An evaluation of the animal welfare accountability being demonstrated by global apparel companies

Abstract

This study evaluates apparel companies' accountability through assessing the quality of their disclosures pertaining to animal welfare. Content analysis is undertaken of annual reports, social responsibility reports, dedicated social responsibility webpages and apparel hangtags and labels collected from the world's largest public apparel companies. Results show that the quality of apparel companies' animal welfare disclosure generally falls short of what is expected by surrogate representatives/stakeholders of animals.