Businesses have a responsibility to respect safety as a human right. LABS collaborates with global apparel brands and retailers to support the establishment of safer working conditions within their supply chains, thereby enhancing industry-wide accountability and transparency. By promoting responsible sourcing, LABS Initiative urges businesses to prioritize suppliers dedicated to ethical and safe working practices.
We aspire to use our capabilities and influence collaborations with other stakeholders to generate change at scale and convey that considering safe working conditions in factories can affect buying decisions of brands and retailers.
LABS pursues gender empowerment, fostering inclusive workplaces to empower women within the industry.
A factory successfully graduates from the LABS program once it fulfills LABS’ graduation criteria, including undertaking corrective actions per LABS Standards identified during assessments and demonstrating improved capacity to implement and uphold safety conditions. LABS’ factory coordinators monitor factory progress on fulfilling the criteria for graduation; this criteria is checked independently by an Inspection Firm (IF).
LABS endeavors to achieve gender empowerment by fostering inclusive workplaces that empower women within the industry. We integrate gender equality and related issues into our work and promote dialogue and joint action towards gender empowerment in the sector. LABS contributes to the development and provision of harmonized gender training across all factories nominated in the program. The program incorporates gender into all policies and standard operating procedures including developing guidelines for conducting worker interviews with gender and diversity considerations.
Gender Platform in Cambodia
Over 85 percent of workers in the apparel and footwear sectors in Cambodia are women. In 2022, we launched Platform for Gender Equality in Apparel & Footwear in Cambodia, which provides an opportunity for like-minded partners to discuss and address key issues such as pay gaps, leadership opportunities for women in the sector, and working conditions related to gender in Cambodia.
The Platform organizes a yearly workshop to engage government, the private sector, and other stakeholders interested in creating and strengthening an enabling environment for gender equality. It provides a trusted, neutral space to discuss and exchange ideas, highlight significant opportunities, scale interventions, and help accelerate gender-positive actions.