Carter’s Inc. (Carter’s), North America’s largest branded marketer of children’s apparel, ranks joint 42nd out of 65 companies. Since 2021, the company improved by disclosing a list of sourcing countries for 94% of its cotton fiber volume, providing limited information on the forced labour risks it identified in its supply chains, and introducing, in its CSR policy, a prohibition on the charging of recruitment-related fees to suppliers’ workers. However, the company does not seem to have taken further steps since 2021 to strengthen its performance and disclosure on forced labour issues within its supply chains. As such, it was overtaken by other companies in the benchmark that presented stronger disclosure, and its rank has dropped by 18 places. The company scores slightly higher than average on the theme of Commitment & Governance, disclosing a supplier code covering forced labour, internal managerial responsibility for and board oversight over its implementation, and training for relevant decision-makers within the company, but lower than average on other themes.

KnowTheChain identified one allegation of forced labour in the company’s supply chains, related to alleged Uyghur forced labour. The company does not disclose the steps it has taken to address the risks of alleged Uyghur forced labour across raw materials and supply chain tiers.

The company has an opportunity to improve its performance and disclosure on the themes of Traceability & Risk Assessment, Purchasing Practices, and Worker Voice.