Engaging apparel and footwear companies on forced labour using the KnowTheChain benchmarks

28 members

The apparel and footwear collaborative engagement led by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and supported by KnowTheChain, in collaboration with the PRI, is an initiative in which institutional investors work together to take action on labour rights and forced labour issues in the supply chains of apparel and footwear companies. Investors use their collective influence with companies to drive positive outcomes for workers. The Initiative was set up in 2018 and has been coordinated by the ICCR since then.

Collaboration details

Forced labour is a salient risk within the business operations and supply chains of apparel and footwear companies. The apparel and footwear sector, a US$3 trillion industry is estimated to employ up to 75 million people, with an increasing reliance on migrant workers. Forced labour is prevalent at each production stage, occurring across continents, in supply chains from fast fashion to luxury brands. Workers have been found to be at risk of forced labour in the picking of cotton, harvesting of rubber, on cattle ranches used for the production of leather, in the farming of silk cocoons, the spinning of yarn, and in the manufacturing of apparel and footwear. COVID-19 has magnified those risks: Loss of job, lack social protection such as severance pay, lack of access to adequate living and working conditions, food, and health care is a reality for amny workers in apparel supply chains, making them even more vulnerable to forced labor.

Attachments
Terms of reference
ICCR collaborative engagement 2022_ ToR.docx Download
Created on
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Human rights
  • Modern slavery inc. forced labour
Sector
  • Consumer Discretionary
Sustainable Development Goal
  • 8 - Decent work & economic growth
Geography
  • Global
Asset class
Listed Equities