Understanding supply chain transparency — what a factory list says and where it stops
Almost every published supplier list ends at the sewing room. Where yarn is spun and cotton is grown usually stays open.
Three tiers, and most lists show one
A factory list is the most informative statement a clothing brand can make about its production — more so than any label, because it names places that can be checked, visited and contradicted. It simply rarely reaches as far as the term suggests.
The usual division is by tier. Tier 1 is the sewing factory where the finished garment is made. Tier 2 covers spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing — where fibre becomes fabric. Tier 3 is the raw material itself: the cotton field, the flock, the synthetic fibre plant.
“We publish our suppliers” almost always means the last stop before the box.
What our own sample shows
Of the houses we have checked, eleven brands publish a factory list; they belong to three groups. The H&M Group gives factory name, address and product type. PVH adds the number of employees. Both stop at Tier 1.
Fast Retailing is the only group in our sample to go a step further and list Tier 2 partners — spinning and weaving mills. What is notable is less the list than its reach: it applies to the group’s cheapest brand as much as its dearest.
And the most precise statement in our sample comes from none of the three. Trigema names three of its own plants by town, because the company sews itself — for a business that owns its sewing rooms, the supply chain question is a different one.
Why the tier decides the value
Anyone asking under what conditions a garment was sewn gets a long way with a Tier 1 list. Anyone asking where the cotton came from, or how the fabric was dyed, gets nowhere — those are the water- and chemical-intensive steps, and that is where the chain is least legible.
So the question “does the brand publish a list?” is not enough. The second question is: how far up?
Where to look yourself
For every brand that keeps a list we give the direct link in the transparency block of its portrait. For a broader comparison, Fashion Revolution runs an annual survey of which houses disclose what. We do not reproduce their scores — those come from their own methodology and belong where they were made.
The three tiers of a clothing supply chain
| Tier | What happens there | Published by |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Sewing — cutting and making up the finished garment | Most houses that keep a list at all |
| Tier 2 | Spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing — fibre becomes fabric | One group in our sample |
| Tier 3 | Raw material — cotton growing, wool clip, synthetic fibre production | No house in our sample |
Based on the brands we have checked, as of 28 July 2026. No claim to completeness across the market.
Questions readers ask
What is Tier 1?
The sewing factory where the finished garment is cut and made up. Almost all published supplier lists cover this tier — and usually only this one.
Why does Tier 2 matter?
That is where fibre becomes fabric: spun, woven, dyed. These are the water- and chemical-intensive steps. Disclosing only Tier 1 says nothing about them.
Does any brand disclose Tier 3?
None in our sample. Where the cotton was grown or the wool clipped, we could not read at any of the houses we checked.
Is a factory list better than a certification?
For the production question yes, because it names places that can be checked and contradicted. For chemistry or fibre origin it says little — that is what labels are for.