Corporations can no longer say they’re not responsible for harm done in their supply chain. A new European due diligence law forces large companies to identify, end, or mitigate and remedy harm they caused in their value chains. Workers can also sue companies in case of corporate abuse. 

The International Accord, a binding agreement that improves safety for over 2 million factory workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan, started in 2023 with an unprecedented 6 year mandate and a commitment to expand to more countries. Within just 6 months, this agreement was signed by brands more than any earlier Accord agreements.

After months of campaigning, Victoria’s Secret paid $8.3 million owed in severance to Thai workers who made their lingerie — the biggest severance case victory to date. This makes a huge difference for more than 1,250 workers and their families – many of whom had to take out loans to pay their rent or feed their kids after the factory closed in March 2021. This was one of several post-pandemic victories won with workers to ensure they were paid the wages or severance withheld during the crisis.

In 2020, a minimum wage increase went into effect in Karnataka (India), but garment factory owners refused to pay. 400,000 garment workers were cheated of the legal minimum wage – nearly $60 million in back wages. In March 2022, after an intense pressure campaign, several of the region’s major manufacturers finally committed to start paying the legal minimum wage and arrears!

Getting justice for garment workers and their families after factory incidents in Bangladesh usually ended up in long-winded and traumatic processes. This injustice led us to advocate for many years for an Employment Injury Insurance system in accordance with international norms so that workers would have direct access to pensions after a workplace incident rather than have to fight for many years. A first pilot, which should lead to a new law, started in 2022. 

After five years of campaigning and organising together with our union colleagues, the brands and unions behind the Safety Accord agreement announced Pakistan to be the first country beyond Bangladesh where the programme would be rolled out. Workers in the country where the garment industry’s worst factory fire ever took place will finally see concrete steps towards safer factories. 

During the pandemic, workers’ right to organise was under pressure. Yet workers continued to organise themselves in unions. In a NEXT factory, they got their union recognised after international outrage over management’s union-busting. Later in the year, Sri Lankan unions signed a agreement with the employers to address pressing issues in the industry collaboratively. 

For the first time, migrant workers won full compensation in a case of wage theft in Mae Sot, Thailand, a regulatory black hole where exploitation was rife and many factories operated without proper inspections. The workers received more than 3.46 million Thai baht (approx. $110,000) after Tesco, Starbucks, Disney and NBC Universal finally agreed to pay the workers who made their T-shirts!

To shine a light on supply chains and make multinationals accountable, we launched the #GoTransparentcampaign, defining a standard of transparency for the garment sector. Over a dozen brands adopted it on the first round of outreach and after 70,000 people called upon Primark to publish its factory locations, the company did so in 2018. By the time we published a follow up report in 2019, 29 companies had aligned with our standard and more and more have aligned with the standard ever since. Find the up to date list of aligned companies here.

In September 2012, over 250 workers died in the Ali Enterprises fire in Pakistan. The sole buyer, German discounter KIK, dragged its feet for many years, but after extensive campaigning in Pakistan, Germany and around the world, KIK finally paid €5.5 million to a fund creating life-long pensions for all affected workers and bereaved families. 

In 2012, at least 112 workers died in a fire in the Tazreen Fashions factory in Bangladesh. This tragedy was soon overshadowed by the Rana Plaza collapse 6 months later, and it took over three years of struggle to secure compensation for the affected families. This meant entering the smoldering ruins to find information on who was sourcing from this death trap factory to hold these companies responsible. In 2015, several months after the Rana Plaza compensation process started, Tazreen families were also compensated through the Tazreen Claims Administration Trust. In June 2016, the Trust completed its work.

The Rana Plaza disaster opened the eyes of the world, but not the pockets of the industry. Despite an enormous death toll and the involvement of 31 brands in the factories in the building, it took over two years to collect enough money, $30 million, to compensate affected families. Later that year, a similar fund was set up to compensate the families of the 112 workers who died in the Tazreen fire of 2012.

Several big worker wins followed up on each other in 2013. Workers who were owed $1.8 million in severance pay following the closure of the PT Kizone factory in Indonesia managed to force adidas to settle after a two-year fight. It was the first time adidas paid severance to workers in its supply chain. Similarly, after months of struggle, with widespread support from the international solidarity network, 24/7 protests in front of the factory and even a hunger strike, the nearly 200 former employees of the Kingsland factory in Cambodia won a settlement of over US $200,000 from H&M and Walmart.

The Rana Plaza disaster was the deadliest incident in the history of the garment industry, killing 1,138 workers on 24 April 2013. The CCC collected a million signatures calling on brands to sign a safety agreement. In May, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety was established. More than 200 brands signed the agreement, which was renewed in 2018, 2021 and 2023. Thousands of factories have since been inspected, hundreds of complaints dealt with, and dozens of non-compliant companies held to account.

In 2011, unions, factories and brands including adidas, Nike and Puma signed a historic agreement on union rights in factories in Indonesia. This was in part thanks to the Play Fair campaign, which pushed brands to improve conditions in their supply chains since 2004. It led to parliamentary resolutions and initiatives in the EU, UK and US. Research exposing union-busting, poverty wages and working conditions also led London Olympics organisers to establish a complaints mechanism, publish details on factories they sourced from, and adopt model procurement policies.

Sandblasting is a process to give jeans a worn look, involving firing sand under high pressure. This highly dangerous practice causes silicosis, claiming the lives of scores of workers in countries like Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and China. We campaigned for years calling for a ban of the practice. 40 brands banned the process, including Gucci, H&M, Mango, C&A, Levi's, Versace, and Armani.

An international campaign targeting Nike forced factory bosses to recognise a union uniting 80% of workers. After a complaint was filed with the ILO and the Fair Labor Association, the CCC informed consumers about labour rights violations, asking the public to file protests with the factory management and with companies sourcing their goods. Auditors from Nike eventually visited the factory, and workers won.

Bed&Bath was a company employing 850 workers, producing for brands like Nike, Levi’s and adidas. The factory closed suddenly, still owing workers $400,000 in unpaid wages and benefits. After months of direct actions and occupations, the government stepped in to do right by workers. Dozens of workers eventually started their own garment cooperative, the Solidarity factory, which pays its workers a living wage.

CCC usually avoids calling for boycotts, as workers losing their jobs is the last thing we want. Rare exceptions include the Triumph International case of 2001. The Swiss-based lingerie retailer faced a boycott for its factory conditions in Myanmar. Thanks to the Federation of Trade Unions-Burma (FTUB) and the mobilisation of Burmese citizens and organisations, it received global support. Triumph withdrew its manufacturing from the country the following year.

Advocacy work by the CCC led to the creation of the Fair Wear Foundation, aiming to change supply chains. We worked to ensure that important brands and producers of garments used in public professions joined this initiative, which enabled workers to report labour rights abuses and contributed to broader policy change. The creation of Fair Wear Foundation fit in our strategy of the time. As the focus of Clean Clothes Campaign has switched to binding agreements and away from more voluntary initiatives and standards, the ways of the two organisations have become less intertwined over time.