use of sow gestation crates by 2022.

view our Food Animal Welfare & Antibiotics policy

palm oil

All palm oil in Target’s owned brand food (Market Pantry, Archer Farms, Simply Balanced), personal care (up & up) and household cleaning products (up & up) will be fully traceable and sustainably sourced by 2018 or sooner.

Target is committed to responsible business conduct. Respect for human rights, environmental stewardship and animal welfare are fundamental principles of our business practices and standards. We expect our suppliers to share those principles and uphold our standards. 

The palm oil and palm derivatives used in Target-branded products covered by our commitment must not cause deforestation or habitat destruction on high conservation values (HCV), high carbon stock (HCS) forest, or peat lands. We expect that any new developments proceed on the basis of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), which is a key principle of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Target will work actively with its vendors, suppliers, and other stakeholders to implement our policy and to remove all unacceptable sources of palm oil, where required.

Target commits to continued progress along the spectrum of Book and Claim, Mass Balance, and Segregated suppliers, with specific multi-year targets and reporting, leading to full traceability in the supply chains of products covered by our commitment in 2018 or sooner.