Reports

The WRC conducts research into issues of concern in the apparel supply chain. Our research projects are often conducted in partnership with colleagues at our university affiliates and other research institutions.

Backsliding Toward Disaster?

Issues: Health & Safety Violations, Safety Accords

Under the Bangladesh Accord, now the International Accord, garment factories in Bangladesh have made vast safety improvements since 2013, saving…

February 10, 2025

Apparel Brand Responses to the Earthquake in Türkiye

Issues: Health & Safety Violations, Statutory Benefit Violations

This white paper evaluates the responses of 16 major apparel brands to the February 6, 2023, earthquake in Türkiye and…

August 22, 2023

The Unequal Impacts of Covid-19 on Global Garment Supply Chains

Issues: Covid-19, Forced Labor

This report documents deteriorating living and working conditions for workers in garment supply chains, including a surge in vulnerability to…

June 21, 2021

Unfinished Business: Outstanding safety hazards at garment factories show that the Accord must be extended and expanded

Issues: Health & Safety Violations, Safety Accords

New report by the WRC and other witness signatories to the Bangladesh Accord reveals that deadly safety hazards remain at…

April 29, 2021

Fired, Then Robbed: Fashion brands’ complicity in wage theft during Covid-19

Issues: Covid-19, Wage Theft

Tens of thousands of garment workers at factories producing for leading fashion brands, who were fired during the Covid-19 pandemic,…

April 6, 2021

Hunger in the Apparel Supply Chain

Issues: Covid-19

This research report presents new data about how garment workers’ food security—and linked dynamics of employment status and income—has deteriorated…

December 3, 2020

Hambre en la cadena de suministro de la industria de la confección

Issues: Covid-19

Este informe de investigación presenta nuevos datos sobre el deterioro de la seguridad alimentaria de los trabajadores de la confección…

December 3, 2020

Leveraging Desperation: Apparel Brands’ Purchasing Practices during Covid-19

Issues: Covid-19

A July – August survey of 75 garment suppliers in 15 countries reveals shocking changes in brands' pricing and purchasing…

October 16, 2020

Unpaid Billions: Trade Data Show Apparel Order Volume and Prices Plummeted through June, Driven by Brands’ Refusal to Pay for Goods They Asked Suppliers to Make

Issues: Covid-19

US and EU trade data provide considerable evidence of a significant loss in value due to order cancellations. A total…

October 8, 2020

Farce majeure: How global apparel brands are using the Covid-19 pandemic to stiff suppliers and abandon workers

Issues: Covid-19

This paper by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, ILAW, and the Worker Rights Consortium explores the power imbalances between brands and suppliers…

September 10, 2020

Un(der)paid in the pandemic

Issues: Covid-19

The report Un(der)paid in the pandemic analyzes nonpayment of wages to garment workers during the months of…

August 17, 2020

“My children don’t have food. I can withstand this hunger, but they cannot.”

Issues: Covid-19

The pandemic represents an unprecedented economic calamity for workers who make university logo products. Across the globe, factories have suspended…

June 16, 2020