A lack of sufficient data adds to the difficulty of cracking down on modern slavery, even in the local fashion manufacturing space.
This is according to Ethical Clothing Australia (ECA) national manager Rachel Reilly, who is calling for more reliable data sets on the ethical issue, alongside better-targeted procurement policies and a stronger uptake in her organisation’s accreditation program.
Reilly says much of the data we have so far on modern slavery is relatively new, all coming through via Australia’s Modern Slavery Register, where businesses earning more than $100 million annually share how they are tackling the ethical problem, as well as their operational structure. This was launched in 2020.
But few entities reveal actual instances of uncovered modern slavery, or how many incidents altogether have been found.
Data on modern slavery can also be found through other authority sources, including the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Institute of Criminology's Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery National Minimum Dataset.
Modern slavery can range from wage underpayments all the way through to coercion and force, and the use of threats. Often, some of those conditions can layer upon themselves and become a more extreme form of exploitation, Reilly says.
Australian fashion label Zimmermann reported in its most recent statement covering FY24 that it had rolled out a supply-chain-focused grievance mechanism in key factories in China, which now covers around 50 per cent of its finished goods spend.
Zimmermann confirmed in its modern slavery statement that all grievances received during FY24 were successfully resolved by the factory management, with support from the Zimmermann team and the grievance mechanism provider.
The issues uncovered primarily related to incorrect compensation, which the fashion label noted were promptly rectified by the factory management.
In a rare instance uncovered by Ragtrader last year, Super Retail Group revealed that two of its second-party factories in China had been placed on probation following audits. The parent company of Rebel and Macpac also found that one of these factories had a 15-year-old child worker working on the premises.
However, this was shared in the company’s 2024 Sustainability Report.
Alongside the current lack of sufficient data, the demographic profile of local workers in the TCF industry and the way they work make it difficult to uncover modern slavery in the first place.
Reilly says the local TCF workforce is primarily women, with more than a third over the age of 55, and half of the workforce being born outside of Australia. Approximately 38 per cent do not have English as their first language, which Reilly says could create barriers to understanding their rights or reporting issues of exploitation.
“And then, combined with that demographic profile, is the business structure of the local, and even the global TCF industry as well, in that it's really fissured or has cascading supply chains. One garment can be touched by many hands,” Reilly says.
“So the demographic profile combined with that business structure creates what is considered a high-risk industry for conditions of exploitation and modern slavery to exist.”
Moreover, the existence of outworkers in the TCF industry – or those who work away from their employer’s premises – adds further challenge and risk.
“They're working primarily from their own home, without that oversight,” Reilly says. “They're really invisible in that supply chain. And that invisibility, in and of itself, creates the risk of exploitation.”
The New South Wales Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne, calls these types of workers in the TCF industry “triply invisible”, where they work in spaces that are hidden from regulators’ view, with much of their work occurring off the books and they’re outwork status preventing mobilisation, collective action and voice.
“Unsurprisingly, modern slavery in the sector appears to be significantly under-reported,” he wrote in an inquiry submission last year. “Fear of retaliation is a central reason for victims not to report.”
Reilly says that even businesses that want to do the right thing and undertake audits will uncover breaches in their operations and in their supply chain. This can include underpayments, not paying superannuation, unsafe conditions, and being paid per piece rather than per hour for outworkers.
The Fair Work Act 2009 allows for piece rates, but mandates that employers should ensure staff are paid no less than what they would earn under the applicable award or agreement, or the national minimum wage if no award or agreement applies.
Alongside stronger data, Reilly is calling on state and federal governments to offer more procurement contracts to local players in the industry, which the ECA does a fair bit of advocacy on. Particularly around uniforms and PPE across departmental agencies, hospitals and schools.
Reilly says the businesses she works with locally aren’t looking for handouts; they want investment.
“That investment is the government using their enormous purchasing power to purchase locally and to purchase ethically, and through both of those locally and ethically, they can work to address exploitation themselves,” Reilly says.
“In actual fact, the Commonwealth Government and New South Wales government, through their modern slavery acts, are mandated to address exploitation in their procurement. It's certainly not a quick win, but something that goes towards contributing to addressing modern slavery locally and also internationally.
“I'm not an economist, but when it comes to this sort of stuff, if they're procuring with taxpayer money, and if that's local, then it's going back into our local economy. That argument around price points just feels sometimes quite short-sighted.”