The fashion industry is a huge contributor to modern slavery

At all junctures bar the last, Walk Free asserts that employees are facing concerningly poor working conditions.

These include poverty wages, pay determined by how many individual pieces are made, unpaid overtime, threats to health and safety, and a lack of benefits.

In their most extreme forms, these exploitative practices can lead to situations of forced labour and debt bondage, wherein workers are forced into slavery as a repayment of debt.

Since the last index in 2018, four more countries – Australia, France, Germany, and Norway – introduced modern slavery laws that require large companies to examine their supply chains and act on malpractices where they find them.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Walk Free (@walkfree)

Another 15 criminalised human trafficking, taking the total to 137, and nearly 150 now have modern slavery action plans.

Despite this progress, however, global fashion brands continue to maximise their profits by producing in poorer countries with cheap labour costs.

For this reason, Forrest says that although the report seeks to inform both brands and consumers, the onus is on governments to implement regulation.

Walk Free’s recommendations include: strengthening supply chain transparency regulation; conducting regular labour inspections; ensuring the national minimum wage meets a liveable one; preventing the import of goods made with forced labour; and providing avenues for redress for exploited workers.

‘The largest responsibility and opportunity sits with the countries who are in an economic position to do something about it, who can build supply chains differently and who are engaging with repressive regimes all over the world,’ adds Forrest.

‘They need to start talking about human rights in the front of those negotiations, not as an afterthought.’