H&M lists garment suppliers on app to tackle worker abuses
Workers rights groups say it is a step forward in increasing transparency in an industry with high risks of slavery and labour abuses
London — Fashion brand H&M has become the first major retailer to list individual supplier details for each garment on its website to increase transparency in an industry with high risks of slavery and labour abuses. The Sweden-based multinational’s move was hailed by workers rights groups who said it is a step forward, but added that the data may not be particularly meaningful to shoppers without additional information to put it into context. “This is innovative and good,” Anna Bryher advocacy director at Britain’s Labour Behind the Label, which campaigns for garment workers’ rights, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Maybe H&M need to think a bit more about how to make that information live and useful to consumers — adding information, for example, about wages paid at suppliers and comparing that to the living-wage benchmarks or their promises on living wages.” A growing number of big brands, from sportswear giant Adidas to fashion retailer ASOS, are sharing information about t...
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