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The number of people living in modern slavery has risen by 10 million since 2018, according to the latest findings from Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index, bringing the count to an estimated 50 million people globally.
One thing that hasn’t changed? “Fashion’s role in that number,” says founding director Grace Forrest. Modern slavery is defined in the report as “situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power”. This involves their freedom being systematically removed, and is present across industries, with some new industries entering the top five most vulnerable to modern slavery, Forrest says. “Fashion has stayed the same in terms of risk,” she adds, “or worsened.” Garments are currently the second highest-valued at-risk import for G20 countries at $147.9 billion, according to the index, out of a total of $468 billion of all imported goods by the G20.
The index, which collates data from recent research across surveys, journal articles, indexes and reports and offers an overview of risks (based on vulnerability to modern slavery for 160 countries plugged into a risk model) and recommendations across industries, spotlights the risk of exploitation at each stage of the garment supply chain. Walk Free breaks these stages down as follows: raw materials; textiles and inputs; manufacturing; and brands and buyers.
“It’s a sharp and strong call to action for brands to understand that modern slavery is permeating their supply chains at every level, and that ethical production remains the exception rather than the rule,” Forrest says. “Exploitation is the industry standard. In 2023, so much of this industry is underpinned by rampant exploitation of both people and the planet.”
Collectively, in addition to importing $147.9 billion worth of apparel goods, G20 countries import $12.7 billion worth of textiles at risk of being produced by forced labour every year, according to the index. The garment workers within these supply chains pay the price. Poor or exploitative working conditions include poverty wages, piece-rate pay, forced and unpaid overtime, irregular work, health and safety risks and lack of benefits. These are risk factors that can result in forced labour and debt bondage, wherein workers are forced into slavery as a repayment of debt.
A growing movement to guarantee living wages for garment workers imagines a shift in fashion supply chains that would redress global power imbalances. It highlights how far there is still to go.
One of many examples included is that of China’s alleged state-imposed forced labour of Uyghurs, wherein Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim majority groups in Xinjiang are forced to pick cotton, in addition to producing textiles and garments. Walk Free identifies state-imposed forced labour as one of the most difficult forms to address, as it’s the very government meant to protect citizens at the helm.
Gulzire Auelkhan, a Khazakh woman in forced labour in the Uyghur region, is quoted saying: “I was sent to the factory, a kind of sweatshop, I suppose, making gloves... The products were exported abroad, we were told, and sold to foreigners. You made some money, but if you stopped working, they sent you back to the camp. So, there wasn’t much of a choice.”
This situation in China has ignited action from some governments and brands. Almost a year ago, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came into effect in the US. Back in 2021, Chinese tech giant Tencent and Burberry cut ties amid heightened global tension.
While the index seeks to inform both brands and consumers, the onus is on governments to implement regulation, Walk Free’s Forrest says. Recommendations for governments to increase regulation include: strengthening supply chain transparency regulation; conducting regular labour inspections; ensuring the national minimum wage meets a livable one; preventing the import of goods made with forced labour; and providing avenues for redress for exploited workers.
There’s a government response index embedded within the report. Each country listed comes with a government response and suggested strategic action (solutions were consulted on and developed in collaboration with modern slavery survivors). Certain regions have recently passed legislation mandating that companies be more transparent about their supply chain practices — fashion brands included. California, Australia, the UK and EU require large companies to report on their supply chain processes. Forrest highlight’s Germany’s human rights due diligence law, which requires large companies to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence on their business and its suppliers, as one of particular note. It’s proactive harm prevention, versus reactive measures like the UK and Australia implement.
Fashion still falls short. In December 2022, Walk Free and online data platform WikiRate reviewed 97 statements submitted by top garment companies and investors (they were required to submit these under the Modern Slavery Acts of the UK and Australia). The review concluded that the majority of brands failed to address the modern slavery risks prevalent in the garment sector.
Brands are notoriously keen to avoid disclosure. According to advocacy organisation Fashion Revolution’s 2022 Fashion Transparency Index, 96 per cent of brands do not disclose the number of workers currently paid a living wage. Only 27 per cent have a public strategy for achieving living wages throughout their supply chains.
The pandemic only worsened matters, the index reports. Due to companies shifting their own losses onto their suppliers, cancelling orders and leaving suppliers to handle excess inventory, many were forced to close. This resulted in lower pay, poor working conditions and dismissals. Female workers were disproportionately affected.
Notably, the report leans heavily on garment workers’ voices. “Including survivor voices has long been identified as essential to modern slavery and supply chain responses,” Forrest says. “Yet, it’s rarely actioned.” To this end, Walk Free worked extensively to embed survivor voices into the report.
A female apparel worker in India said: “Sometimes my girls use to help in our work. We are a very poor family and have no other source of income… When the lockdown was announced, all our orders were suspended and the supplier blocked our payment.”
Including these voices is key, says Nasreen Sheikh, a survivor of forced marriage, child labour and modern day slavery who has since become a social entrepreneur, founder of Local Women’s Handicrafts in Nepal and Empowerment Collective in the US. “People see the numbers and data and they lose the connection. It’s important for people to hear that there are people like me, out of those 50 million still living in slavery. I was just one who survived. It took a lot to survive — and that’s hard to put into words.”
For fashion, the question is whether companies want to choose to do the right thing, or be forced to, Walk Free’s Forrest says. “You’ve got a tiny, tiny window to be on the right side of history.”
“If not, these numbers will keep increasing, and the most vulnerable people who have done absolutely nothing will be killed, abused and tortured. Especially the women and girls,” Sheikh says. “As a survivor, I will always keep my hope — and my work will continue. I hope governments will come together and help bring supply chain transparency.”
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