December 8, 2016
Humanity United’s project, KnowTheChain, published its third benchmark of 2016 today, ranking the 20 largest apparel and footwear companies on their efforts to address forced labor in their supply chains. While the average score (46/100) was higher than other sectors benchmarked by KnowTheChain earlier this year – Information and Communications Technology (39/100) and Food and Beverage (30/100) – the report indicates there is still significant room for improvement.
Of particular interest is the large disparity between the scores of leading companies like Adidas (81) and Gap (77) and those lagging in their efforts to address this issue, such as Prada (9), Shenzhou International (1), and Belle International (0).
Of the seven themes used to evaluate companies, the report reveals that the sector could improve most in the areas of recruitment and worker voice.