Click here to download: Llyr+Roberts+Accountable+Apparel.pdfAcccoutable Apparel: A report of corporate social reporting on the web by UK fashion retailers
Llyr Roberts
Doctoral researcher & tutor in marketing and strategy, BRASS Centre and Cardiff Business School
Abstract: There have been growing calls on fashion retailers to improve working conditions in garment assembly factories. This has increased need for companies to disclose information about labour conditions. This study presents the first review of social reporting on the internet by UK fashion retailers. Web based reporting is chosen because the internet has become the main channel of communication between corporations and stakeholders. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis is undertaken on the CSR webpages of the UK’s 10 largest clothing multiples to identify what information is disclosed voluntarily about codes of conduct and factory audits. The companies are found to fall into 4 categories: Reluctant Reporters, PR Reporters, Pragmatic Reporters and Passionate Reporters. Only 3 publish details of labour violations and only 1 provides full details of audit procedures. The paper concludes with reflections on why full disclosure remains the exception rather than the norm in the UK fashion sector.
This paper was presented in the workshop Industry Updates chaired by Doug Miller (chair in ethical fashion, Northumbria University). The other paper presented in the workshop was Better Factories, Better Conditions: Building the case for sustainable change by Rosey Hurst (director, Impactt)
