• Putting pressure on companies to take responsibility to ensure that their garments are produced in decent working conditions.

• Supporting workers, trade unions and NGOs in producer countries.

• Raising awareness among consumers by providing accurate information about working conditions in the global garment and sportswear industry, in order to mobilise citizens to use their power as consumers.

• Exploring legal possibilities for improving working conditions, and lobbying for legislation to promote good working conditions and for laws that would compel governments and companies to become ethical consumers.

The CCC has therefore four broad categories of activity that ultimately aim to move us closer to our main goals. More in depth, these areas of activity are:

Putting pressure on companies to take responsibility to ensure that their products are made in decent working conditions.
We choose major retailers and the major brands as the focus of our campaigns because they are strategic players in the garment and sportswear industry. They're big and they set the standards for that industry. We focus on sportswear companies because the consumer link is even stronger -- for example, they sponsor events. The CCC demands from retailers and brands that they adopt codes of labour practices based on ILO standards. The CCC also pressures companies to have a code that requires full implementation of the standards listed, regular monitoring of code compliance and verification of claims about code compliance. The CCC has developed a model code as a guideline and is currently involved in several projects to get a better understanding of what would actually constitute a good monitoring and verification system. We also pressure them to adopt ethical buying practices -- for example in relation to pricing and scheduling -- otherwise their suppliers will not be able to enforce requests to improve workplace conditions. Besides making these demands for structural improvements, the CCC, through its urgent appeals system, also pressures companies to take action on individual instances of labour rights violations.

Solidarity work to support workers, trade unions and NGOs,
for example via actions based on urgent appeals. With this system we receive, verify, disseminate, and follow up on specific requests for assistance in cases of labour rights violations. The demands that we publicize and pursue are those made by the workers themselves -- they take the risks (in terms of safety and loss of jobs), therefore the CCC believes that they should set the strategy and make the decisions about if and how their case is presented to the brand name companies involved, the public, and the media. We also organise research, exchange programs and international seminars that help create spaces where international strategies to improve working conditions can be debated and developed. Both the solidarity work and the CCC's work with consumers are supported by our function as a clearinghouse for relevant information.

Raising awareness among and mobilizing citizens who buy clothes
Multinational corporations (MNCs) spend millions of dollars each year on advertising and marketing campaigns to get consumers to buy the products they are selling. Brand name companies compete intensely for consumer loyalty, and therefore consumers can influence how these companies operate. The CCC is a public campaign and harnesses the power of the people to push for positive social change. We gather information and present it to consumers in a variety of ways (educational programmes, demonstrations, ads, debates, books, rallies, internet) so that they know the truth about how clothes are produced (low wages, long hours, repression of trade union rights, sexual discrimination, etc.). Armed with this information we encourage citizens to pursue a variety of ways to take action to improve working conditions in the industry where the clothes they wear are made.

Legal ways and lobbying
Most recently the campaign is exploring legal possibilities for improving working conditions (that includes for example investigating the possibilities for lawsuits against companies in their home countries for violations of labour rights in other countries) and lobbying for legislation that would promote good working conditions. The CCC believes that government has an important role in ensuring that good labour standards are enforced (in many countries where garments are produced there is good legislation, but enforcement is lax).
The campaign is actively lobbying for laws that would compel governments to become ethical consumers. Governments -- at the local and national levels -- spend millions on uniforms, for example, and the CCC believes that these should all be produced in workplaces that respect workers' rights.

For more information, please see An introduction to the Clean Clothes Campaign - find it here.