Sustainability and Transparency to Safeguard Fashion Industry Workers

The global fashion industry has the most dynamic complex supply chain. A completed garment or footwear reaches consumers through different brands, from developing countries to Western countries. The workers at the bottom of the supply chain, who work hard to produce a product, earn minimum wages. On the top of the supply chain, the owners of the factories, brands and retailers earn huge profits from these labourers’ hard work. Because of the lack of direct control over labourers, as they are not employed by the brands and retailers, they often ignore the abuse of labourers’ rights in their supply chain. To improve the fashion industries’ working conditions and to maintain workers’ rights, strong labour law and its implementation is not sufficient. The brands andretailers can play a vital role in changing the labourers’ conditions. By incorporating soft laws like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UN Guiding Principles) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector (OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Garments), in their responsible business behaviour. The IFAs between the brands and the tread unions. The brands and retailers took some voluntary initiatives to incorporate these soft laws. Among the many voluntary initiatives, the Transparency Pledge of 2016 and sustainable development goals (SDGs) have had a significant impact on labour rights in the supply chain. This article is to evaluate how the Transparency Pledge of 2016 has impacted labour protection in the global fashion industry and how far transparency and incorporation on sustainable development goals (SDGs) has improved labourers’ abusive conditions in the fashion industry supply chain. This shall be done by analyzing the Human Rights Watch’s reports, ILO, better works and other labour organisations’ reports. What further initiatives can be taken to improve the labourers’ conditions.

Fashioning sustainability: drawing lessons from the fair trade coffee industry

Due to the fashion industry’s global reach, spanning many jurisdictions, regulations are difficult to implement, monitor and enforce. Strict voluntary initiatives that focus on raising consumer awareness, thereby creating greater demand for eco fashion have greater potential to lead to reform within the fashion industry. To do so, voluntary initiatives must include clear labeling of ‘eco’ products and designer input, and include strict guidelines for company and designer standards. Standards must take the entire life cycle of a garment into consideration. Fashion can apply lesson from the fair trade coffee industry by appealing to consumers based on ethics and environmental responsibility through a trusted consumerfacing label. Fair trade was successful, in part, due to their recognizable label. Fair trade type certifications are most often business to consumer facing and provide consumers with the environmental and social information on the benefits of purchasing fair trade. Fair trade certification models have capitalized on large retailer involvement, allowing certifications to become mainstreamed and therefore more accessible for consumers.

Fashioning sustainability: drawing lessons from the fair trade coffee industry

Due to the fashion industry’s global reach, spanning many jurisdictions, regulations are difficult to implement, monitor and enforce. Strict voluntary initiatives that focus on raising consumer awareness, thereby creating greater demand for eco fashion have greater potential to lead to reform within the fashion industry. To do so, voluntary initiatives must include clear labeling of ‘eco’ products and designer input, and include strict guidelines for company and designer standards. Standards must take the entire life cycle of a garment into consideration. Fashion can apply lesson from the fair trade coffee industry by appealing to consumers based on ethics and environmental responsibility through a trusted consumerfacing label. Fair trade was successful, in part, due to their recognizable label. Fair trade type certifications are most often business to consumer facing and provide consumers with the environmental and social information on the benefits of purchasing fair trade. Fair trade certification models have capitalized on large retailer involvement, allowing certifications to become mainstreamed and therefore more accessible for consumers.

Klimaneutrale Unternehmen und Verwaltungen: Wirksamer Klimaschutz oder Grünfärberei?

Immer mehr Unternehmen und Verwaltungen wollen klimaneutral werden, etwa um ihr Image zu verbessern. Trotz oder gerade aufgrund ihrer Popularität sind freiwillige Initiativen, etwa Aufforstungsprojekte, mit denen Treibhausgasemissionen kompensiert werden sollen, umstritten. Kritiker(innen) sehen darin eher Grünfärberei als einen wirksamen Beitrag zum Klimaschutz. Organisationen, die es mit dem Klimaschutz ernst meinen, formulieren Anforderungen, die auch die Vermeidung und Reduzierung von Treibhausgasen einschließen.More and more companies and administrations want to become climate neutral, for example to improve their corporate image. Such voluntary initiatives are as popular as they are controversial, among others reforestation to compensate greenhouse gas emissions. Critics regard them as greenwashing rather than a contribution to climate protection. To avoid this reproach, requirements are needed that rule out greenwashing and include prevention and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.