How brands and consumers can fight modern slavery and child labour in fashion
Modern slavery and child labour are serious human rights risks at every stage of the fashion supply chain. Exploitation can occur at any step from cotton harvesting for fabrics, and flower cultivation for luxury perfumes, to sewing garments and assembling leather goods.
The fashion industry is notorious for its poor working conditions and remains one of the worst offending industries for modern slavery.
50 million people globally are living in modern slavery, with 28 million people in forced labour. But this is significantly worse for children.
The International Labour Organization estimates that 160 million children are in child labour worldwide, including child employment more broadly.
“Children who are forced to work at all – let alone for excessively long hours and in hazardous conditions – lose their innocence, schooling, healthcare and chance to make genuine choices about their futures. In the most extreme cases, children are forced to work under the threat of violence and death.” Walk Free’s Director of Business and Human Rights Serena Grant says.
“With growing awareness, no one wants to wear clothes made at such huge human cost and brands are making conscious changes to ensure better business practices. Yet the figures remain staggering, and we need urgent, collective action.”
Consumers play a key role by choosing responsible brands, asking about supply chains, and using their voices and votes to push for stronger government action.
Why the fashion supply chain is vulnerable to exploitation
Most garment production is carried out in countries where labour laws and social protections are weak.
Fashion brands often move manufacturing to low-cost labour countries to boost profit margins in global supply chains.
This is particularly true for fast fashion brands, where outsourcing has resulted in opaque supply chains and worker exploitation.
The industry needs urgent and widespread transformation to address these risks to vulnerable workers.
This starts with greater transparency so brands and consumers can see how workers are treated throughout the supply chain.
The disproportionate impact of exploitation on women and girls in fashion
Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index reveals that G20 countries annually import nearly AU$219 billion in garments and AU$19 billion in textiles at risk of forced labour.
For example, the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, which killed over 1,000 workers, exposed the poor labour conditions in the garment factories. Yet over a decade later, very little has changed.
“These practices include poverty wages, debt coercion, physical and sexual abuse, and deceptive recruitment. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by these practices – particularly in the fashion industry,” Grant highlights.
“The increasing demand for cheaper goods that are produced quickly leads to subcontracting to factories and informal workers where there is limited oversight.
“However, it’s not just fast fashion where we see problems, with many luxury and high street brands also profiting from exploitation and engaging in similarly poor practices.”
The urgent need for effective policies to protect workers across global supply chains
The international community, including governments and global organisations, committed to ending all forms of child labour by 2025 under Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.
It’s now clear we will miss this target and not come close to achieving it in the next decade without urgent action.
Our research highlights the immediate need for companies operating in the fashion industry to have robust, meaningful, and effective policies to protect all workers in their supply chains.
This includes thorough due diligence and risk assessment processes, living wages, and adequate reporting and remediation for workers and their families who have experienced exploitation.
The global push for Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) will see all 27 EU states enact national laws by 2026 requiring large companies to conduct human rights due diligence across their value chains.
Walk Free, among other advocates, is pushing for Australian legislation to align with the EU’s CSDDD.
“Well-drafted laws that require companies to look for human rights abuses in their supply chains and provide remedy when they are found, could have a profound effect on ending the exploitation of workers and children,” Grant explains.
“But laws are only as strong as their enforcement. Without effective accountability mechanisms like financial penalties or liability for companies and their directors, these laws are simply a toothless tiger and are otherwise a seriously missed opportunity to make critical change.”
Supply chains are a human construct we can rebuild. However, remaking them transparent to protect all workers, requires significant effort and the commitment of leaders in business and government.
