Labour Lens

Ice-Watch

Lacks transparency

Lacks transparency. Publishes some details, but doesn't show its workers are paid and treated fairly.

Jewellery & watches

Partly verified: what this means

Last researched 30 October 2026 · 3 sources

Belgian fashion watch brand selling colourful plastic and steel watches.

There's no proof Ice-Watch pays more than the legal minimum, which in China is below a living wage, and it has no full independent audit.

See better watches options

Know something we've missed? Send evidence. Represent Ice-Watch? Send a right of reply.

Compare Ice-Watch with another brand

Why it's graded Lacks transparency

  • Not met: Meets 1 of 6 Good requirements.
  • Holds the grade back: It has 3 red flags: no evidence of a living wage, a hidden, unaudited supply chain in high-risk countries and untraced high-risk mined materials. Two or more red flags means a poor grade.
  • It isn't Harm on record, because there's no serious confirmed problem on its record.
  • Lacks transparency is still a poor grade: in supply chains like this, workers who can't be seen to be treated fairly are usually underpaid or unprotected.

How grades are decided

Good requirements 1 of 6

  • Not met: Pays a living wage, or holds a strong fair-pay certificationLiving wage: no evidence
  • Not met: Respects worker rightsMost of its products are made in China, where unions are heavily restricted, and it has no full supply chain audit.
  • Not met: Supply chain independently audited or certified, or at least 80% made in countries with strong labour standards
  • Met: No child or forced labour findings or links
  • Not met: Names the factories or farms that make its products, or is fully certified by a scheme that holds and audits that list
  • Not met: Conflict-free: diamonds, gems and gold traced to the mine, lab-grown, recycled or Fairmined (the Kimberley Process alone isn't enough)

Red flags 3

  • Red flag: No evidence it pays a living wage
  • Red flag: Hidden supply chain, mostly in countries with poor worker rights
  • Red flag: Relies on high-risk mined materials it can't traceShown to explain the grade. It isn't one of the 2 red flags that set it.
  • Red flag: Fails its category's raw-material check (means Lacks transparency)

Stars it would earn as Good

None yet. Stars only show on Good companies. About stars

Where it's made

From press and retailer reports; Ice-Watch doesn't say where its products are made.

Where it's made, and conditions there
CountryWorker rightsLegal minimum wageForced labour risk
ChinaNo guarantee of rightsBelow a living wageModerate

Evidence

What we found

  • Risk across the industry, not a finding about this company: gold and gemstone mining are linked to child labour, forced labour and mercury poisoning.
  • Relies on gold and gemstones from artisanal mines where workers face mercury poisoning, silica dust and deadly collapses. It hasn't shown any steps to trace these materials to the mine, so it's graded Lacks transparency until it does.

Research notes Ice-Watch was founded in Belgium in 2006 and its watches are made in Shenzhen, China, with logistics and distribution run from Hong Kong. It publishes no factory list, audit results, modern slavery statement or wage information, and does not say where its steel, plastics, straps or movements come from.

Sources and actions

Sources 3

Show all 3 sources
  1. Everything you need to know about: Ice-Watch (FashionUnited, 2022) · search the archive · Founded by Jean-Pierre Lutgen in Belgium in 2006; watches made in Shenzhen, China, with logistics and distribution managed from Hong Kong; sold in over 5,000 stores
  2. ICE Watch - Myer · search the archive · Ice-Watch watches sold by Australian department store Myer
  3. ICE glam brushed artic blue medium - Watch Direct · search the archive · Ice-Watch watches listed by Australian retailer Watch Direct

Company details

Headquarters
Belgium
Last researched
30 October 2026
Cite this page
Labour Lens, "Is Ice-Watch ethical? Labour rating", https://www.labourlens.net/brand/ice-watch, last researched 30 October 2026, accessed [date].
Method
Researched with AI assistance against published rules. How we check · What Lacks transparency means

Better-graded watches

ChopardMissing: a full independent supply chain audit · Jewellery & watchesLuxury jewellery and watchesPays or is working towards a living wage, with gaps still to close.On TrackPartly verifiedMondaineMissing: a full independent supply chain audit, where its earlier stages happen and traced raw materials · Jewellery & watchesSwiss railway-style watchesPays or is working towards a living wage, with gaps still to close.On TrackPartly verifiedHublotMissing: a full independent supply chain audit, where its earlier stages happen and traced raw materials · Jewellery & watchesSwiss luxury fusion watchesPays or is working towards a living wage, with gaps still to close.On TrackPartly verified

No watches brand selling new goods is Good yet. These are the strongest so far.

See every watches brand

Something missing or wrong?

Grades are opinions based on the evidence listed here. Send us evidence, or a right of reply if you represent Ice-Watch.

Send evidenceSend a right of reply