Saira Akhtar
Founder and lead auditor
Leads scoping, worker interviews, wage and hour testing, report conclusions and the difficult conversations where evidence and production pressure meet.
Small By Choice
Built in Bradford, close enough to the factory floor to hear the awkward parts.
About Ethical Ltd was founded in Bradford in 2016 by Saira Akhtar after two decades moving between garment production, compliance teams and supplier relationships for family-run textile businesses.
The company is still small by choice, pairing audit discipline with the practical knowledge that comes from growing up around mills, cutting rooms, sample rails and the awkward realities of getting orders made on time. UK audit days often start at 08:00, and standard UK reports are issued within 5 working days.
From Saira
Why The Cause Matters As Much As The Finding
I have never believed the best audit is the one where the auditor looks clever and everyone else looks cornered. Of course we need to find what is wrong, and sometimes what is wrong is serious, repeated or being hidden. But in textile production the finding is often only the top stitch. Underneath it you may find late purchase orders, short lead times, a spec that changed twice, a fabric delivery that missed the cutting slot, supervisors who were promoted because they were good machinists but never trained to manage people, or a small factory being asked to behave like a multinational overnight while still being paid as if it is just a pair of hands at the end of a buying chain. Catching someone out can be necessary. Understanding why the same problem keeps happening is what gives a brand or factory a chance of stopping it properly.
Team
The People You Are Likely To Meet
Tom Ellison
Associate auditor
Supports health and safety walk-throughs, machinery guarding checks, fire route observations and practical site improvement notes.
Farzana Iqbal
Part-time report coordinator
Coordinates evidence files, action logs, report issue dates and the unglamorous version control that keeps audit records usable.
Values
What Stays Consistent
Fair Evidence
Documents, interviews and observation are weighed together, not used as props for a pre-written conclusion.
Plain Language
Reports are written for people who must fix the issue, not for compliance teams collecting impressive phrases.
Worker Dignity
Private interviews, careful note-taking and no public shaming on the factory floor.
Practical Fixes
Corrective actions are sequenced so small factories can see what to do first, next and later.
No Badges
We do not sell certification marks, ethical logos or consumer-facing approval badges.
Seasonal Closure
“We close properly from 24 December until the first working Monday in January. I know supply chains do not stop for mince pies, but the team are better auditors when they have had a real rest. If something is already booked, we will honour it; otherwise we will pick it up in the new year.”
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