Goals and progress
Supply chain | Helping factories move forward
How do we choose the factories we work with around the world?
Our priority is to work with garment factories that are willing and able to meet the standards outlined in our Code of Vendor Conduct (COVC). In order to screen out those that don’t make the cut, we’ve developed a clear and rigorous approval process. Before any factory can manufacture apparel designed or branded by Gap Inc., it must undergo our evaluation. This also applies to factories that are subcontractors of our primary vendors.
Our Social Responsibility Specialists (SRSs) begin this process with their initial visit to a new factory to assess working conditions against our COVC. Based on this first assessment, the factory either earns approval or is placed in a pending status while it addresses outstanding issues. Depending on the situation, this process can take anywhere from a few weeks to more than a year. Some factories never meet our standards and, therefore, aren’t able to earn approval.
Helping factories address outstanding issues is sometimes a process of “two steps forward, one step back.” Though a factory may achieve a high level of compliance with our standards, working conditions are never static and may slip from time to time. As a result, monitoring factories to improve compliance is an ongoing effort.
In select cases, a garment factory that has resolved all identified major issues may be granted a one-time, conditional approval to produce a special “rush” or “chase” order, even though it may still have a few minor issues to resolve. We take this step in rare circumstances and with great care. Such conditional approval is short-term, and the factory is not allowed to produce additional orders until all remaining issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of the SRS.
