The living wage: Transa’s targets and appraisals

What is a living wage?

A living wage is a wage that is enough to live on. A living wage is a human right. All workers worldwide have the right to a wage that covers their basic needs and those of their families. These include food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education, transportation and the ability to set aside money for unexpected expenses.

How much a living wage is varies from region to region – based on how much money you need in a particular location to cover your and your family’s living expenses. We use the Anker Method, which the Global Living Wage Coalition works with, when calculating living wages. If you would like to know more, you can find further information via Home – Global Living Wage Coalition.

The ‘living wage’ challenge

Global supply chains often do not provide a living wage. The desire for consumer goods that are as cheap as possible has meant that the production of these goods has increasingly shifted to countries where trade unions are weak and where both the social security systems and the legal framework that could guarantee a living wage are either absent or inadequate.

At Transa, though, we can assume that the minimum wages required by law will be respected: our brands and suppliers are committed to this in our Code of Conduct. However, the legal minimum wage in many countries is still below what a family needs to live on, especially in our main manufacturing countries in Asia. This applies to the entire textile industry, to small and large brands, to sustainable and unsustainable brands alike.

Transa and the living wage: our role

Transa doesn’t have its own brand of products, so we don’t have any direct influence over our suppliers’ manufacturing processes and supply chains. In other words, we cannot actively implement living wage projects in the factories that manufacture our products – this is the responsibility of the brands we carry in our range. Brands are responsible for tackling the issue of the living wage in their supply chains, setting targets in this regard and defining a corresponding roadmap. Transa can’t do that.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything. We believe that our responsibility lies in the following areas:

Appraising our brands’ commitment

In our opinion, the following factors indicate that a brand has made a binding commitment to paying living wages systematically:

1. Publication of living wage targets and a corresponding roadmap*, detailing how the brand plans to achieve its goals.

2.  Membership of the Fair Labor Association, membership of the Fair Wear Foundation**, production of at least 50% of its goods in Fair Trade-certified clothing factories*** or equivalent, documented efforts (e.g. specific projects on site).

When conducting our appraisals, we only refer to information publicly communicated by the brands. After all, the point is that brands should be transparent on this subject and give their customers access to their plans and targets.

Accredited FLA members have already demonstrated high social standards in their supply chains. Non-accredited FLA members are committed to raising social standards in their supply chains.

The Fair Wear Foundation specialises in the textile sector. It focuses on the manufacturing stage, because this is where the risks of workers’ rights not being respected are highest; these workers are the worst affected.

• For us, 0 criteria met means that the brand does not focus on issues related to living wages

• For us, 1 criterion fulfilled means that the brand is committed to issues related to living wages

• For us, 2 criteria fulfilled means that the brand is a leader in the field of living wages

Assessment of our 20 top-selling brands

Together, the top 20 brands generate around 50% of sales. Patagonia, Arc’teryx, Mammut, Fjällräven, Lowa, Vaude, Ortovox and Deuter are committed to paying living wages in their supply chains. Together, they generated 26% of revenue in 2024. The other brands listed have not yet actively campaigned for living wages in their supply chains.

The fact that clothing brands perform better, on average, than other brands outside the textile sector is partly due to the fact that the textile and clothing industry has – rightly – received more public criticism than other sectors in recent decades. As a result, the pressure to address the issue was and still is greater. It is also partly because membership of the Fair Wear Foundation is only open to clothing brands, as this organisation is solely active in the clothing sector.

*A Roadmap to Living Wages must show how living wages are to be achieved in the brand’s supply chains using specific and time-bound targets, milestones and measures.

**The Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) are both committed to improving working conditions, including the promotion of living wages. The member companies and their suppliers receive training on living wages and the social standards in their production facilities are regularly monitored.

*** Fair Trade-certified factories are also working towards or already paying living wages. In addition, a bonus is paid into the community development fund run by the factory’s workers for each product sold that was produced in a certified factory. The workers decide via a democratic process what they want to use this money for.

As of March 2025