Predicting Unauthorized Subcontracting of Apparel Manufacturing

Recent years have witnessed a string of tragic accidents at the overseas factories of leading fashion brands. While they claimed the work was performed at unauthorized subcontractors without their approval or knowledge, researchers now say these brands can anticipate the unauthorized subcontracting of apparel manufacturing with a model that can predict with 80% accuracy which orders will get handed off.

UCLA Anderson’s Prof. Felipe Caro, UC Irvine’s Leonard Lane, and Anna Sáez de Tejada Cuenca of Barcelona’s University of Navarra conclude that apparel brands already have the information they need to predict when an order is most likely to be sent to substandard shops through unauthorized subcontracting.