In the first phase of the project, ten factories were selected based on diversity of the products, geographical dispersion, and availability. ARCED foundation conducted an extensive desk review of data gathered in the first phase of the project. In the second phase, the team at ARCED interviewed a representative sample of management professionals and garment workers.

Management professionals included representatives from the Compliance, Admin and/or Human Resource Department units and garment workers from multiple sections such as sewing, sample, and cutting took part in the interviews.

Collected data were entered into online template over SurveyCTO server. Furthermore, ARCED also supported ILO with the daily summary reports from the field visits.

Key findings for this project involve four areas: pricing, timing, planning and requirements, and social/working conditions. The findings indicate that price negotiations are majorly controlled by the buyers and the average lead time is around 100 days counted from order to delivery, or around 60 days counted from sample confirmation to delivery. The key findings also highlight the near absence of planning and forecast and the deep dissatisfaction about social audits.

Methodology

Carried out desk research and analysis based on 1st phase data, followed by primary data collection through interviewing sampled workers and management personnel, performing online data entry in the web server and preparing country report for ILO.