How can small businesses address modern slavery in their supply chains?

Over the past few months, my partner and I have been slowly but surely making progress on launching Cavalry (our sustainable chef wear brand). However, there have been scheduling setbacks due to the pandemic shutting down some of our suppliers’ factories and other life events that have unexpectedly come up.

Throughout it all, one of the major sustainability question marks is how can we really know whether modern slavery exists within our supply chain? Anti-Slavery International defines modern slavery as ‘the severe exploitation of other people for personal or commercial gain’. Under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, it is defined as ‘the recruitment, movement, harbouring or receiving of children, women or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception or other means for the purpose of exploitation’.

Global Estimates of Modern Slavery (International Labour Office, 2017)

This question first came about when speaking to one of our manufacturing partners in China who are producing hemp/organic cotton t-shirts for us. The WeChat conversation went something like this:

Me: Where is the cotton from?
Manufacturer: Shandong, China [sends me a photo of their fabric supplier’s certificate on WeChat along with their GOTS certificate]
Me: No, I mean where is the cotton grown? Where is the farm?
Manufacturer: Hold on, I need to ask my manager…. oh, the cotton is grown in Turkey
Me: And where is the hemp grown?
Manufacturer: Hold on, let me ask again… in Gansu province in China
Me: Do you have any documents with the names of these farms?
Manufacturer: [sends me a photo of a recent invoice from the Turkey farm, but it’s all in Turkish so I can’t understand it]
Me: Right… do you have any policies in your factory on labour practices or modern slavery?
Manufacturer: What is it that you are wanting?
Me: We are trying to understand whether or not modern slavery might exist in our supply chain.
Manufacturer: Ohhh, don’t worry about that. You can rest assured that there isn’t any of that in our supply chain. ;)
Me: …….

Following this conversation, we didn’t know what more we could really do. Even if we could visit the factories and find out where exactly the farms are, we can’t stay and monitor their conditions forever. As a small business new to the industry, there are several limitations:

• With low MOQs (minimum order quantities), we do not have as much leverage or clout as a major brand (in which MOQs start from 800–1,000 pieces; and we are starting at about 100 pieces). This also means that we have less quality and reputable factory partners to choose from. Hence, we are left with mainly smaller factories that have not invested in such programmes or have not been previously pressured by big brands to do so. And to find a small factory that can prove they have legitimate modern slavery policies and the proper factory audits and certifications — it’s like finding a diamond in the rough
• We are also bootstrapping our business, meaning zero funds for investing in any kind of further investigation or technology — and even if we could invest, we would need the cooperation of factories who are of the mindset of tackling modern slavery in their supply chains
• After numerous conversations with different factories in China and Southeast Asia, we came to the realisation that the concept of “modern slavery” is still largely (and unfortunately) a Western concept. I spoke to a friend whose family business is running a linen factory in China, and when she interviewed several of their factory workers about any issues related to modern slavery, their responses were of acceptance and gratitude. One of the responses was, “Sometimes I’m asked to work very long hours, but this company has been taking care of me and my family for 30 years. I’m happy to take on the extra work.” Another response to a question about child labour was, “My children are learning hard and good work. I would rather them be here working with me rather than doing something even worse that could put their lives at stake.”

The reality is there is a good chance that some form of modern slavery exists within at least one of our supply chains. As a new business, we only have a few products we plan to launch with — and at the moment, are engaging three different manufacturers to help us make them. That’s three different supply chains. However, if you’re a big brand such as Nike or Gap with hundreds and thousands of products, that could very well be hundreds and thousands of different supply chains that need to be managed. So how can anyone ensure that out of all of those supply chains, there isn’t any form of modern slavery that exists?

Example of supply chain map/flow chart of a company with just two suppliers (Leadership & Sustainability, 2017)

Because my partner and I have reached a standstill on this issue, I’ve decided to turn this question mark into my research topic for the final dissertation. While I’d love to understand every single question around how small businesses tackle modern slavery in their supply chains, I also know that I will have to narrow my research question down to digging deep into one sub-topic or angle within a certain industry and/or geography.

I look forward to starting this second year of the Masters programme with a deep dive literature review of this issue and I hope by the end of the programme, my findings will not only help our own company, but also other purpose-led small businesses out there!