CASE STUDY
Strengthening Responsible Procurement capability at Karndean
Overview
Karndean Designflooring is a long‑established flooring provider that works with a small number of strategic suppliers.
The company wanted to strengthen its approach to responsible procurement and increase internal capability across teams engaging with suppliers.
Rising customer expectations, growing regulatory requirements, and a desire to articulate Karndean’s mature supplier management practices prompted a request for a tailored, practical training session for core teams.
twentyfifty partnered with Karndean Designflooring to design and deliver a focused human rights and responsible procurement training session, equipping teams with the knowledge and confidence needed to engage with customers, respond to common scenarios, and embed good practice across sourcing activities.
Our approach
Working closely with Karndean’s Global Sustainability Director, twentyfifty developed a bespoke training module drawing on the company’s existing processes, maturity framework, factory audit programme, and long‑term relationships with suppliers.
We designed the session to:
- introduce core human rights and responsible procurement concepts
- highlight what Karndean is already doing well, based on its Factory Sustainability Maturity Framework, long‑term partnerships, annual visits, and independent audits.
- build confidence for engaging suppliers on responsible sourcing topics.
- apply learning through realistic scenarios tailored to Karndean’s context
The training combined:
- a clear introduction to human rights and why this matters for procurement
- practical guidance on sustainable procurement, including responsible purchasing practices, risk identification and supplier engagement
- deep dives into how to conduct supplier visits, read audits, engage with supplier leadership teams enabling teams to ‘look beyond the audit’
- Three real‑life scenarios designed to mirror typical commercial situations
Results
Thanks to this work, Karndean Designflooring gained a stronger grasp of:
- the human rights issues most relevant to its supply chain
- how procurement practices can influence worker welfare and supplier performance
- what ‘good’ responsible procurement looks like in practice and how Karndean Designflooring already embodies many of these characteristics through long‑term supplier partnerships and communication
