Transparency is a requirement for companies to take full responsibility for their entire supply chains and act on their accountability for the social and environmental practices at all stages of manufacturing of their products. The fashion industry now relies on complex global supply networks that are notoriously difficult to trace, but as the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster highlighted, monitoring and improving each step that leads to the delivery of final products is a moral obligation. Rana Plaza gave rise to the worldwide movement Fashion Revolution with its Who Made My Clothes campaign, and the annual publication of their Fashion Transparency Index that reviews the world’s largest brands and retailers in terms of the volume and character of data they disclose about their human rights and environmental policy practice and impacts. Some examples of methods adopted to achieve transparency include published supplier lists and the use of RFID (Radio-frequency identification) or blockchain technologies to track the movement of materials and products. Yet, while transparency is a crucial first step, it has little value unless it is accompanied by an active commitment to preventing any abuse of either people or the environment. In addition, improvements through effective policies, legislation, and regulations, as well as punishment and legal action against companies that are guilty of unacceptable social and environmental practices, also need to be urgently put in place.(1-5)
TRANSPARENCY
