Industria de Diseño Textil SA (Inditex), the largest apparel retailer in the world, ranks 15th out of 65 companies. Since 2021, the company improved by disclosing a partial list of its first-tier suppliers and an example of a remedy outcome provided to workers of its supplier in Cambodia. However, the company did not improve across other themes and performed particularly poorly on the theme of Recruitment. As such, it was overtaken by other companies in the benchmark that presented stronger disclosure, and its rank has dropped by 6 places. The company’s score is based on its stronger performance on the themes of Commitment & Governance and Monitoring and above-average scores on Traceability & Risk Assessment, Worker Voice, and Remedy. Notably, Inditex is the second-highest scoring company on the theme of Commitment & Governance due to detailed disclosure on internal managerial responsibility for, and board oversight of, the implementation its supply chain standards on forced labour, and several examples of forced labour training provided to suppliers.

KnowTheChain identified one public allegation of forced labour in the company’s supply chains, related to alleged Uyghur forced labour. In response to the allegation, the company denied having a relationship with the supplier in question. However, it does not disclose the concrete steps it has taken to address the risks of alleged Uyghur forced labour across raw materials and supply chain tiers.

Additional steps the company could take to address forced labor risks in its supply chains, include strengthening its disclosure and practices on the themes of Traceability & Risk Assessment, Purchasing Practices, and Recruitment.