Dive Brief:
- Cotopaxi repaid workers in two Taiwan fabric mills for the portion of predatory recruitment fees tied to the brand's production volume at the facilities, per an environmental, social and governance report published in April.
- After discovering the indicator of forced labor at the mills in 2024, Cotopaxi worked to address recruitment fee violations and advance worker protections, per the report. The outdoor gear maker collaborated with the American Apparel & Footwear Association, Fair Labor Association, Dignity in Work for All and Verité, an independent nonprofit organization supporting fair labor practices.
- Outside of the predatory recruitment practices identified in Taiwan, Cotopaxi reported that it did not uncover any additional forced labor findings from its broader monitoring efforts.
Dive Insight:
Managing forced labor risks is a key issue for U.S. fashion companies in regard to sourcing and trade compliance, according to a 2026 Fashion Industry Benchmarking Study published by the U.S. Fashion Industry Association. The issue ranked as survey respondents’ No. 6 top concern for the year, up from 10th in 2025, per the report.
Several apparel companies have grappled with the risk of modern slavery across their supply chains. Ultra-fast fashion brand. Shein, for instance, in 2023 was probed by U.S. senators whether the company’s goods were made using forced labor. In 2024, Shein reported that it found two cases of child labor in its supply chain, which prompted the brand to suspend orders from those suppliers and conducted investigations. In 2024, a Skechers supplier was also accused of using forced labor.
In 2024, human rights investigation nonprofit Transparentem interviewed more than 90 migrant workers employed by textile suppliers in Taiwan, which revealed that there were forced labor indicators tied to predatory recruitment practices at those facilities, according to Cotopaxi’s 2024 Impact Report. Cotopaxi was one of more than 40 buyers linked to nine Tier 2 and Tier 3 Taiwan-based suppliers with evidence of labor abuses.
According to the International Labour Organization, predatory recruitment practices can occur during the recruitment process and lead to forced-labor conditions. This can include workers being charged recruitment fees and debt bondage linked to repayment of those fees, as well as deception around the nature and conditions of the work.
Cotopaxi maintains third-party audits of all its Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers while conducting “numerous” onsite visits to help create better transparency and monitoring of its supply chain, per the brand’s 2025 ESG report. Cotopaxi has a total of five fabric suppliers in Taiwan, according to its annually updated supplier data.
Aside from facility-level remediation, Cotopaxi said it is working to address the “root causes” of forced labor at the systems level by engaging with industry associations and policymakers, as well as leveraging its own resources and grant-making activities, according to the 2025 report. Cotopaxi has supported legislation including California’s Garment Worker Protection Act and the New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act to combat human rights violations common in the apparel industry.
In regard to the labor abuse discovered in Taiwan, Cotopaxi visited suppliers based in the country in December 2024, per the 2024 report. Cotopaxi was also one of many companies seeking to have in-person conversations with the Taiwan’s government, the Taiwan Textile Federation and other government and foreign policy officials to root out abuses at the policy level.
This year, Cotopaxi also worked with the AAFA and peer brands to advance a “No Recruitment Fees” standard across Taiwan, advocating for suppliers to bear the cost of recruitment, per the 2025 report.
This isn’t the first time Cotopaxi has addressed unethical recruitment within its supply chain.
In 2022, a routine third-party audit identified risks associated with predatory recruitment practices at a Tier 1 supplier in the Philippines, including limited access to restrooms and pre-employment medical appointments not covered by suppliers.
To resolve the violations, Cotopaxi, alongside a working group and two other brands using the same supplier, tapped a third-party audit and remediation consultancy. In 2024, Cotopaxi announced that the remediation initiative was successfully completed.
