Supply chain transparency has recently come to forefront of discussions about human rights and sustainability in the fashion industry. Many fashion brands do not know their own supply chain and this hinders workers from receiving fair working conditions and prevents consumers from being able to make ethical fashion choices. Although fashion brands have begun to disclose data on garment producers, little attention has been paid to role that investors can play in the fashion supply chain. 

This project is a collaboration between Clean Clothes Campaign, OpenCorporates and Wikirate that seeks to turn the spotlight on investors both in terms of responsible investment behaviour and the collection of relationship data between investors and fashion brands. The focus is on the investors of the Top100 fashion companies - a list compiled by FashionUnited of the 100 largest fashion companies in the world. 

The metrics in this project have been inspired by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Transparency Reports which are published annually by signatories to the PRI charter.

Resources

• Principles for Responsible Investment Signatory Directory
• Responsible Investment Transparency Report Database

Pre-research

• Create a Wikirate profile. Click the “Join” button on wikirate.org. Create a username, add your email address and password, then click submit.

Step-by-Step

1. Once you have joined your research group, you can start researching. Find the company you have been assigned to research and hit the Research button.
2. You will see a list of metrics in the dropdown menu. Choose a metric to research and click the Metric details tab to read the methodology.
3. Start by looking for a source for this information. Your source may already be on the Wikirate platform or you may find the information somewhere else and need to add it to the platform.
4. Choose the relevant year for the metric value in the dropdown menu and add the value to the answer box. If you cannot find the relevant value click Unknown. 
5. To cite your selected source, click Cite on the right-hand side of the window.
6. Add a comment to your answer detailing the page number of the source where you found your metric answer (if applicable). You can also include relevant excerpts from the report.
7. It's time to submit your answer! Click the Submit button and check everything is correct.
8. Now hit Next to move onto your next metric.

Further Guidance

Look through the following research for the investment company BlackRock to see an example of good practices in conducting research according to these metrics:

• BlackRock