The overlooked problem of child labor in the fashion industry supply chain

According to the ILO, an estimated 160 million children between the ages of five and 17 are in child labor, of which around 3.3 million are considered forced laborers. Most existing forced labor regulations cover levels 1 to 3 of the supply chain, but child labor is often hidden in subcontracting and home work segments of level 4. The majority of children affected work at home – on farms where they live, or perform complicated tasks Work such as embellishments, sewing buttonholes and trimming loose threads on garments. This work is subcontracted out by larger entities, making it virtually impossible for brands to monitor it through audits.

“It doesn’t happen in the public eye, but if you just scratch the surface, you find child labor in the garment industry,” says Suhasini Singh, director of supply chain engagement at the Fair Wear Foundation, a nonprofit that works to improve conditions for workers in garment factories.

The problem is getting worse. The ILO reported an increase of eight million working children between 2016 and 2020, and although the next ILO report is not due until next year, no improvement is expected. “If you look at macroeconomic factors like a global recession, the pandemic or civil wars, you see an increase in child labor,” said Thea Lee, assistant undersecretary of state for international labor affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, whose office released the 2024 study list of child labor labor force cases and forced labor” (known as the TVPRA list) in September. Particularly at risk are indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, who may be isolated or lack access to education and social protection.

The role of industry

Brands have limited visibility into this part of the supply chain and are slow to implement the complex task of tracking their vast supplier networks. The fashion industry likes to create multi-stakeholder initiatives to address industry-specific issues, but the goods produced through child labor overlap with different industries – gold is used in jewelry, fashion and technology, while cotton is used in home goods, furniture, fishnets, tents, etc will be more. This suggests the need for a sector-agnostic approach to solving the problem.

Lee, of the U.S. Department of Labor, believes brands in all of these industries have an outsized duty of care. “When you’re at the top of the supply chain with affluent consumers in affluent countries, that’s where the ability to address these issues starts,” she says. “None of us wants to wear clothes made by children… That’s why we have to tell the companies we buy clothes from that they have to take responsibility.” The ILO’s integrated territorial approach to creating child labor-free zones recommends cooperation between local ones Governments, NGOs, farms, communities and international brands to develop tailored strategies for specific regions.