35 brands surveyed on purchasing practices

AMSTERDAM – New research has been carried out on 35 global apparel brands to assess what they are doing to protect garment workers amid Covid-19. A survey of leading brands and retailers found 40 per cent have still made no public commitment to pay for all completed orders, despite mounting public pressure, while a almost a fifth (23 per cent) of companies have demanded discounts on orders already agreed.

Answering a series of detailed questions on their pandemic response, 18 brands – including H&M, Inditex and Burberry -showed “new transparency around payment times which directly affects workers’ wages,” according to the research.