The Business Ethics Blog

Coming Clean on the Clothes We Wear: Transparency Report Card was published last month. It’s a fairly detailed report on the supply-chain practices of some of Canada’s most prominent retailers and clothing brands. Interestingly, rather than reporting on actual labour conditions in overseas factories, etc., this report is based on publically available information. That is (and as the title of the document implies) this isn’t a report about how well these companies are doing in terms of fair sourcing, etc., it’s a report on how transparent — how up-front — they are about just what their practices are.

The Transparency Report Card assesses and compares 25 apparel retailers and brands selling apparel products in the Canadian market in terms of their efforts to address worker rights issues in their global supply chains and on how and what they report on those efforts.

Companies are rated according to their programmes to achieve compliance with recognised international labour standards in the factories where their products are made; and the steps they are taking to communicate thoroughly, effectively and transparently these efforts to the public.

The following conclusions are included in the report:

– none of the companies surveyed is currently providing sufficient, credible and verifiable information to consumers or shareholders to allow informed ethical choices
– of those companies that have made codes of conduct available to the public, few have codes that are consistent with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards
– only a small minority of companies report assigning specific responsibility for ethical issues in their supply chains to board members or committees. There is also very little reporting on labour rights issues as a risk factor for investors by any of the companies surveyed for this study.

Here’s a snapshot of key findings (click on the image to see a larger version)…

Conclusions of note:

High marks: Nike, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Liz Claiborne,Levi Strauss & Co., and The Gap

Mediocre marks: Wal-Mart, The Bay (HBC), Roots

Low marks: Sears, Le Chateau, Giant Tiger, Harry Rosen, Reitmans

Perhaps not surprisingly, several of the companies that got high marks are companies that have, in the past, faced serious pressure (including boycotts, etc.) to improve performance in this area.