Nike pushed for development of the Fair Labor Association, a group that evolved from the White House Apparel Industry Partnership initiated by President Clinton and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Union and religious (ICCR) representatives initially involved in the partnership left the group after they were presented with a take-it-or-leave-it proposal by corporate members including Nike. The proposal assured industry control of the organization and would allow companies to assert they were "sweatshop free" while monitoring as few as 30% of their manufacturing facilities.

In early 1999 student activism at aimed at Nike appeared on scores of college campuses seeking disclosure and monitoring at factories that manufacture athletic apparel for college sports teams. Activists made important headway by demand and receiving the names and locations of supplier factories where apparel is produced, as well as essential information about wages and conditions.

These demands led to strengthening of the auditing requirements of the Fair Labor Association as well as to the creation of the workers rights Consortium, non-profit created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts to development voluntary verifiable social accountability standards for suppliers of adopted by colleges and university athletic apparel. More than 100 colleges associated with the WRC.

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