Fair Wear ensures brand accountability through our unique accountability tool: the Brand Performance Check. Since 2013, we have used the Brand Performance Check process to evaluate and publicly report on the human rights due diligence efforts of our members. It is the most important element of our shared responsibility approach to improving working conditions in garment, textile, and footwear supply chains.

Member brands have access to our in-country teams of independent experts who conduct Fair Wear onsite assessments (factory audits). These assessments measure a factory’s working conditions against local labour law and the eight labour standards in Fair Wear’s Code of Labour Practices, while also collecting input from workers and management.

Members also have access to Fair Wear’s Grievance Mechanism, which they can implement in their supply chains to facilitate access to remedy. The mechanism gives workers a direct line to Fair Wear, allowing them to safely and anonymously voice their concerns and complaints. This helps Fair Wear member brands identify problems in their supply chains and serves as a living record of the actions they take to address them. In this way, both brands and suppliers are held accountable for what happens on the factory floor. Our local teams investigate all complaints and play a key role in remediation.

Each brand is paired with a Fair Wear Human Rights & Business Advisor, whose role is to strategically guide the brand in its human rights efforts, inspire change, answer questions, and review work plans and reporting. They also provide guidance on issues such as potential risks, due diligence, and changes to purchasing practices that a brand may need to implement in its supply chain.