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In China, Gap was among a number of clothing retailers linked to environmental violations at supplier facilities
in a report entitled ‘Cleaning up the Fashion Industry.’ According to the report, the country’s textile industry
produces up to 2.5 billion tons of wastewater and other harmful pollutants every year, most of which end up
in China’s water bodies, soil, and groundwater. In 2011 and 2012, NGOs highlighted serious risks associated
with manufacturing in Bangladesh. The Clean Clothes Campaign reported that Gap, together with H&M, is one
of the largest buyers in the country and must take responsibility for improving the poverty wages. The country
apparently boasts the lowest pay in the world, the weakest regulation, and the worst attention to workplace
safety. This has reportedly resulted in the death of almost 500 garment factory workers over the past 5 years.
A 2010 fire killed 29 people in a Hameem Group factory supplying to major brands such as Gap. Most of the
victims were women earning less than USD 2 per day.
The tragedy was caused by unsafe conditions at the factory including an electric wiring overload that sparked
the flame and a lack of fire escapes. Managers had allegedly locked the factory doors, meaning the workers
were trapped inside. In December 2011, a boiler explosion at a Eurotex garment factory in Dhaka, which
reportedly supplies to Gap, resulted in the deaths of two workers and caused severe injuries to a further 62.
Several months later, NGO War on Want reported that Gap would take responsibility for the incident and offer
compensation and treatment to victims and their families.
While international companies have stated their willingness to establish a fire safety program and made some
efforts to do so, the working environment has allegedly not improved. Most recently, Gap was linked to Tazreen
Fashions’ garment factory, where a November 2012 blaze killed at least 111 workers and injured dozens
more. Over the past few years, Gap has also been linked to poor conditions at facilities in Central America. In
Honduras, it was accused of sourcing clothes from ‘maquilas’ – large industrial sweatshops where labor laws
and worker rights are reportedly often ignored. Factory employees allegedly earn less than a living wage and
are forced to do overtime to make up for the work hours lost due to a government-imposed curfew in the wake
of the 2009 military coup. In El Salvador, a similar situation reportedly existed at Ocean Sky factories, with
claims that Gap was one of the companies sourcing from them.
In Mexico, the company was named in a Greenpeace report, published in late 2012, as one of the international
retailers sourcing from a Kaltex facility, accused of discharging toxic chemicals and wastewater into water
bodies. The NGO urged all companies mentioned to take action to ensure their suppliers do not pollute.
In November 2012, Greenpeace released another report, ‘Toxic Threads,’ which accused 20 global brands,
including Gap, M&S, Esprit and Nike, of manufacturing clothing containing toxic chemicals that polluted
waterways and endangered human health, the environment and wildlife.
It appears that the issues
faced by Gap and its peers
in terms of labor rights and
environmental damage
in the companies’ supply
chains are ongoing and
occur on a global scale.
Such issues continue
to plague high-profile
fashion multinationals and
impact negatively on their
reputation. The question
of how risky this is for their
operations with respect to
business continuity, public
backlash, and government
regulation, remains to be
answered.
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