Where are your clothes made?

Currently, there is no way for consumers, including public institutions, to know where the apparel products they buy are made or under what conditions - clothing labels only tell us the country of origin. Because we often cannot link a retailer to the factories that makes their clothes, the retailer cannot be held responsible for the conditions under which their goods are made.

In January 2001, the Ethical Trading Action Group (ETAG) first proposed minor changes to the federal government's textile labelling regulations requiring companies to disclose manufacturing locations in a publicly accessible database. The effect would be far-reaching: in order to sell clothes in Canada companies would have to provide the public with the names and addresses of all production sites used in manufacturing their clothing. Public disclosure of factory locations would remove the veil of secrecy that currently protects the industry from public scrutiny, and make it possible to verify whether company reports on working conditions and labour practices are accurate.

Public disclosure of factory locations and annual progress reports on efforts to achieve compliance with international labour standards also encourage companies to pay closer attention to working conditions in their supply chains, and allows companies that use the same factories to work together to improve conditions.

The Government of Canada formally rejected ETAG's proposal in July, 2005.

A number of apparel brands including Nike, Levi Strauss, Puma and Timberland have since voluntarily disclosed factory locations. Lists of their factory locations are available here.