A major cause of forced labour in today’s global supply chains is the charging of recruitment fees to migrant workers. Such payments can create situations of debt bondage and leave low-wage workers vulnerable to human trafficking and further exploitation. When a company discloses information about its approach to recruitment fees being paid by workers in the supply chain it demonstrates that the company is taking steps to address and mitigate the prevalence of modern slavery.

A note on the scoring system

Wikirate has a standardised 10-point scoring system making it possible to compare company scores across different benchmarks. On Wikirate.org, the Fashion Transparency Index scoring system, where each company can get a maximum of 250 points, has been converted to the 10-point scoring system - with 10 being the highest a company can score and 0 being the lowest. These company scores can also be translated to percentages e.g. if a company has scored 2.5 out of 10 on Wikirate, they have achieved 25% of the 250 points in the Fashion Transparency Index.