CASE STUDIES

Fashion: benchmarking human rights due diligence disclosures

Fashion: benchmarking human rights due diligence disclosures

A leading fashion brand commissioned Kumi’s human rights consulting team to deliver a deep dive analysis and benchmarking exercise on the company’s public human rights due diligence disclosures. The aim of the project was for Kumi to:

Identify gaps in the brand’s current approach and to provide recommendations for improvement to ensure alignment with international standards, such as OECD Guidance and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Support the company to understand how they can more comprehensively meet the expectations of external stakeholders, such as investors and civil society organisations.

Sowing machines in clothing factory, with red and white reels of thread

Benchmarking human rights due diligence disclosures

To deliver this project, the Kumi team developed a benchmarking methodology to analyse the human rights disclosure practices of the fashion brand as well as seven of its competitors. The team considered relevant provisions of international standards such as the OECD Guidance and UNGPs, existing public benchmarks including the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, and leading practices in the fashion sector to objectively benchmark the brands and to identify strengths and challenges in disclosing information on human rights due diligence.

Targeted recommendations to improve human rights due diligence disclosures

Kumi provided the brand with a comprehensive final report to illustrate the key findings and to provide targeted recommendations on the disclosure of information about human rights due diligence practices. Recommendations demonstrated ways in which the brand could achieve better disclosures in the short, medium and long-term and also mapped key examples of where other competitor brands were demonstrating good practice.

The implementation of these recommendations will help the brand to meet international standards and external stakeholders’ expectations and strengthen the company’s approach to human rights due diligence.