A new report by KnowTheChain, a benchmark that measures companies' efforts to address forced labor shows, clothing and footwear companies have failed to tackle the exploitation of workers in their supply chains. The analysis gives the apparel and footwear sector an average overall score of just 37 out of 100.
While the 2018 benchmark shows improvement from the sector since KnowTheChain's previous benchmark in 2016, the majority of companies scored poorly with more than two-thirds of companies scoring below 50/100. Industry-wide progress is uneven and lacking on key issues such as responsible recruitment—one of the areas with the most direct impact on vulnerable workers' lives.
Despite decades of public scrutiny over labor conditions in the industry, workers, particularly migrants and women, are often exploited through force, fraud or coercion. Many work for little or no pay, cut off from their homes or families, and with restrictions on their movement or opportunities for recourse. Compounding the issue, workers are often charged exorbitant recruitment fees that they can never repay, further trapping them in debt bondage and forced labor.
