Industry overview
What is shaping fashion
Fashion and apparel brands need to read trends early, get fit and size right and turn browsing into buying across stores and e-commerce.
- Trends travel quickly through social media
- Fit and size issues drive returns
- Online shoppers need confidence before buying
Client background
A global fashion brand, working in India & Indonesia. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A global fashion brand
- Sector
- Fashion
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Quantitative research, Qualitative research, Reporting & insights
Client challenge
The global brand relied on factory audits to check working conditions in its supply chain, but audits were announced in advance and workers rarely spoke openly. The brand wanted independent evidence of workers’ experiences.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: worker voice research in a fashion brand’s supply chain.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of workers.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of factories.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 10 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 3,000 workers and 15 factories.
- workers3,000
- factories15
Audiences we typically reach in fashion
Fashion shoppersOnline buyersStore staffStylists and influencersWholesale buyers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: India & Indonesia. Markets: India and Indonesia.
- India
- Indonesia
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Anonymous worker surveys
- 3Off-site interviews
- 4Insight
We surveyed workers anonymously through mobile phone questionnaires in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Bahasa Indonesia, and conducted confidential interviews outside factories with women researchers. Questions covered wages, overtime, safety, harassment and grievance mechanisms. Results were shared with suppliers in aggregate, protecting individual workers.
Quantitative researchQualitative researchReporting & insights
Sampling strategy
- workers
- 3,000
- factories
- 15
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Excessive overtime during peak seasons and weak grievance handling were identified in several factories.
Off-site, anonymous channels encouraged workers to speak honestly.
Recommendations
- The brand worked with suppliers on production planning and introduced an independent worker helpline.
- Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.
What we recommended, and the client put into practice
Business impact
- A follow-up survey was scheduled to measure whether conditions improved.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what would convert online browsers?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.