The Top 100 Fashion Company Research Project is an effort to collect and assess fashion supply chain data - from top to bottom. This means a holistic assessment of the environmental and social performance of brands as well as their suppliers and investors.

The Top 100 are a group of fashion companies identified by FashionUnited as the largest 100 companies by market capitalisation. They have an aggregated market value of more than 1 trillion dollars. 

This project seeks to bring together diverse datasets which have been identified as ‘most needed’ by the organizations and individuals working in ethical sourcing and production. 

An important facet of this project is the mapping of company disclosure rates. On WikiRate, researchers collect data on ‘Unknown’ as well as ‘Known’ values. The research and aggregation of this broad set of data will highlight the gaps in public data sets, shed light on complex relationships, and identify leverage points for improving value chain transparency and corporate performance.

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.

• When you are signed into WikiRate, you can join the Research Group: by going to Top 100 Fashion Project Research Group and clicking on "Join Group."

Step-by-Step

1. 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. Make sure you convert the value into the correct unit of measurement. If you cannot find the relevant value click Unknown. 
5. Click Cite on the top left side of the source window.
6. Add a comment with the page number where you found the metric value (if applicable). You can also include relevant excerpts from the report. If you converted or conducted any calculations, make note of these as well.
7. When you've entered all the information, check that everything is correct and Click the Submit button.
8. Click Next to move onto the next metric.

Further Guidance

Below are some frequently asked questions that might be useful for you if queries come up during your research. 

• What if the company I am researching doesn't provide the information I need? If you cannot find the right information in a company’s report or website to answer a metric, answer the question with Unknown. Tracking "Unknowns" is a way to map gaps in company reporting to assess disclosure rates and help companies improve reporting.

• What if I enter a wrong value or year? Click on the value, then click the edit icon next to the year. Change your value or year, and click Submit.

• What if I encounter a technical problem? Go to Technical support to report the bug.