Does Clean Clothes Campaign call for boycotts?

We avoid boycotts for two core reasons. 

Firstly, to protect workers: if a brand chooses to stop all production from a country or supplier, workers lose a vital source of income.

Secondly, boycotts fail to advance the systemic issues that plague the fashion industry. Instead, we campaign for long-term solutions for workers’ rights, encouraging brands and retailers to engage with workers, unions and suppliers to guarantee worker safety and dignity. We urge brands to act responsibly by ensuring that order volumes aren’t suddenly changed and that payments to suppliers are not unreasonably delayed.

There are rare exceptions to our boycott policy. In extreme cases, we can ask brands to give suppliers an ultimatum: improve labour conditions or lose our business. For example, in 2001, a lingerie brand, Triumph, faced a boycott for its factory conditions in Myanmar. Unions and activists in Myanmar campaigned and rallied global support. Triumph withdrew its business from the country the following year.