A 2016 report claims that there are presently 14.2 million people in forced labor exploitation and 168 million child laborers scattered across the global economy. Many are forced to work in the farms and factories that feed the apparel industry. For millions of others working in the industry, wages remain so low that they are unable to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

This interweaving set of factors unite in such a way as to demand concrete action at every level to stop the exploitation of those who make our clothes. Our Catholic Social Teaching and the challenge by Pope Francis give Catholics an undeniable responsibility to address the ways we clothe ourselves each day to become more conscious of our connectedness with our brothers and sisters who make the clothes we wear. "Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit . . . goes against God," Pope Francis said. His Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) exposes the globalization of indifference in a throw-away culture of mass consumerism in ways that blot out compassion for the least of our brothers and sisters.

In an effort to respond to this tragedy and to address the dimension of human trafficking, especially of women, members of the Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment have created The Human Thread. Inspired by Catholic Social Teaching, The Human Thread seeks to foster Catholics’ awareness that promotes solidarity between consumers of clothing and the people who produce them in order to create a more just economy and sustainable communities.