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FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                    A

       FASHION
       INDEX
       2018 EDITION
       A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and
       retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about
       their social and environmental policies, practices and impact.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                               01

CONTENTS

03      FOREWORD                                                                       30     THE SCORES ACROSS THE 5 KEY AREAS
04      EXECUTIVE SUMMARY                                                              31     Average scores across the sections
06      WHY TRANSPARENCY?                                                              32     1. Policy & Commitments
06      Why greater transparency is important                                          37     2. Governance
        in the fashion industry                                                        41     3. Traceability
10      Viewpoint: Nazma Akter, trade unionist                                         46     4. Know, Show, Fix
11      Viewpoint: Christina Hajagos-Clausen, Industriall                              50     5. Spotlight Issues
12      Viewpoint: Debbie Coulter, Ethical Trading Initiative                          55     Viewpoint: Joe Sutcliffe, CARE
13      What do we mean by transparency?                                               56     Viewpoint: Guy Stuart, Microfinance Opportunities
                                                                                       57     Viewpoint: Mark Anner, Penn State University
16      ABOUT THE FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX
17      Why have we conducted this research?                                           58     WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?
18      The methodology                                                                59     Citizens
19      The weighting of the scores                                                    60     Brands and Retailers
20      About the new methodology                                                      61     Governments and Policymakers
21      How were the 150 brands selected?                                              62     NGOs, Unions and Workers
22      How does the scoring work?
                                                                                       63     ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
24      THE RESULTS                                                                    65     ANNEX 1 Definitions and Abbreviations
25      A rough guide to the scoring                                                   66     ANNEX 2 References
26      The final scores                                                               67     An important final note
27      Overall analysis                                                               68     About Fashion Revolution
29      Quick findings

The content of this publication can in no way be taken to reflect the views of any of the funders of Fashion Revolution.
© Fashion Revolution CIC 2018. All rights reserved. This document is not to be copied or adapted without permission from Fashion Revolution CIC.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                        02

Disclaimer                                                                                                                        Attribution                                                   Licences – Creative Commons
The Fashion Transparency Index is made available on            While the material contained in this Index has been                This work is owned by Fashion Revolution CIC (Company         The Fashion Transparency Index is licensed under a
the express request that it will be used only for general      prepared in good faith, neither Fashion Revolution CIC             number: 8988812) and has been written by Sarah Ditty.         Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No
information purposes. Readers are encouraged to form           nor any of its partners, agents, representatives, advisers,                                                                      Derivatives 4.0 International Licence. It is not a Free Culture
their own views and opinions on each of the brands             affiliates, directors, officers or employees accept                The research was conducted by Sarah Ditty, Carry Somers,      Licence. Please see the link for more information:
mentioned in this Index. All content in the Fashion            any responsibility for or make any representations or              Aidan Shaw, Ilishio Lovejoy, Fionnuala Walravens, Aphra       https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Transparency Index is not to be construed as connected         warranties (either express or implied) as to the accuracy,         Kennedy-Fletcher, Eduardo Iracheta and Michelle Lai with
to or relating to any form of legal, governance, regulatory,   completeness, reliability, or truth, of the information            further support from Lowell Chow and Sienna Somers            For the Raw Data File we make available we are not
research or investment advice nor any other specific or        contained in this Index or any other information made              between January and April 2018. It has been designed by       granting any licence for you to use the Raw Data, which
general advice on buying, selling or dealing in any way        available in connection with this Index, and disclaims             Heather Knight and Erika Söderholm.                           we have compiled to produce this Index. You are only
with the brands mentioned in this Index. This Index has        all liability for loss of any kind suffered by any party as                                                                      permitted to view the Raw Data File.
not been prepared to any specific or general investment        a result of the use of this Fashion Transparency Index.            The C&A Foundation funded Fashion Revolution CIC who
objectives. Before acting on anything inspired by anything     Neither Fashion Revolution CIC nor any of its agents,              in turn funded the research for this Index. We would like     You are free to copy and redistribute the Fashion
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up-to-date.                                                    inaccuracies which may become apparent.                                                                                          way. This includes providing it as part of a paid service, nor
                                                                                                                                  This publication has been funded with the financial           as part of a consultancy or other service offering. You must
The material in this Index is based on information that we     Reference herein to any specific brand, commercial                 support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole      contact Fashion Revolution at legal@fashionrevolution.org
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verified, validated or audited the data used to prepare this   its endorsement, recommendation, favouring, boycotting,
Index. The assessment of fashion brands has been carried       abusing, defaming by Fashion Revolution CIC nor any of             We have mitigated any risk of a conflict of interest by the   © Fashion Revolution CIC 2018
out solely according to the new Fashion Transparency           its agents, representatives, advisers, affiliates, directors,      following three methods: viewing and treating C&A and the
Index methodology and no other assessment models used          officers and employees.                                            C&A Foundation as separate entities; treating C&A like any    Published 23rd April 2018
by any of the project partners or our analyst team. Any                                                                           other of the 149 brands we analysed; and we did not give
statements, opinions, conclusions or recommendations           To the maximum extent permitted by law any responsibility          C&A any preferential treatment.
contained in this Index are honestly and reasonably held       or liability for this Index or any related material is expressly
or made at the time of publication. Any opinions expressed     disclaimed provided that nothing in this disclaimer shall
are our current opinions based on detailed research            exclude any liability for, or any remedy in respect of, fraud
as of the date of the publication of this Index only and       or fraudulent misrepresentation. Any disputes, claims or
may change without notice. Any views expressed in this         proceedings in connection with or arising in relation to this
Index only represent the views of Fashion Revolution CIC,      Index will be governed by and construed in accordance
unless otherwise expressly noted. The content of this          with English law and submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction
publication can in no way be taken to reflect the views of     of the courts of England and Wales.
any of the funders of Fashion Revolution CIC or the Fashion
Transparency Index.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                  03

FOREWORD

CARRY SOMERS
FOUNDER AND GLOBAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
FASHION REVOLUTION

Transparency is like water.                 ‘Light is like water. You turn on the tap     "Transparency is                and crevice, reshaping everything in its
After the Rana Plaza factory                and out it comes.’ Months later, they win a     visibility. We want to         path, but the light bulbs of transparency
                                            school prize and are both rewarded with                                        are permanently set to the on position.
collapsed in Bangladesh five                diving outfits. The following Wednesday,
                                                                                            see the fashion industry,
years ago, transparency started             they invite all their classmates over for a     respect its producers          Make no mistake about it, there is no
                                            party while their parents are out and and       and understand its             going back; this river of transparency
as a slow trickle. It began                 turn on so many lights that the apartment       processes. We want a           will become a flood. When this time
bubbling up through the cracks.             floods, drowning all the classmates apart       clear, uninterrupted           comes, those brands who know how
                                            from the two brothers. When the firemen                                        to use the tools of transparency to
Now it is seeping into some of
                                            finally force open the door, the brothers
                                                                                            vision from origin             navigate a new course, will be the
the darkest corners, permeating             are navigating towards the lighthouse           to disposal to foster          ones who will survive. These are the
the fabric of the industry.                 amidst the ‘household objects, in the           dignity, empowerment           companies who are able to spot any
                                            fullness of their poetry, flying through        and justice for the            unauthorised suppliers being used
My favourite short story is La Luz Es       the kitchen sky on their own wings.’            people who make our            to make their products; the ones who
                                                                                                                           are managing and mitigating risks
Como el Agua, Light Is Like Water, by
                                            Transparency is like water. After the Rana
                                                                                            clothes and to protect         that might lead to human rights and
Gabriel Garcia Marquéz. Two brothers ask
                                            Plaza factory collapsed in Bangladesh           the environment                environmental abuses; the ones who
for a rowing boat one Christmas. Every
Wednesday, whilst their parents are at      five years ago, transparency started            we all share."                 are protecting their brand's reputation.
the cinema, they let the light flow out     as a slow trickle. It began bubbling up
                                            through the cracks. Now it is seeping                                          Transparency is power. The brands
to a depth of four hand spans and then
                                            into some of the darkest corners,                                              that are still sitting in the armchairs
learn to use a sextant and compass
                                            permeating the fabric of the industry.        ORSOLA DE CASTRO                 in their fifth floor apartments, who
as they navigate around their fifth floor
                                            This year’s Fashion Transparency Index        FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR,   haven’t yet learnt how to sail on the
apartment in Madrid. This adventure
                                            results show that it’s not yet a raging       FASHION REVOLUTION               tide of transparency, will be drowned
was the result of a frivolous remark in
                                            torrent, flowing into every deep nook                                          by it. The wave is coming; now is the
response to one of the boys asking why
                                                                                                                           time to get ahead of the curve.
light comes out at the flick of a switch.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                             04

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY

Ten brands and retailers lead                             each section of the methodology —           Dior, Heilan Home and s.Oliver continue         Only one brand, which is ASOS, discloses
the path towards greater                                  suggesting that inclusion in the Fashion    to disclose nothing, and this year we are       where they source raw materials. No
transparency amongst the                                  Transparency Index has influenced           seeing next to nothing from Barney’s            brands were disclosing this information
major corporate players                                   brands and retailers to disclose more.      New York, Desigual, Jessica Simpson,            last year.
                                                                                                      Longchamp, Liverpool, Max Mara, Mexx,
Adidas and Reebok top the Index again                     Major luxury brands move                    Nine West and Sandro. 48 brands                 Publicly available supplier lists
this year scoring 58% or 144.5 out of                     towards transparency                        and retailers (32%) are scoring in the          can help fix problems faster
250 possible points followed by Puma,                                                                 bottom 0-10% range overall, compared
H&M, Esprit, Banana Republic, Gap,                        Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger,                                                    Having quick, immediate access to
                                                                                                      to 32 brands and retailers (32%) last
Old Navy, C&A and Marks & Spencer                         Gucci, Bottega Veneta, YSL and Burberry                                                     these supplier lists can be crucial to
                                                                                                      year — showing that many brands and
in the 51-60% range. ASOS is shortly                      score in the 31-40% range, with Hugo                                                        solving problems swiftly. Transparent
                                                                                                      retailers are still lagging far behind,
behind at 50%, having increased                           Boss increasing its score by 11%, Calvin                                                    disclosure makes it easier for brands,
                                                                                                      disclosing very little about their social
their level of disclosure by 18% since                    Klein and Tommy Hilfiger increasing                                                         suppliers and workers, trade unions and
                                                                                                      and environmental practices.
last year. The mean average score                         their score by 9%, Gucci, Bottega Veneta                                                    NGOs to alert brands and retailers when
amongst all 150 brands and retailers                      and YSL increasing their score by 8%        Many more brands and retailers                  human rights and environmental abuses
is 52 (21%) out of 250 possible points.                   and Burberry increasing their score by      are disclosing their suppliers                  occur in the places where their products
                                                          7% this year.                                                                               are made. It means that garment
The brands and retailers                                                                              37% of the brands and retailers are             workers, unions, and NGOs can call upon
we reviewed last year have                                Too many big brands and                     publishing a list of their manufacturers        brands to ensure that abuses stop and
increased their level of                                  retailers continue to lack                  (tier 1), up from 32% of the brands in 2017     workers get remedies. It is essentially
transparency by 5%                                        transparency                                and 12.5% in 2016. These supplier lists         about greater corporate accountability.*
                                                                                                      have become a lot more detailed too,
When we compare the 98 brands and                         12 brands and retailers (8%) have scored
                                                                                                      including information such as factory
retailers that were included in both the                  0% in 2018, compared to three (3%)
                                                                                                      street address, types of products they
2017 and 2018 Fashion Transparency                        in the 2017 report. These brands and
                                                                                                      make and the number of workers. 18%
Index, we have seen these brands                          retailers' lack of disclosure brings down
                                                                                                      of the brands and retailers are disclosing
and retailers increase their level                        the overall average score, despite many
                                                                                                      their processing facilities (tier 2), up from
of transparency by an average of                          brands disclosing considerably more
                                                                                                      14% of the brands in the previous year.
approximately 5% overall and across                       information this year compared to 2017.

*Read more about this topic via Clean Clothes Campaign.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                            05

                                                                                             FINDINGS
                                                                                             AT-A-GLANCE
More talk about policies and                   When it comes to workers in the supply
commitments than practices                     chain, of which an estimated 80% are
and impacts                                    women, only 13% of the brands publish
                                               detailed guidance on issues facing
Brands and retailers give a lot more           female workers in the supply chain and
time and space to explain their values         only 5% of the brands disclose any data
and beliefs rather than their practices        on the prevalence of gender-based labour
and impacts. On average, the brands

                                                                                                     5%                           15%                                 7%
                                               violations in their supplier facilities.
and retailers scored 46% in section
one, which looks at what information           Information shared by
they publish about their policies and          major brands and retailers
commitments. 31 brands (21%) brands            remains difficult to navigate,
and retailers scored more than 80%             jargon-heavy and shallow
                                                                                               5% average increase of 98       22 brands have increased          7% average increase in
on policy and commitments and
                                               The disclosure of meaningful                  brands’ scores since last year    their traceability score by    transparency on governance
all but 10 brands were publishing at                                                                                                 more than 10%           across 98 brands since last year
least one policy. However, on average          information and data by brands and
the brands just scored 11% when it             retailers is often buried in company
comes to traceability and 17% when it          websites, housed on external micro-
comes to publishing procedures and             sites, in 300+ page annual reports

                                                                                                  64%                             84%                              12%
outcomes of supplier assessments.              or simply not available at all. Brands
                                               present information in many different
Focus on discrimination but                    formats, using all sorts of unclear
little disclosed about                         language and industry jargon and
addressing gender equality                     presented in an array of different visuals.

Over three-quarters of the brands and          Still a long way to go towards                    64% of brands have               84% of brands have           12 brands disclose next to

retailers publish a policy on discrimination   transparency for all brands                     disclosed more policies
                                                                                               and commitments than
                                                                                                                                 increased their score
                                                                                                                                    since last year
                                                                                                                                                               nothing, and 12% of brands
                                                                                                                                                                   score less than 3%
both within the company (76%) and in the       and retailers                                      they did last year
supply chain (79%). But only about 40% of
the brands and retailers publish a policy      No brand or retailer is scoring above
on equal pay both for their own employees      60% of the total possible points.
and in their supply chain. Meanwhile, less     Whilst we are seeing brands and               TO P 5 B I G G E S T M OV E R S
than half (47%) of brands and retailers        retailers begin to publish more
disclose the percentage of women in
executive and management positions
within the company, and only 14% of the
                                               about their social and environmental
                                               efforts, there is still much crucial
                                               information that remains concealed.
                                                                                                +22%
                                                                                                +22%
                                                                                                             The North Face
                                                                                                             Timberland
                                                                                                                                                                   28%
brands and retailers publish the annual                                                         +22%         Wrangler
gender pay gap within the company.
                                                                                                +19%         C&A                                               28% of brands have scored

                                                                                                +18%         ASOS                                                31% or higher this year,
                                                                                                                                                               compared to 20% amongst
                                                                                                                                                                    brands last year
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018   06

WHY
TRANSPARENCY?
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                    07

WHY GREATER
TRANSPARENCY IS
IMPORTANT IN THE
FASHION INDUSTRY

                                                                                   [TOP]
                                                                                   'Dhaka Savar
                                                                                   Building
                                                                                   Collapse'

                                         Fragmented supply chains
                                                                                   by rijans
When the Rana Plaza building                                                       via Flickr CC

collapsed five years ago in              obscure accountability                    [Bottom]
                                                                                    'Site of the Rana
Bangladesh, killing and injuring         The vast majority of today’s fashion      Plaza factory
                                                                                   collapse'
thousands of garment workers,            brands and retailers do not own their     by Dorothee
                                                                                   Baumann-Pauly
people had to dig through the            manufacturing facilities, making
rubble looking for clothing labels       it difficult to monitor or control
                                         working conditions across the highly
in order to figure out which             globalised supply chain. This can
brands were linked to the five           sometimes be used as an excuse for
garment factories in the building.       brands to evade responsibility for how
                                         their products are made.
In some cases, it took weeks for
brands and retailers to determine        Brands and retailers may work with
why their labels were found amongst      hundreds or even thousands of
the ruins and what sort of purchasing    factories at any given time – and that
agreements they had with those           is just the suppliers that cut, sew and
suppliers. Many clothing brands          assemble our garments. There are
sourcing from the factories inside       many facilities further down the chain
Rana Plaza didn’t know their products    that weave, dye and finish materials
were being made there.                   and farms that grow fibres used in
                                         our clothing.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018

During the manufacturing process our         Progress is happening but
clothes are touched by many pairs of         but it’s still difficult to know
hands before they ever reach the shop        #whomademyclothes
floor or, increasingly, the screens of our
phones and computers.                        Of course, much has changed since Rana
                                             Plaza, especially in Bangladesh. Many
A brand might place an order with            factories have been upgraded, and with
one supplier, who carves up the order        all the great attention put on Bangladesh
and subcontracts the work to other           since then, some very real and positive
factories. This happens regularly across     progress has been made towards
the industry and makes it extremely          improving working conditions.
difficult to monitor human rights and
environmental impacts. Unauthorised          However, not enough has changed
subcontracting causes workers to             in global fashion supply chains and
become effectively invisible in the          business practices on the whole across
supply chain, and this is where the          the industry are still very secretive. It
highest risk of human rights violations      is extremely challenging, if not almost
and environmental degradation tends to       impossible, for a consumer to find out
occur. But these subcontracted facilities    where their clothes have been made,
are not the only places where poor           by whom and under what conditions —
conditions persist, sometimes it’s right     which means it is hugely difficult to know
under our noses in manufacturers and         what real-world impacts, both positive
communities close to home too.               and negative, our clothing purchases
                                             are having on people’s lives and on the
                                             environment.
Lack of transparency
costs lives                                  This is why we are still calling for a
                                             revolution of the fashion industry.
Right after Rana Plaza happened, it
                                             Never again should a tragedy like Rana
became very clear to us that the fashion
                                             Plaza happen, yet factory fires, safety
industry needed urgent, transformative
                                             accidents and faulty buildings continue
change, and that the first vital step
                                             to harm people in the places where
towards this change entailed far greater
                                             our clothes are made. Pollution and
visibility and transparency of the people
                                             waste created as a result of the way our
working in supply chains, the business
                                             clothes are produced and consumed
relationships at play across supply
                                             continues to damage the environment.
chains and information about working
conditions and environmental impact.
FASHION INDEX 2018 EDITION - A review of 150 of the biggest global fashion brands and retailers ranked according to how much they disclose about ...
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                 09

"In a survey of over                                   People want to know
                                                        #whomademyclothes
                                                                                                                   Over 113,000 posts using our hashtags,
                                                                                                                   including #whomademyclothes,

  10,000 consumers                                      Consumers don’t want to buy clothes
                                                                                                                   reached 533 million impressions
                                                                                                                   during April 2018 alone – an increase

  from around the
                                                        made by people working in danger,                          of almost 250% on the previous year.
                                                        exploited, paid poverty-level wages,
                                                        in polluted environments but there                         Transparency helps
  world, 78% said                                       is simply not enough information
                                                        available about the clothes we wear.
                                                                                                                   mitigate human rights and
                                                                                                                   environmental violations

  it is somewhat or                                     Fashion Revolution wants to change
                                                        that. This is why we are pushing                           As Jenny Holdcroft, the Assistant

  very important for
                                                        for more transparency from the                             General Secretary of IndustriALL
                                                        fashion industry. The annual Fashion                       Global Union, explained in last year’s
                                                                                                                   report, “knowing the names of major

  a company to be
                                                        Transparency Index is one of the tools
                                                        that helps us do this.                                     buyers from factories gives workers
                                                                                                                   and their unions a stronger leverage,

  transparent.”                                         When we are equipped with more
                                                        — and better quality, credible —
                                                                                                                   crucial for a timely solution when
                                                                                                                   resolving conflicts, whether it be
                                                        information about the human and                            refusal to recognise the union, or
                                                        environmental impacts of the clothes                       unlawful sackings for demanding
                                                        we buy, we are able to make more                           their rights. It also provides the
 HAVAS                                                  informed shopping choices. As a                            possibility to create a link from the
 FEBRUARY 2016                                          result, transparency builds trust in                       worker back to the customer and
                                                        the brands we buy.                                         possibly media to bring attention to
                                                                                                                   the issues.”
                                                        People are increasingly asking
                                                        for greater transparency from                              Increased transparency and
                                                        the fashion industry. In 2018,                             accountability means issues
                                                        more than 2.5 million people                               along the supply chain can be
                                                        across the world participated                              addressed and solutions found
                                                        in Fashion Revolution through                              faster. But it also means positive
                                                        events, posting on social media,                           examples and positive stories
                                                        viewing our videos or downloading                          can be highlighted, shared and
                                                        resources from our website.                                potentially replicated elsewhere.1

                                                        1. As explained by Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/08/gap-inc-joins-global-brands-publish-factory-list
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018   10

"If unions and workers in Bangladesh have a
  list of where brands are manufacturing, it
  is so much easier for us to resolve problems
  quickly. We don’t need to do big public
  campaigns, we can address issues directly
  with brands. Having access to supplier lists
  also helps unions know where best to focus
  our organising efforts.

 The disclosure of other types of data
 is useful too. For example, disclosing
 information about working conditions helps
 us better understand and solve issues facing
 women workers in Bangladesh, such as

                                                        www.livesbehindthelabel.newint.org
 health, childcare, maternity rights, female
 leadership and living conditions and wages.

 Ultimately, everybody should be more
 transparent. Fashion brands and retailers,
 governments, trade unions and suppliers
 need to respect and trust each other and

                                                       PHOTOGRAPHY © ON OUR R ADAR
 work together with openness and honesty."

 NA ZMA AKTER
 BANGLAHDESI TRADE UNIONIST AND
 FOUNDER OF THE AWAJ FOUNDATION
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                            11

VIEWPOINT:
A CONTINUED NEED FOR
TRANSPARENCY IN THE
FASHION SUPPLY CHAIN

CHRISTINA HAJAGOS-CLAUSEN
DIRECTOR, TEXTILE AND GARMENT INDUSTRY
AT INDUSTRIALL GLOBAL UNION
                                                                                                            Yes garment factory in Yangon, in March 2018 © IndustriALL Global Union

2017 saw an increase of global brands
and retailers publicly releasing some
                                            Transparency of a company’s
                                            manufacturing supply chain better
                                                                                       “Transparency not             For workers and their unions,
                                                                                                                       transparency in the supply chain
information about their supply chain:       enables a company to identify and             only provides a link         is a vital tool to ensure that the
factory location, the name of the parent
company, types of products made,
                                            assess actual or potential adverse
                                            human rights impacts. This is a critical
                                                                                          between workers              burden of proof rests with the
                                                                                                                       global brands to ensure that their
number of workers, and if the company       step that strengthens a company’s due         and customers, but           clothes are manufactured in an
has authorized any subcontracts from
the facility. This a step in the right
                                            diligence. It is also a needed step for
                                            workers who make the world’s clothes          it provides workers          environment that is free of human
                                                                                                                       and labour rights violation. With
direction that contributes to a new norm    and a needed step for customers.              and their unions the         the knowledge of which brands are
for global supply chain transparency.                                                                                  sourcing from their factory, workers
                                            Being transparent with information on         needed information           and their unions can be active in the
With over 100 plus companies
disclosing, it is now time to turn to the
                                            production is important for workers
                                            and their unions as it allows for human
                                                                                          to advocate on               monitoring of their own workplace.

thousands of other brands who are           rights conflicts to be settled in an          their behalf when
shirking their responsibilities to the
workers who make their clothes and to
                                            efficient manner by opening up a
                                            channel back to the sourcing brand.           resolving conflicts.”
their customers and demand that they        This allows workers and their unions
too go transparent.                         to use multiple brands’ leverage to
                                            remedy human rights violations.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                            12

VIEWPOINT:
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR
MORE TRANSPARENCY

                     DEBBIE COULTER
                     ACTING HEAD OF KNOWLEDGE & LEARNING
                     ETHICAL TRADING INITIATIVE

These last 18 months have                         Crucially, greater transparency can help
                                                  brands engage and collaborate with trade           “Transparency can
                                                                                                       help companies
seen strong momentum                              unions and other civil society organisations;
                                                  the disclosure of supplier lists can facilitate
behind the disclosure of                          the escalation of a labour rights issue by
supply chain information
in the apparel sector.
                                                  local trade unions directly to brands, an
                                                  issue that a standard factory audit may              embed better working
                                                                                                       practices internally,
                                                  have failed to identify.
This is a very positive development, and as
                                                  Yet we must not forget that we are still

                                                                                                       as being more
of February 2018, about a quarter of Ethical
                                                  at an early stage. In order to scale up
Trading Initiative’s apparel members had
                                                  transparency and speed up this movement
already made the move to publishing at

                                                                                                       transparent means
                                                  beyond the “early adopters,” we need to
least their Tier 1 supplier lists.
                                                  continue to work on capturing the evidence
                                                  of positive outcomes for workers as well

                                                                                                       holding up a mirror to
But, this momentum has also resulted in
transparency being sometimes held up as a         as brands and retailers.
universal remedy, without proper agreement
                                                  Additionally, we need to clarify what

                                                                                                       their own practices.”
over what it means, or with evidence of
                                                  robust and meaningful transparency
positive outcomes for workers employed
                                                  means beyond publishing supplier lists.
in supply chains.
                                                  We also need to further demystify the
That’s why Ethical Trading Initiative, and        issue of greater transparency and look at
other organisations such as Human Rights          the implications for apparel companies
Watch, have recently been doing more              of different sizes and different business
work to clarify the benefits brands can get       models. These are some of the topics that
from becoming more transparent. These             Ethical Trading Initiative is exploring with its
benefits include building trust with customers    company, trade union and NGO members
and investors, supporting commercial              as part of its 2020 strategy.
performance and facilitating access to capital.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018

WHAT DO                                                                              T R A N S PA R E N CY
WE MEAN BY
TRANSPARENCY?

                                                                                                     FA I R T R A D E

                                                                                                    W E L L- B E I N G

                                                                                                   L I V I N G WAG E S

For Fashion Revolution,                  Transparency should enable                               EMPOWERMENT
transparency means credible,             greater accountability
                                                                                                GENDER EQUALITY
comprehensive and comparable             Transparency is not just sharing the
public disclosure of data and            good stories nor disclosing only
                                                                                          BUSINESS ACCOUNTABILITY
information about brands and             compliant, well-performing suppliers
retailers’ supply chains, business       — it’s about presenting the full picture,
                                                                                         S U S TA I N A B L E L I V E L I H O O D S
                                         both good and not-so-good, in an
practices and the impacts of these       effort to allow for greater scrutiny by
practices on workers, communities                                                      GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS
                                         those affected and interested, and to
and the environment.                     help drive faster improvements.
                                                                                     E N V I R O N M E N TA L S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
                                         This sort of transparency requires
When we talk about greater
                                         brands and retailers to know exactly
transparency, we mean public
                                         who makes the products they sell –
disclosure of sourcing relationships
                                         from who stitched them right through
and of companies’ social and
                                         to who dyed the fabric and who
environmental policies and
                                         farmed the cotton. And crucially, this
procedures, goals and targets,
                                         requires brands to trace the journey        A FAIRER, SAFER, CLEANER
performance and progress.
                                         of their products right down to the raw         FASHION INDUSTRY
                                         material level. We are asking them
                                         to share this information publicly as
                                         an important move towards greater
                                         transparency and accountability.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                 14

 Transparency is not selective            Transparency is a means
 disclosure to third parties as           to change, not an end
 opposed to public disclosure
                                          Transparency alone is not enough to
 Some brands opt to disclose supply       fix the industry’s problems, but it is
 chain information to selected NGOs       a necessary first step towards wider

                                                                                     transparency
 or unions rather than publicly, and      systemic change. We each need to
 have done so for many years in           act upon the wealth of information
 order to manage their supply chain       that is being disclosed in order to hold
 risks. However, we feel this is not      brands and retailers, governments
 enough. Health and safety incidents,     and suppliers to account.
 widespread abuses and even deaths
 are still happening, despite this        Ultimately, Fashion Revolution
 industry-facing disclosure.              believes that the fashion industry as
                                          a whole needs a radical paradigm
                                          shift and the way that most clothing

                                                                                     accountability
                                          is produced and consumed will need
                                          transformation. This means business
                                          models will need to change in a big
“The knowledge                           way and a multiplicity of solutions will
  that important                          likely be needed. Transparency helps
                                          to reveal the industry’s problems and
  information                             identify potential solutions so that
  is being kept                           we can all better understand how to
                                          change it.
  from people
  undermines trust
  and creates greater
  uncertainty."                                                                         change
 EMILY O’REILLY
 EUROPEAN OMBUDSMAN, 2017
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                           15

TO ACHIEVE CHANGE
WE RECOGNISE
4 IMPORTANT THINGS:

                                                                                                      i

           It’s a process                              Inclusivity is key              More information is needed                Turn data into action
It is going to be a long journey towards       Millions of workers are employed       Many people continue to shop from            Transparency isn’t just for
  a different industry model, requiring       through the supply chains of these      big corporate brands, but want more     transparency’s sake. The data and
    many incremental but necessary            big brands, and we must be careful        tools to understand how products    information disclosed by companies
  steps, to turn the tide of fast fashion     to ensure that future of the fashion     are made, where they are made, by        needs to be accessible, usable
     or other unsustainable business           industry is able to provide decent      whom and under what conditions.       and detailed enough to take action
   models. We believe the first step is          work, sustainable livelihoods,                                                 upon. What we do with publicly
   greater transparency. This will take         hope and integrity for everyone                                              available supply chain information,
    consumers, brands and retailers,           employed in it, from farm to retail.                                              how we use it to drive positive
  governments and citizens in supply                                                                                           change, is what will count most.
   chains each taking action. Fashion
Revolution is engaging with all of these
   groups to catalyse positive change.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018   16

ABOUT THE
FASHION
TRANSPARENCY
INDEX
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                17

WHY HAVE WE
CONDUCTED
THIS RESEARCH?

Fashion Revolution is calling              Through the Fashion Transparency             Furthermore, we wanted to create:         “Our aim is to better
                                           Index, we want to help people know
for greater transparency                   a bit more about the brands and              • A
                                                                                           comparable tool that helps              understand the social
throughout the fashion industry            retailers they buy products from.              stakeholders better understand
                                                                                          how much information big brands
                                                                                                                                    and environmental
                                           Many of the brands included in the
and our #whomademyclothes                  Fashion Transparency Index are selling         and retailers are disclosing              information shared
social media campaign                      special ‘sustainable’ collections but          about their suppliers and social          by big brands and
                                                                                          and environmental impacts
has inspired hundreds of                   what about the rest of their products?
                                                                                          across the value chain;                   retailers. We will use
                                           Where are their clothes made, by
thousands of people to                     whom and under what conditions?                                                          this information to
                                                                                        • A
                                                                                           tool to incentivise big brands
take action since 2013.                                                                   and retailers to disclose more            drive positive change."
                                           What information should we expect to
                                                                                          credible, comparable and detailed
                                           find about these big brands’ policies and
To build on this question, we wanted                                                      information year-on-year by
                                           procedures when it comes to social and
to create a tool that would help people                                                   utilising the competitive nature
                                           environmental issues? What can we find
better understand what transparency                                                       of business performance;                 SAR AH DITTY
                                           out about the effects of brands' practices
looks like in practice, particularly                                                                                               HEAD OF POLICY, FASHION REVOLUTION
                                           on the people who work in their supply       • A
                                                                                           n ongoing exercise that helps
when it comes to big fashion and
                                           chains? These are some of questions the        the Fashion Revolution movement
apparel brands and retailers.
                                           Fashion Transparency Index considers.          shape its own understanding of
                                                                                          what transparency entails and what
                                                                                          transparency demands we may ask in
                                                                                          future from big brands and retailers.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                             18

THE                                                                                          The Fashion Transparency Index uses a ratings methodology to
                                                                                             benchmark brands' and retailers’ public disclosure across five key
METHODOLOGY                                                                                  areas, including: policy and commitments, governance, supply
                                                                                             chain traceability, supplier assessment and remediation, and new
                                                                                             'spotlight issues' covering living wages, unionisation and collective
                                                                                             bargaining, waste and recycling, and women, gender equality and
                                                                                             female empowerment. We are only looking at information and data
                                                                                             that is publicly disclosed by brands and retailers themselves.

1.                                  2.                                  3.                                 4.                                 5.
 POLICY &
 COMMITMENTS                        GOVERNANCE                          TRACEABILITY                         KNOW, SHOW & FIX                 SPOTLIGHT ISSUES

 ­—What are the brand’s social     ­­—Who in the brand               ­­—Does the brand publish a        ­­—How does the brand assess   ­­—What is the brand doing to
    and environmental policies?          is responsible for the              list of its suppliers, from          the implementation of its        address gender equality and
                                         brand’s social and                  manufacturing to raw                 supplier policies?               female empowerment?
 ­—How is the brand putting its
                                         environmental impacts?              material level?
     policies into practice?                                                                                 ­­—How does the brand fix      ­­—What is the brand doing
                                    ­­—How can they be contacted?     ­­—If so, how much detail              problems when found in           support Freedom of
 ­—How does the brand decide
                                                                            do they share?                        its supplier facilities?         Association and the payment
     which issues to prioritise?    ­­—How does the brand
                                                                                                                                                   of living wages?
                                         incorporate human rights                                            ­­—Does the brand report
 ­­—What are the brand’s future
                                         and environmental issues                                                 assessment findings?        ­­—What is the brand doing
      goals for improving its
                                         into its buying and sourcing                                                                              to tackle overproduction,
      impacts?                                                                                               ­­—How can workers report
                                         practices?                                                                                                overconsumption, waste
                                                                                                                  grievances?
                                                                                                                                                  and recycling?
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                      19

WEIGHTING OF                                                           The methodology focuses exclusively
                                                                       on public disclosure of supply
                                                                                                                 Please be aware that when brands
                                                                                                                 score zero on an individual indicator,

THE SCORES
                                                                       chain information. Therefore, the         it doesn’t necessarily mean anything
                                                                       weighting of the scores is intended       bad. It just means they’re not
                                                                       to emphasise increasing levels of         disclosing their efforts publicly.
                                                                       detailed disclosure, especially when it
                                                                       comes to publishing supplier lists and
                                                                       the results of supplier assessments.
                                                                       We are rewarding granularity.

1.                                2.                        3.                           4.                                5.
 POLICY &
 COMMITMENTS                        GOVERNANCE              TRACEABILITY                   KNOW, SHOW & FIX                  SPOTLIGHT ISSUES

TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS
                 (250)                     48          13        85                                    74                     30

               WEIGHTING
                      (%)                 19%          5%        34%                                 30%                     12%
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                        20

ABOUT THE
METHODOLOGY

The first methodology was created by       The methodology has been designed           The methodology is based on               How does the 2018 methodology
Ethical Consumer in 2016 with input        by the Fashion Revolution team, led         existing international standards          differ from last year?
from Fashion Revolution. For 2017,         by Sarah Ditty and Carry Somers,            and benchmarks including: UN
Fashion Revolution took the lead on the    with consultative input and feedback        Sustainable Development Goals,            Small tweaks and changes have
project’s development and considerably     from a committee of pro bono                UN Guiding Principles, OECD Due           been made to the 2018 methodology,
revised the methodology. We spent four     industry experts, including:                Diligence Guidelines, Ethical Trading     building on the 2017 methodology
months consulting a diverse group of                                                   Initiative Base Code, and Fair Labor      revision process. In the first four
more than 20 industry experts on this      • Dr Mark Anner, Director of Centre        Association’s Freedom of Association      sections, the methodology has seen
revision process. The new methodology         for Global Workers’ Rights at            guidelines. It has also been developed    minor tweaks in order to clarify the
focuses exclusively on public disclosure      Penn State University                    to align as much as possible with other   wording. Section five “Spotlight Issues”
of supply chain information, and we                                                    industry benchmarks and relevant          change focus each year, and this is
                                           • Neil Brown, Alliance Trust Investments
changed the weighting of the scores to                                                 initiatives including the Transparency    where readers might notice changes.
emphasise increasing levels of detailed    • Professor Ian Cook,                      Pledge, Corporate Human Rights
disclosure, especially in regards to          University of Exeter                     Benchmark and Know The Chain.             This year, the “Spotlight Issues” are
disclosing supplier information. We                                                                                              “Women. Workers. Waste." Fashion
                                           • Orsola de Castro, co-founder of                                                    Revolution’s team has chosen these
have updated the methodology again in                                                  We recognise that the methodology
                                              Fashion Revolution and waste expert                                                three areas of focus to align with our
2018, making small changes for clarity                                                 is not perfect and can always
and selecting new 'Spotlight Issues.'      • Subindhu Garkhel,                        be improved. We welcome any               forthcoming work on the UN Sustainable
                                              Fairtrade Foundation                     feedback on how to make it better.        Development Goals. The scoring in each
                                                                                                                                 of the five sections has been adjusted
                                           • Jenny Holdcroft, IndustriALL             For further detail of the exact           only very slightly to accommodate the
                                           • Dr Alessandra Mezzadri,                  methodology, download the 2018            tweaks and new Spotlight Issues. We
                                             SOAS, University of London                brand questionnaire template.             don’t expect these changes to have a
                                                                                                                                 large overall impact on the ability to
                                           • Joe Sutcliffe, Advisor - Dignified                                                 compare trends and progress year-
                                              Work, CARE International                                                           on-year, but the changes do affect
                                           • Heather Webb, Ethical Consumer                                                     direct comparability of data year-
                                                                                                                                 on-year at a more granular level.
                                           • And several others experts who wished
                                              to remain anonymous at this time.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                                                            21

HOW WERE                                                                                                        A-Z OF BRANDS
THE 150 BRANDS
SELECTED?                                                                                                       Abercrombie & Fitch
                                                                                                                Adidas
                                                                                                                Aéropostale
                                                                                                                                                          George at ASDA (Walmart)
                                                                                                                                                          Gildan Activewear
                                                                                                                                                          Giorgio Armani
                                                                                                                                                                                               Nike
                                                                                                                                                                                               Nine West
                                                                                                                                                                                               Nordstrom
                                                                                                                Amazon                                    Gucci (Kering Group)                 Old Navy (Gap Inc.)
                                                                                                                American Eagle                            GUESS?                               OVS
                                                                                                                ANTA Sports (ANTA International)          H&M                                  Pernambucanas
                                                                                                                Anthropologie (URBN)                      Hanes                                Prada
                                                                                                                Armani                                    Heilan Home                          Primark (Associated British Foods)
                                                                                                                Asics Corporation                         Hermès                               Pull&Bear (Inditex)
                                                                                                                ASOS                                      Hudson's Bay (HBC)                   Puma (Kering Group)
Brands have been chosen on the                                 We have deliberately listed brands               Banana Republic (Gap Inc.)                Hugo Boss                            Ralph Lauren
basis of annual turnover of over                               in our report rather than the parent             Barney's                                  Jack & Jones (Bestseller)            Reebok (Adidas)
                                                                                                                Benetton                                  JCPenney                             Ross Stores
US$500 million and represent                                   company because consumers will                   Bershka (Inditex)                         J.Crew                               Renner
a spread of market segments                                    be most familiar with brand names.               Bloomingdale's (Macy's)                   JD Sports                            Ross Stores
                                                                                                                bonprix (Otto Group)                      Jordan (Nike, Inc.)                  Russell Athletic (Fruit of the Loom)
including high street, luxury,
                                                                                                                Bottega Veneta (Kering Group)             Jessica Simpson (Sequentional        s.Oliver
sportswear, accessories, footwear                              98 of the brands in the 2018 report              Brooks Brothers                           Brands Group)                        Sainsburys - Tu Clothing
and denim from across Europe, North                            were included in last year’s report,             Burberry                                  Joe Fresh (Loblaw)                   Sak's Fifth Avenue (HBC)
                                                               meaning there are 52 new brands                  Burlington                                John Lewis                           Salvatore Ferragamo
America, South America and Asia.                                                                                C&A                                       Jordan                               Sandro (SMCP)
                                                               this year. We intend to expand the               Calvin Klein (PVH)                        Kate Spade (Tapestry, Inc)           Sports Direct
We relied on publicly available                                number of brands and retailers                   Calzedonia                                Kik (Tengelmann)                     Stradivarius (Inditex)
                                                                                                                Carolina Herrera (Puig Group)             Kohl's                               Superdry (Supergroup)
financial information to select                                included in next year’s edition.                 Celine                                    Lacoste                              Takko (Hettlage group)
brands and retailers. Some                                                                                      Champion (HanesBrands)                    Lands’ End                           Target
                                                                                                                Chanel                                    Levi Strauss & Co                    Tchibo
companies are privately held and                                                                                Chico's                                   Lidl UK (Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG)     Tesco F&F
do not publish financial records,                                                                               Claire's Accessories                      Lindex (Stockmann)                   The Buckle
including turnover, which means                                                                                 COACH (Tapestry, Inc)                     Liverpool (El Puerto de Liverpool)   The North Face (VF Corp)
                                                                                                                Columbia Sportswear                       LL Bean                              Timberland (VF Corp)
we may have been unable to                                                                                      Converse (Nike, Inc.)                     LOFT                                 TJ Maxx (TJX)
include them in this edition.                                                                                   Cortefiel (Grupo Cortefiel)               Longchamp                            Tommy Hilfiger (PVH)
                                                                                                                Costco                                    Louis Vuitton (LVMH)                 Topshop (Arcadia Group)
Where brands are part of a parent                                                                               Debenhams                                 Lululemon                            Tory Burch
company with annual turnover                                                                                    Decathlon                                 Macy's                               Triumph
                                                                                                                Desigual                                  Mango                                Under Armour
over US$500 million, we have                                                                                    Dick’s Sporting Goods (Conetic)           Marc Jacobs (LVMH                    Uniqlo (Fast Retailing)
selected the brand or brands                                                                                    Diesel (OTB Group)                        Marks & Spencer                      Urban Outfitters
that appear to make up the most                                                                                 Dillard's                                 Massimo Dutti (Inditex)              Valentino
                                                                                                                Dior                                      Matalan                              Van Heusen (PVH)
significant part of their business.                                                                             Dolce & Gabbana                           Max Mara (MMFG)                      Vans (VF Corp)
                                                                                                                Dressman (Varner Group)                   Mexx (Eroglu)                        Vero Moda (BESTSELLER)
                                                                                                                El Corte Inglés                           Michael Kors                         Versace
                                                                                                                Ermenegildo Zegna                         Miu Miu (Prada Group)                Victoria's Secret
                                                                                                                Esprit                                    Monoprix (Group Casino)              Walmart
                                                                                                                Express                                   Monsoon Accessorize                  Wrangler (VF Corp)
                                                                                                                Falabella Inversiones (Falabella Ltda.)   Neiman Marcus                        Youngor
                                                                                                                Fendi (LVMH)                              New Balance                          YSL (Kering Group)
                                                                                                                Foot Locker                               New Look                             Zalando
                                                                                                                Forever 21                                New York & Co.                       Zara (Inditex)
*In general, the scores for brands that are part of a parent company apply to all of the subsidiaries in the
  parent company, not just the brands included in this report. There are some exceptions: for example,          G-Star                                    New Yorker
  George at ASDA and Walmart; Puma and the other Kering Group brands, Lidl UK.                                  Gap                                       Next
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                            22

HOW DOES THE
SCORING WORK?

How do brands and retailers                  What else to note about                    Many companies produce annual                   How is the research conducted?
receive points?                              the scoring?                               reports that span 200-400 pages;
                                                                                        as such, there is a notable margin              The Fashion Transparency Index uses
Points are awarded only
                                              Brands' and retailers' individual         for human error. It is not always               only publicly disclosed information
based on public disclosure via
                                              scores are not as important as the        possible to catch everything. However,          about each brand’s policies, procedures,
published communications
                                              ranges in which they have scored.         our research team endeavoured                   performance and progress on human
from the following places:
                                                                                        to be as thorough, accurate and                 rights and environmental issues across
• On the company’s website(s);               In this sort of benchmarking exercise,     fair as possible. All averages in               its supply chains. We rely solely on
• In annual reports or annual                it is not always easy to fit complex       this report represent the mean.                 information available on the brands’
  sustainability/CSR reports (only           and nuanced issues into one neat and                                                       websites, in their annual reports
  counted if dated January 2016 or later)    uniform methodology. Therefore, we                                                         (published January 2016 or later), or
                                             want to stress that you use the Fashion    QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSE
  published on the company website(s);                                                                                                  via third party websites when linked
                                             Transparency Index findings to reflect                                                     to directly from the brands’ website.
• In any other documents which
  are publicly available and can
                                             on general trends in transparency rather       57%                        43%
                                             than focus on whether brands scored                                                        We also sent each brand a
  be downloaded freely from                                                                 did not respond or         of brands
                                             a point higher or lower than another           declined the opportunity   completed        questionnaire in order to help us identify
  the company's website(s);                                                                 to complete the            and returned a
                                             brand overall or in any particular area.       questionnaire              questionnaire    where information is publicly disclosed
• Via third party websites but only                                                                                                     and to clarify information we found
  when linked to directly from the           Although we have designed the                                                              through our team’s own research.
  company's own website (i.e. there          methodology to be as objective and                                                         Brands were given approximately one
  is a direct link from the company's        comparable as possible, there is a                                                         month to complete the questionnaire.
  website to the third party website.)       degree of human interpretation required                                                    The completed questionnaires were
                                             for each question. Furthermore, there                                                      analysed by our research team and
                                             is no common template that brands                                                          scores were awarded where appropriate.
The weighting of the scores is intended to
                                             and retailers use for reporting on
emphasise increasing levels of detailed
                                             social and environmental issues.
disclosure; we are rewarding granularity.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                     23

The research was conducted by Sarah             What is beyond the scope?
Ditty, Carry Somers, Aidan Shaw, Ilishio
Lovejoy, Fionnuala Walravens, Aphra             Fashion Transparency Index
Kennedy-Fletcher, Eduardo Iracheta              does not offer an in-depth
and Michelle Lai with further support           analysis of the content, quality or
from Lowell Chow and Sienna Somers              accuracy of a company’s policies,
between January and April 2018.                 procedures, performance and
                                                progress in any given area.
The pro-bono consultation committee
members were called upon in                     Verification of claims made by brands
special circumstances to provide                and retailers is beyond the scope
guidance on their areas of expertise            of this study. We have designed the
but were not involved in the final              methodology to provide insights
scoring of the brands and retailers.            that reveal patterns of disclosure,
                                                are comparable over time and allow
Should you know of any remaining                brands to see where they stand on
inaccuracies, please contact us                 transparency compared to their peers.
at sarah@fashionrevolution.org
 and we will take this into                     Limitations of the research
account for the next edition.
                                                Our team researched and scored
What is the scope of                            brands regardless of whether they
the research?                                   completed the questionnaire or not.
                                                However, brands that completed
The Fashion Transparency Index has              the questionnaire were more likely
been designed to give an illustrative           to receive a higher score simply
look at how much brands know and                because our researchers will have
share about their supply chains. We             been alerted to further information
have deliberately chosen to focus               we hadn’t already found ourselves.
specifically on transparency by means
of public disclosure and not everything         However, there are limits to desk-
that brands and retailers are doing             based research, and only on-the-
internally or otherwise behind-the-             ground research by NGOs, unions
scenes across their companies and               and academics can reveal the true
supply chains. Brands and retailers             impacts of brands' policies and
may very well have excellent policies           practices in real-world situations.
and programmes in place internally,             By encouraging brands and retailers
but if they’re not shared publicly              to become more transparent, the
then they’re not counted here.                  Fashion Transparency Index hopes to
                                                facilitate the excellent work of NGOs,
                                                unions and academics doing this type
                                                of on-the-ground, in-country work.
[RIGHT] PHOTOGRAPHY © PURECOTZ
for Fairtrade Foundation www.fairtrade.org.uk
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018       24

THE
FINAL
SCORES

To download the full spreadsheet of results, click here.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                  25

A ROUGH GUIDE                                                                                                                                                Total scores were out of 250 possible points, which we have
TO THE SCORING                                                                                                                                               converted into percentages. We chose to group brands into
                                                                                                                                                             score ranges because we want readers to focus on emerging
                                                                                                                                                             patterns and trends rather than individual scores.

      0—10%                         11—20%                       21—30%                         31—40%                          41—50%                            51—60%                          61—70%                             71—80%   81—90%       91—100%

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       TRANSPARENCY
 Brands scoring between         Brands scoring between       Brands scoring between         Brands scoring between          Brands scoring over 40%          Brands scoring 51-60%            No brands score above 60% but if they
 0-5% are disclosing nothing    11-20% are likely to be      21-30% are likely to be        31-40% are the brands who       are those who are most           are disclosing all of the        did these brands would be disclosing all
 at all or a very limited       publishing many policies,    publishing much more           are publishing suppliers        likely to be publishing more     information already              of the information already described as
 number of policies, which      some procedures and          detailed information           lists as well as detailed       detailed supplier lists, some    described in the other ranges    well as publishing detailed information
 tend to be related to the      some information about       about their policies,          information about their         will be publishing processing    and will be publishing           about assessment and remediation
 brand's job hiring practices   their supplier assessment    procedures, social and         policies, procedures, social    facilities as well as            detailed supplier lists which    findings for specific facilities and detailed
 or local community             and remediation              environmental goals and        and environmental goals,        manufacturers — in addition      include manufacturers as         supplier lists from manufacturing right
 engagement activities.         processes. These brands      supplier assessment and        supplier assessment and         to detailed information about    well as processing facilities.   down to raw materials. These brands
                                will most likely not be      remediation processes.         remediation processes.          their policies, procedures,      These brands will be             would be disclosing the number of
 Brands scoring between         publishing supplier lists.   These may be publishing        These brands are also more      social and environmental         publishing the vast majority     workers in their supply chain covered
 5-10% are likely to be                                      a supplier list but not with   likely to be addressing a few   goals, supplier assessment       of policies, procedures and      by collective bargaining agreements or
 publishing some policies                                    many details other than        of the Spotlight Issues such    and remediation processes        future goals.                    part of independent democratically-
 for both its own employees                                  factory name and address.      capacity building for female    and general assessment                                            elected trade unions. These brands
 and suppliers. Those closer                                 These brands will not widely   supply chain workers,           findings. These brands                                            would be their mapping social and
 to 10% are likely to be                                     be disclosing information      collective bargaining and/or    are also more likely to be                                        environmental impacts into their financial
 publishing a basic supplier                                 on the “Spotlight Issues.”     textile and clothing waste.     addressing the Spotlight                                          business model. We would be able
 code of conduct and                                                                                                        Issues such as the gender                                         to find details about the company’s
 some detailed information                                                                                                  pay gap, capacity building for                                    gender pay gap, number of women
 about their procedures                                                                                                     female supply chain workers,                                      in executive and management roles
 and possibly supplier                                                                                                      collective bargaining                                             and how women’s issues are being
 assessment process.                                                                                                        and/or textile waste and                                          addressed in the supply chain.
                                                                                                                            circular resources.
FASHION REVOLUTION | FASHION TRANSPARENCY INDEX 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                          26

THE FINAL SCORES
0-10%                              11-20%                             21-30%                            31-40%                             41-50%                             51-60%                            61-70%            71-80%   81-90%   91-100%
Amazon                       10                                       George at ASDA              30    Calvin Klein                 38    ASOS                        50     Adidas                      58
                                   Superdry                    20
Ross Stores                  10                                       New Look                    29    Tommy Hilfiger               38    Levi Strauss & Co            47    Reebook                     58
                                   Jack & Jones                20
Monsoon Accessorize           9                                       bonprix                     29    Van Heusen                   38    The North Face              46     Puma                        56
                                   Vero Moda                   20
Triumph                       9                                       New Balance                 29    Hugo Boss                    38    Timberland                  46     H&M                         55
                                   Salvatore Ferragamo         20
Valentino                     9                                       LOFT                        29    Lindex                       37    Vans                        46     Esprit                      54
                                   Victoria's Secret            19
Takko                         9                                       Uniqlo                      29    Gucci                        37    Wrangler                    46     Banana Republic             54
                                   GUESS?                       19
Armani                        8                                       Zalando                     27    Bottega Veneta               36    G-Star                      45     Gap                         54
                                   Mango                        18
Kohl's                        8                                       Asics Corporation           26    YSL                          36    Tchibo                      42     Old Navy                    54
                                   Bloomingdale's               18
Michael Kors                  7                                       Topshop                     26    Converse                     36    Bershka                     42     C&A                         53
                                   Macy's                       18
Express                       7                                       Hermès                      26    Jordan                       36    Massimo Dutti               42     Marks & Spencer              51
                                   TJ Maxx                      18
Sainsburys – Tu Clothing      7                                       Walmart                     25    Nike                         36    Pull & Bear                 42
                                   Nordstrom                    17
Calzedonia                    6                                       Dressman                    24    Primark                      36    Stradivarius                42
                                   Russell Athletic             17
Forever 21                    6                                       Champion                    24    Lululemon                    35    Zara                        42
                                   Decathlon                    17
Lacoste                       6                                       Hanes                       24    Benetton                     35
                                   Falabella                    16
Anthropologie                 6                                       John Lewis                  24    Target                       35
                                   JCPenney                     16
Urban Outfitters              6                                       OVS                         23    Gildan Activewear            33
                                   Kik                          16
Neiman Marcus                 6                                       Debenhams                   23    Burberry                     33
                                   Fendi                        15
Aéropostale                   5                                       Columbia Sportswear Co 22         Next                         33
                                   Cortefiel                    15
Sports Direct                 5                                       Hudson's Bay                22    Tesco – F&F                  31
                                   Costco – Kirkland
Carolina Herrera              5    Signature                    15    Sak's Fifth Avenue          22
Ermenegildo Zegna             5    Lidl UK                      15    Under Armour                22
Foot Locker                   5    Miu Miu                      15    COACH                       21
Matalan                       5    Prada                        15    Lands' End                  21
Versace                       4    American Eagle               15
Diesel                        4    Louis Vuitton                15
Marc Jacobs                   3    Abercrombie & Fitch          14
Tory Burch                    3    Ralph Lauren                 14
Chanel                        3    J.Crew                       13
LL Bean                       3    Monoprix                     13
Youngor                       3    El Corte Inglés              13
ANTA Sports                   2    JD Sports                    13
New York & Co.                2    Kate Spade                   12
Claire's Accessories          2    Burlington                   12
Dolce & Gabbana               1    Dick's Sporting Goods        12
Brooks Brothers               1    Joe Fresh                    12
New Yorker                    1    Chico's                      11
Longchamp                     0    Dillards                     11
Max Mara                      0    The Buckle                   11
Barney's New York             0
Desigual                      0
Dior                          0
Heilan Home                   0
Jessica Simpson               0
Liverpool                     0
Mexx                          0
s. Oliver                     0
Nine West                     0
Sandro                        0

* Brands ranked in numerical order by score out of 250, but shown as rounded-up percentage. Where brands have the same percentage score, they are listed in alphabetical order and grouped with others from same parent company
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