The search for fashion supply chain transparency
How can brands and retailers overcome traceability challenges to map exactly where their raw materials are coming from?
The fashion industry s notoriously long, fragmented and opaque supply chains can conceal human rights and environmental abuses. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was introduced to try to make companies responsible for ensuring their supply chains were free from exploitation, but it was not until last month that the government announced financial penalties for those that fail to comply (box below).
The government s action follows a December BBC exposé of the forced labour of Uyghur Muslim people in the cotton industry in the Xinjiang region of western China. Several UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Next, and Tesco, banned the use of raw cotton from Xinjiang as a result.