Textiles

Table of Contents

Textile production includes multiple manufacturing and transformation nodes, such as fabric printing and dyeing; cutting, sewing, and trimming; finishing; and embellishing. The risk of labor abuse can be present at any of these nodes. In addition, textile production often utilizes multiple natural and synthetic inputs or raw materials, including cotton and yarn/thread, which have their own risk of labor abuses in production. Robust traceability systems in the textile industry should be capable of providing insight into both the production of raw material inputs or components and mid-tier and downstream final assembly and manufacturing, as each tier has its own risk of labor abuses.
The frequent occurrence of subcontracting, including unauthorized subcontracting to informal and/or home-based facilities, engenders opacity in global textile supply chains. Given the vulnerability of workers in these settings to forced and child labor, traceability systems should build visibility into subcontracting processes, including through methods for complementary assurance, and should account for these workers in subsequent due diligence efforts.

Forced Labor or Trafficking in Persons cited by U.S. Government

Child Labor cited by U.S. Government

Risk of Forced Labor or Trafficking in Persons cited by other source

Risk of Child Labor cited by other source

Documented presence of migrant workers

Documented presence of other vulnerable workers

Documented presence or significant likelihood of third-party labor recruiters

The U.S. Department of Labor has noted the presence of forced labor in textile production in China and North Korea.¹ The U.S. Department of State has also identified risks of forced labor in textile production in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Uruguay, and Zambia.²
The U.S. Department of Labor has identified child labor in textile production in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Pakistan, and Vietnam.³ The U.S. Department of State has noted risks of child labor in Bulgaria, India, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Morocco, Turkey, and Zambia’s textile industries.⁴
Civil society and news reports have noted risks of forced labor in textile production in Xinjiang, China.⁵ They have also reported forced labor risks in the textile sector in Tamil Nadu, India, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.⁶
Rights groups have highlighted risks of child labor in textile production in Tamil Nadu, India.⁷
Migrant workers have been identified in global textile value chains, particularly at manufacturing sites.⁸
Women and girls comprise most of the workforce in the spinning and weaving node and the textile manufacturing node of textile supply chains. In Bangladesh, 70 percent of garment factory workers are women. Forced labor, excessive hours, low wages, sexual harassment, and poor and unsafe working conditions are persistent labor risks facing workers in these nodes.⁹
Migrant workers in the textile industry are often hired through third-party labor brokers, which increases workers’ risk of debt bondage. For example, a 2019 investigation conducted by the nonprofit Transparentem found that the recruitment fees for migrant workers in Bangladesh ranged from USD 700 to USD 4,500; the per capita gross national income in Bangladesh is only USD 1,470.¹⁰ Some workers are also forced to repay the employer’s costs through pay deductions.¹¹

Large numbers of dispersed, unorganized, or informal small producers or other worksites

Multiple points of aggregation, co-mingling, and/or transformation across supply chain

Complex/opaque supply chains and/or lack of vertical integration

High degree of flexibility in procurement practices of downstream entities

The “fast fashion” demand structure for finished garment goods incentivizes the quick production of large quantities of garments at low costs. Long-term retail-manufacturing relationships are rare; garment corporations may maintain decentralized procurement relationships with hundreds of small-scale textile suppliers at a time. Textile manufacturers themselves subcontract to smaller producers, outsourcing specific tasks such as embroidery, and may not always be transparent about their subcontracted relationships. Although a large brand may deal with a certain manufacturer, this supplier may itself maintain unmonitored horizontal relationships.

Subcontracting relationships also extend into the informal economy, with small or home-based workshops contributing to the stream of a large company’s production. Insulated from corporate and legal audits, child and forced labor – often in the form of non- or insufficient renumeration – can persist.¹² This further limits the visibility of the full supply chain.
Many raw materials can funnel into the fiber production stage (spinning, weaving, and knitting) of textile production, including both synthetic and natural fibers. Because of these complex streams, most textile products contain an aggregation of both natural and synthetic fibers from several different sources.¹³
There is a high degree of flexibility in the procurement practices of brands and garment manufacturers purchasing textiles. Volatile supplier-buyer and supplier-supplier relationships translate to unstable employment contracts.¹⁴ The demand for flexibility, low labor costs, and short lead times for new product designs contribute to labor risk and make it more difficult to account for all the labor inputs within the value chain.¹⁵

Scale or nature of risk is strongly associated with certain types of suppliers/entities

Scale or nature of risk is present across multiple tiers or nodes of supply chain (including in associated downstream or upstream goods)

Scale or nature of risk varies significantly based on geographic area of production

The risks of forced labor and child labor in the textile sector are found in many countries.
Child labor is especially widespread in the upstream stages of textile production, rather than at the final Tier 1 stage of production. These upstream stages may include cotton seed picking, spinning, weaving, and dyeing.¹⁶ The risks of child labor are also associated with informal and home-based worksites, which are often present in the supply chain due to subcontracting.¹⁷
Upstream activities, which are less likely to be captured by current traceability efforts, often have the highest risk of child and forced labor.¹⁸

The textile supply chain is heavily fragmented; multiple globally dispersed production nodes may contribute to the full value chain of a finished good.¹⁹ Many streams of fiber production––including cotton cultivation or the creation of synthetic fibers like polyester––funnel into fiber preparation processes, such as spinning and weaving. In turn, many types of finished fiber materials are used in textile production. Textile production often involves large global retailers subcontracting labor to independent, small-scale manufacturers in order to meet production targets on finished garments.²⁰ The textile production process itself may contain multiple layers of subcontracting relationships between manufacturers.²¹ Labor risks have been noted across all nodes of textile production.

Fiber production (including cultivation and synthetic manufacturing)

Fiber preparation and processing (including ginning and spinning)

Textile production (weaving, knitting, bonding, dyeing, and finishing)

Sale and distribution

Cotton, is one of the most widely utilized types of natural fiber. The cultivation and harvest of cotton have been associated with risk of forced and child labor.

Other upstream goods with documented labor risks associated with textile production include silk cocoons, silk fabric, silk thread, and thread and yarn.

Textiles Apparel and Luxury Goods

Textiles are used in the production of garments and embellished textiles, which are used for other finished products such as clothing and accessories.

Construction

Textiles can also be used for technical or industrial purposes, such as protective clothing or chemical resistant linings, PPE, conveyor belts, ropes, nets, vests, bags, tents, and other uses.

Household Goods

Textiles are used in the production of towels, linens, curtains, carpets, and other decorative household items. These items are also used extensively in the Hospitality Sector.

Leather & Cotton traceability using supply chain mapping Blockchain for Made in Italy Traceability Pilot Project Fiber-forward traceability using digital twin blockchain technology Textile and Garment traceability using an additive tracer and digital chain of custody Fairtrade Textile Standard The Global Organic Textile Standard The GoodWeave Standard Textile Exchange’s Content Claim Standard (CCS)

1
List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 23 June 2021, www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods?tid=All&field_exp_good_target_id=5746&field_exp_exploitation_type_target_id_1=All&items_per_page=10.
2
2022 Trafficking in Persons Report. United States Department of State, 2022. www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221020-2022-TIP-Report.pdf.
3
List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 23 June 2021, www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods?tid=All&field_exp_good_target_id=5746&field_exp_exploitation_type_target_id_1=All&items_per_page=10.
4
2022 Trafficking in Persons Report. United States Department of State, 2022. www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20221020-2022-TIP-Report.pdf.
5
Kuo, Julia. “How your favorite jeans might be fueling a human rights crisis,” Vox, 3 September 2021, www.vox.com/the-highlight/22632448/xinjiang-cotton-ban-china-uyghurs-fast-fashion. ; Apparel and Textile Industry – Virtually the entire apparel and footwear industry is tainted by forced Uyghur and Turkic Muslim Labour, End Uyghur Forced Labour, enduyghurforcedlabour.org/fashion.
6
COVID Crisis Drives Up Child Labor and Forced Labor in Textiles Industry, IJM, www.ijm.org/news/covid-crisis-drives-up-child-labor-and-forced-labor-in-textiles-industry.
7
COVID Crisis Drives Up Child Labor and Forced Labor in Textiles Industry, IJM, www.ijm.org/news/covid-crisis-drives-up-child-labor-and-forced-labor-in-textiles-industry.
8
Paton, Elizabeth. “A Close Look at a Fashion Supply Chain is Not Pretty.” The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/style/malaysia-forced-labor-garment-workers.html.
9
”Sustainability and Circularity in the Global Textile Value Chain: Global Stocktaking.” United Nations Environment Programme, 2020, wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34184/.
10
“Project Summary: Forced Labor Probe in Malaysia Drives Buyers to Act.” Transparentem, Jun. 2019, transparentem.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Transparentem-Malaysia-2019-Project-Summary.pdf.
11
Paton, Elizabeth. “A Close Look at a Fashion Supply Chain is Not Pretty.” The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/style/malaysia-forced-labor-garment-workers.html.
12
aton, Elizabeth. “A Close Look at a Fashion Supply Chain is Not Pretty.” The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/style/malaysia-forced-labor-garment-workers.html.
13
Paton, Elizabeth. “A Close Look at a Fashion Supply Chain is Not Pretty.” The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/style/malaysia-forced-labor-garment-workers.html.
14
Paton, Elizabeth. “A Close Look at a Fashion Supply Chain is Not Pretty.” The New York Times, 28 Jul. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/style/malaysia-forced-labor-garment-workers.html.
15
”Sustainability and Circularity in the Global Textile Value Chain: Global Stocktaking.” United Nations Environment Programme, 2020, wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34184/.
16
Moulds, Josephine. “Child Labour in the Fashion Supply Chain: Where, Why, and What Can Be Done.” The Guardian, labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/.
17
SOMO. Fact Sheet: Child labour in the textile & garment industry, March 2014, www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Fact-Sheet-child-labour-Focus-on-the-role-of-buying-companies.pdf.
18
Sustainability and Circularity in the Global Textile Value Chain: Global Stocktaking.” United Nations Environment Programme, 2020, wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34184/.
19
“Sustainability and Circularity in the Global Textile Value Chain: Global Stocktaking.” United Nations Environment Programme, 2020, wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/34184/.
20
Zoltkowski, Ania. “What on Earth is a Clothing Supply Chain?” Good on You, 22 Jan. 2022, goodonyou.eco/what-is-a-clothing-supply-chain/.
21
Van Klaveren, Maarten, and Kea Tijdens. “Mapping the Global Garment Supply Chain.” WageIndicator.org, Aug 2018, wageindicator.org/documents/publicationslist/publications-2018/2018-garment-wageindicator.pdf.
22
List of exporters for the selected product in 202. Product: 60 Knitted or crocheted fabrics. www.trademap.org/Country_SelProduct.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c60%7c%7c%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1 .

Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL‐35805. 100 percent of the total costs of the project or program is financed with federal funds, for a total of USD 4,000,000. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government

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Supply Chain Characteristics that Impact Traceability

Traceability Takeaways

Nature of Labor Rights Risk/Vulnerable Workers

Features of Production and Supply Chain

Distribution of Labor Risk in Various Production Areas

Linked Upstream and Downstream Risks

Risk in Nodes in Textiles Production

Associated Upstream Goods with Labor Risk

Associated Downstream Goods and Consumer Sectors

Top Global Countries

Examples & Resources: Traceability Efforts Associated With Textiles

Footnotes