Reports
Modern Slavery in the Fast Fashion Industry
- Asia Team
- 21 April 2025
Globalisation and overconsumption have negative effects on millions of people working for clothing manufacturers. Subpar working conditions, low wages, and modern slavery situations are rampant in the factories where our clothes are made.
Many people understand slavery as something society has evolved from, a very dark chapter in humanity that we collectively left behind. For around 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade saw 15 million people, of all genders and ages, sold to another person as property. While the practice of slavery, defined as a “condition in which one human being was owned by another”, seems rare nowadays, it is very much present in today’s society under a different label: forced labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated in 2022 that 27.6 million people worldwide were in situations of forced labour.
Modern slavery takes many forms. The most common and well-known are forced labour and human trafficking, but modern slavery often disguises itself as something mundane. Debt bondage, or bonded labour, is the most common form of slavery in which people are trapped in a precarious situation of working to pay off a debt for little to no money. This practice is common in South Asian countries, especially in the agriculture and clothing industries.
Asia and the Pacific region witnessed the most cases of forced labour, with 15.1 million people as of 2021. Bonded labour represents 20 percent of forced labour cases and targets people in precarious situations, who have no alternative but to take a loan from employers or recruiters to put food on the table.
This report will focus on three Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, and India, examining their national laws and the challenges they face in preventing modern slavery.
Many people understand slavery as something society has evolved from, a very dark chapter in humanity that we collectively left behind. For around 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade saw 15 million people, of all genders and ages, sold to another person as property. While the practice of slavery, defined as a “condition in which one human being was owned by another”, seems rare nowadays, it is very much present in today’s society under a different label: forced labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated in 2022 that 27.6 million people worldwide were in situations of forced labour.
Modern slavery takes many forms. The most common and well-known are forced labour and human trafficking, but modern slavery often disguises itself as something mundane. Debt bondage, or bonded labour, is the most common form of slavery in which people are trapped in a precarious situation of working to pay off a debt for little to no money. This practice is common in South Asian countries, especially in the agriculture and clothing industries.
Asia and the Pacific region witnessed the most cases of forced labour, with 15.1 million people as of 2021. Bonded labour represents 20 percent of forced labour cases and targets people in precarious situations, who have no alternative but to take a loan from employers or recruiters to put food on the table.
This report will focus on three Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, and India, examining their national laws and the challenges they face in preventing modern slavery.
✨ AI summary
Globalisation and overconsumption have negative effects on millions of people working for clothing manufacturers. Subpar working conditions, low wages, and modern slavery situations are rampant in the factories where our clothes are made.
Many people understand slavery as something society has evolved from, a very dark chapter in humanity that we collectively left behind. For around 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade saw 15 million people, of all genders and ages, sold to another person as property. While the practice of slavery, defined as a “condition in which one human being was owned by another”, seems rare nowadays, it is very much present in today’s society under a different label: forced labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated in 2022 that 27.6 million people worldwide were in situations of forced labour.
Modern slavery takes many forms. The most common and well-known are forced labour and human trafficking, but modern slavery often disguises itself as something mundane. Debt bondage, or bonded labour, is the most common form of slavery in which people are trapped in a precarious situation of working to pay off a debt for little to no money. This practice is common in South Asian countries, especially in the agriculture and clothing industries.
Asia and the Pacific region witnessed the most cases of forced labour, with 15.1 million people as of 2021. Bonded labour represents 20 percent of forced labour cases and targets people in precarious situations, who have no alternative but to take a loan from employers or recruiters to put food on the table.
This report will focus on three Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, and India, examining their national laws and the challenges they face in preventing modern slavery.
Many people understand slavery as something society has evolved from, a very dark chapter in humanity that we collectively left behind. For around 400 years, the transatlantic slave trade saw 15 million people, of all genders and ages, sold to another person as property. While the practice of slavery, defined as a “condition in which one human being was owned by another”, seems rare nowadays, it is very much present in today’s society under a different label: forced labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated in 2022 that 27.6 million people worldwide were in situations of forced labour.
Modern slavery takes many forms. The most common and well-known are forced labour and human trafficking, but modern slavery often disguises itself as something mundane. Debt bondage, or bonded labour, is the most common form of slavery in which people are trapped in a precarious situation of working to pay off a debt for little to no money. This practice is common in South Asian countries, especially in the agriculture and clothing industries.
Asia and the Pacific region witnessed the most cases of forced labour, with 15.1 million people as of 2021. Bonded labour represents 20 percent of forced labour cases and targets people in precarious situations, who have no alternative but to take a loan from employers or recruiters to put food on the table.
This report will focus on three Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, and India, examining their national laws and the challenges they face in preventing modern slavery.
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