Apparel brands team up to change global labor conditions

Published On: October 29, 2015

A new initiative led by global brands, retailers, industry groups and civil society organizations is being launched to improve working conditions in apparel manufacturing across the world.

The project seeks to achieve real, sustainable change through the collective development of an industry-wide, standardized methodology for social and labor performance assessment in apparel and footwear supply chains. Through this, the industry believes it will be able to significantly reduce the amount of money it spends on duplicated auditing and invest the money saved in improving social welfare for millions of people employed in apparel manufacturing around the world.

The collaborative effort is being facilitated by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), with signatories including Nike, H&M, VFc-Timberland, Levi Strauss & Co., PVH Corp., Target, Columbia Sportswear Co. and adidas, standard holding organization WRAP, the nonprofit supply chain improvement experts SEDEX and NGO Solidaridad, and auditing firms Bureau Veritas and SGS.

Source: Sustainable Apparel Coalition