Gap sets out supplier violations
Retailer audit aims to fend off critics
Gap has published an audit of labour violations among its worldwide suppliers in a move designed to recapture the initiative on the controversial issue.
US-owned Gap, which also operates the Banana Republic and Old Navy chains and has more than 3000 stores worldwide, has long been a target of campaigners protesting at the conditions in which its clothes are produced.
Gap’s social responsibility report, published on it website, sets out the situation the retailer has found among its suppliers, and the actions it is taking to improve them. Gap accepts the conditions in many are unacceptable.
It cancelled supply contracts with 136 plants last year because of various violations. These included plants in China, south-east Asia, India and Europe. Gap also admitted that there are problems at many other suppliers, with the company sourcing from more than 3,000 factories worldwide. The report says: “Few factories, if any, are in full compliance all of the time.”
Common problems include failure to comply with local employment laws on leave, minimum wage, and working hours, inaccurate record keeping which, among other things, can make it difficult to identify underage workers, and unsafe machinery.
Gap’s inspectors said physical punishment and coercion are rare, but it has evidence of verbal harassment by supervisors and the use of physical labour as punishment.
Gap has more than 90 compliance officers who carried out about 8,500 factory visits last year.
