When a UK based advocacy group recently accused Pakistan’s garment export sector of systemic wage violations, forced overtime and a culture of fear, the report travelled fast and far. It fit a familiar narrative about garment manufacturing in the developing world, one that has followed South Asian industries for decades.
But narratives, however convenient, are not the same as evidence. And when the evidence is examined closely, a very different picture of Pakistan’s textile sector begins to emerge, one of an industry that has spent the last several years deliberately building the infrastructure of compliance, transparency and worker welfare that critics claim does not exist.
This is not to dismiss the concerns raised by Labour Behind the Label. Advocacy organisations play a necessary role in holding industries accountable, and no sector as large or as labour intensive as textiles is without its failures. But a single report cannot be treated as a definitive verdict on an industry that employs millions of Pakistanis and anchors the country’s export economy. The more rigorous, data driven picture comes from independent monitoring bodies, and it tells a story of steady, measurable progress.
What the Numbers Actually Show
The ILO’s Better Work Pakistan Synthesis Report, covering 2022 to 2025, offers the most credible independent assessment of conditions inside export oriented factories. It found high overall compliance across the sector, with noncompliance on minimum wage limited to just 4.6 percent of factories and overtime payment violations found in only 2.3 percent in 2025.
These are not the numbers of an industry in systemic crisis. They are the numbers of an industry with isolated, identifiable problems that can be targeted and corrected, which is precisely what compliance monitoring is designed to do.
This progress has not gone unnoticed internationally. As traceability and labour standards become central to global sourcing decisions, roughly a third of surveyed international buyers have indicated plans to increase sourcing from Pakistan in the coming years.
Buyers do not expand relationships with suppliers they consider high risk. Their confidence reflects due diligence, not wishful thinking, and it should carry weight in how Pakistan’s industry is publicly assessed.
Compliance as Culture, Not Checklist
What is perhaps most striking is how deeply structured worker welfare has become across the country’s leading exporters, not as a public relations exercise but as embedded corporate policy.
Interloop Limited has built gender equity directly into its governance, with women making up 44 percent of its board and a quarter of executive leadership, alongside hundreds of scholarships for women pursuing higher and technical education.
Gul Ahmed has formalised a Child and Forced Labour Prevention Policy and anti harassment frameworks, with a stated target of a 15 percent female workforce ratio by 2026. Masood Textile Mills has gone further still, integrating European Union human rights due diligence frameworks such as the CSRD and CSDDD into its supplier assessments, well ahead of what regulation currently requires.
These are not isolated gestures. Soorty Enterprises has trained over a hundred individuals with hearing and speech disabilities through its PRISM Project and operates a psychiatric institute and pediatric healthcare centre serving tens of thousands of patients a year.
Liberty Mills supports rehabilitation programmes for 1,500 differently abled children and delivers healthcare to over 1.4 million patients annually. Sapphire Finishing Mills has built inclusive employment pathways for over 150 deaf individuals through the Deaf Reach Programme, while aligning its production with Higg FEM and FSLM sustainability frameworks.
Crescent Bahuman has partnered with GIZ Pakistan specifically to strengthen women’s leadership pathways within its workforce.
None of this fits the image of an industry indifferent to the people who sustain it.
Why This Matters Beyond the Factory Floor
For young Pakistanis watching how their country is portrayed on the global stage, this distinction matters. Pakistan’s textile sector remains bound to its GSP+ status with the European Union, a trade privilege contingent on demonstrated commitment to labour rights and international conventions.
The companies profiled here, from Nishat Mills to Kamal Limited to Diamond Fabrics, are not simply complying with minimum legal requirements. They are actively building governance structures, grievance mechanisms and community programmes that anticipate where global standards are heading, not merely where they currently sit.
This is what responsible industrial development looks like in practice. It is uneven, it is a work in progress, and it deserves honest scrutiny.
But it is not the picture of systemic abuse and unaccountable exploitation that a single advocacy report suggests. Pakistan’s textile industry has real work still to do, particularly in extending the same standards uniformly across smaller subcontractors and informal supply chains where oversight remains weaker.
That gap is worth naming honestly. What is not honest is allowing one report to erase the documented, independently verified progress of an industry that supports millions of livelihoods and increasingly positions itself as a credible, compliant partner in global trade.
Pakistan’s Textile Industry Is Reimagining Compliance
When a UK based advocacy group recently accused Pakistan’s garment export sector of systemic wage violations, forced overtime and a culture of fear, the report travelled fast and far. It fit a familiar narrative about garment manufacturing in the developing world, one that has followed South Asian industries for decades.
But narratives, however convenient, are not the same as evidence. And when the evidence is examined closely, a very different picture of Pakistan’s textile sector begins to emerge, one of an industry that has spent the last several years deliberately building the infrastructure of compliance, transparency and worker welfare that critics claim does not exist.
This is not to dismiss the concerns raised by Labour Behind the Label. Advocacy organisations play a necessary role in holding industries accountable, and no sector as large or as labour intensive as textiles is without its failures. But a single report cannot be treated as a definitive verdict on an industry that employs millions of Pakistanis and anchors the country’s export economy. The more rigorous, data driven picture comes from independent monitoring bodies, and it tells a story of steady, measurable progress.
What the Numbers Actually Show
The ILO’s Better Work Pakistan Synthesis Report, covering 2022 to 2025, offers the most credible independent assessment of conditions inside export oriented factories. It found high overall compliance across the sector, with noncompliance on minimum wage limited to just 4.6 percent of factories and overtime payment violations found in only 2.3 percent in 2025.
These are not the numbers of an industry in systemic crisis. They are the numbers of an industry with isolated, identifiable problems that can be targeted and corrected, which is precisely what compliance monitoring is designed to do.
This progress has not gone unnoticed internationally. As traceability and labour standards become central to global sourcing decisions, roughly a third of surveyed international buyers have indicated plans to increase sourcing from Pakistan in the coming years.
Buyers do not expand relationships with suppliers they consider high risk. Their confidence reflects due diligence, not wishful thinking, and it should carry weight in how Pakistan’s industry is publicly assessed.
Compliance as Culture, Not Checklist
What is perhaps most striking is how deeply structured worker welfare has become across the country’s leading exporters, not as a public relations exercise but as embedded corporate policy.
Interloop Limited has built gender equity directly into its governance, with women making up 44 percent of its board and a quarter of executive leadership, alongside hundreds of scholarships for women pursuing higher and technical education.
Gul Ahmed has formalised a Child and Forced Labour Prevention Policy and anti harassment frameworks, with a stated target of a 15 percent female workforce ratio by 2026. Masood Textile Mills has gone further still, integrating European Union human rights due diligence frameworks such as the CSRD and CSDDD into its supplier assessments, well ahead of what regulation currently requires.
These are not isolated gestures. Soorty Enterprises has trained over a hundred individuals with hearing and speech disabilities through its PRISM Project and operates a psychiatric institute and pediatric healthcare centre serving tens of thousands of patients a year.
Liberty Mills supports rehabilitation programmes for 1,500 differently abled children and delivers healthcare to over 1.4 million patients annually. Sapphire Finishing Mills has built inclusive employment pathways for over 150 deaf individuals through the Deaf Reach Programme, while aligning its production with Higg FEM and FSLM sustainability frameworks.
Crescent Bahuman has partnered with GIZ Pakistan specifically to strengthen women’s leadership pathways within its workforce.
None of this fits the image of an industry indifferent to the people who sustain it.
Why This Matters Beyond the Factory Floor
For young Pakistanis watching how their country is portrayed on the global stage, this distinction matters. Pakistan’s textile sector remains bound to its GSP+ status with the European Union, a trade privilege contingent on demonstrated commitment to labour rights and international conventions.
The companies profiled here, from Nishat Mills to Kamal Limited to Diamond Fabrics, are not simply complying with minimum legal requirements. They are actively building governance structures, grievance mechanisms and community programmes that anticipate where global standards are heading, not merely where they currently sit.
This is what responsible industrial development looks like in practice. It is uneven, it is a work in progress, and it deserves honest scrutiny.
But it is not the picture of systemic abuse and unaccountable exploitation that a single advocacy report suggests. Pakistan’s textile industry has real work still to do, particularly in extending the same standards uniformly across smaller subcontractors and informal supply chains where oversight remains weaker.
That gap is worth naming honestly. What is not honest is allowing one report to erase the documented, independently verified progress of an industry that supports millions of livelihoods and increasingly positions itself as a credible, compliant partner in global trade.
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