KnowTheChain’s 2021 apparel and footwear benchmark assesses the efforts of 37 of the largest global apparel and footwear companies to address forced labor labor risks in their supply chains. 👉 Explore our findings by

• Region: Company due diligence efforts of companies in Asia, Europe, and North America.
• Subsector: Explore who is leading and lagging among apparel retailers, footwear companies, and luxury brands.
• Raw Materials: From bamboo, to cashmere and cotton—explore which raw materials may be produced with forced labor and to what extent companies are taking steps to address them.
• Worker-centric Due Diligence Efforts: Learn which companies have started to take a more worker-centric approach and can demonstrate due diligence processes that are based on worker participation and/or concrete outcomes for workers.

WORKER-CENTRIC SCORES
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KnowTheChain’s 2021 benchmark found that, despite a rich body of evidence detailing cases in which audits and certifications have failed to detect labor rights abuses, apparel companies focus heavily on policies and monitoring, yet they fall short when it comes to focusing on worker-centric processes and solutions.

• Almost all companies (97%) disclose a supplier code of conduct that prohibits forced labor and a monitoring process of suppliers. Yet these policies and monitoring processes do not work for workers: they are neither effective in preventing forced labor nor in ensuring remedy outcomes for workers. 
• Nearly half of the companies (49%) scored zero and only one company passed the 50% mark on the worker-centric indicators.

The worker-centric scores are based on nine indicator elements of the benchmark methodology which have the strongest focus on due diligence processes based on worker participation and concrete outcomes for workers, namely 4.2.2 Repayment of Recruitment Fees, 4.4.3 Outcomes for Workers in Vulnerable Conditions, 5.1.3 Positive Impact of Worker Engagement, 5.2.2 Global Framework Agreements/Enforceable Labor Rights Agreements, 5.2.4 Examples of Improvements of Freedom of Association, 5.3.3 Involvement of Workers in Design and Operation of Grievance Mechanisms, and 7.2.2 Remedy Outcomes. It also includes 5.1.2 Worker Engagement (only worker-led efforts on labor rights education were counted) and 6.2.4 Monitoring Disclosure (only worker-driven monitoring was counted [i.e., monitoring undertaken by independent organizations that includes worker participation and is guided by workers’ rights and priorities]).