About Us

What is the Lowest Wage Challenge?

It's pretty simple: an ask for brands to share their lowest wages.

It's estimated Only 2%

of fashion’s manufacturing workers earn a living wage.

This means 98% of workers do not make enough to meet their basic needs, and 75% of them are women. This is unacceptable. The good news? Brands and consumers can change this. Together.

ABLE & Nisolo partnered to share their lowest wages and launch the #LowestWageChallenge because you deserve to know whether or not the people who made the clothes on your body have been paid enough to meet their basic needs and live a life of dignity.

Consumers have all the power—you are the driver of change. If you demand that your favorite brands publish their lowest wages, a new level of transparency will emerge that forces unprecedented accountability and changes the fashion industry forever.

> Learn More

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Sharing the lowest wage begins to protect the lowest paid, most vulnerable workers (who are predominantly women) and everyone else as well. Focusing on the lowest wage requires everyone to prioritize honesty and progress over perfection. This movement depends on you.

> Take Action

Competitors do not often join forces. But, this is what ABLE and Nisolo have done to launch the #LowestWageChallenge. And, this collaborative spirit is exactly what will be required among brands and consumers to truly shift the fashion industry in the right direction.
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ABLE

Founded in 2010 as a means to bring employment to disadvantaged women and communities reliant on charity, ABLE began as a single collection of scarves made by women in Ethiopia. ABLE has since become a lifestyle brand while remaining focused on the company’s mission: challenging the fashion industry by creating transformative economic opportunities for women to end poverty. The brand’s beautiful leather bags, handmade jewelry, denim, apparel and shoes are manufactured in the communities ABLE wishes to impact, both locally at the company’s headquarters in Nashville, T.N., and globally in Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, and India.

Go to ABLE

NISOLO

Nisolo is a B-Corporation Certified, direct-to-consumer brand that produces handmade and ethically sourced shoes and accessories for men and women, the majority of which is produced in a factory they own and operate in Trujillo, Peru. Every purchase provides living wages in Nisolo’s factory, enables Nisolo to pursue living wages within the rest of its supply chain, and combats climate change through partnerships with Soles4Souls and Ecosphere+. Nisolo’s mission is to push the fashion industry in a more sustainable direction--where success is based on more than offering the cheapest price--a direction that not only values exceptional design, but the producer and the planet just as much as the end consumer.

Go to NISOLO

Why is Sharing the lowest wage so important?

The lowest wage protects the most vulnerable workers.
Not the average wage or the labor cost in a garment, but the lowest wage protects the lowest paid, most vulnerable workers (who are predominantly women) and everyone else as well.

Focus on the lowest wage prioritizes honesty over perfection.
The industry has a long way to go. Even the founding competitor brands do not have all tiers of their supply chains at a living wage. Focus on the lowest wage requires the industry and consumers to embrace that you don’t have to be perfect before you can be honest.

ACCOUNTABLE

The #LowestWageChallenge asks brands to share their lowest wages and have them 3rd party verified. ABLE and Nisolo 3rd party verified their lowest wages through ACCOUNTABLE, a sophisticated reporting tool that not only verifies wages but also measures a supply chain’s impact on women and implements solutions to improve operations and ensure the expectations of conscious consumers are met.
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> See ABLE's lowest wages
> See Nisolo's lowest wages‍

> See ABLE’s lowest wages
> See Nisolo's lowest wages
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See which brands have been nominated.

Nominated Brands