As the public release of supply chain information becomes a tool for apparel brands to show their commitments to promoting healthy workplaces for their subcontractors, a lot of them are disclosing lists online of their factories that are mostly based in Asia.

A recent example being US clothing brand GAP that made its supplier list available. This consists of nearly 900 garment factories in Bangladesh, Cambodia and other countries. The company said it had revised its disclosure policy for supply-chain information seeking to promote global sustainability.

According to Human Rights Watch, an international non-profit group, at least four major retailers including GAP, C&A of Germany and British store chain Marks & Spencer have disclosed their supplier list this year. Earlier, GAP was known for its negative stance on the disclosure due to what it called as competition reasons.
The first of the adopters of the disclosure include US sport brand Nike and H&M, the Swedish fast fashion chain. Nike's supplier list includes details about its contract factories such as the number of workers by location and the proportion of female and immigrant labour. Many western apparel brands and retailers are particularly keen on disclosing their factory list, it is understood. The lists have been considered closely guarded trade secrets for many manufacturers because making them public could lead to information leaks about specific products.

Earlier it was believed that providing names of skilled subcontractors to competitors could also harm competitiveness. Nonetheless, the idea is rapidly spreading around the world that leading manufacturers should be responsible for the working conditions of their subcontractors.