This paper, brought to you through the collaborative efforts of May Hylander, Tara Scally, and Marta Garda, representing the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, and Delphine Williott, speaking for Fashion Revolution, explores crucial policy considerations for creating a sustainable textile industry. Rooted in the stellar work of the #smallbutperfect consortium, this comprehensive White Paper provides an in-depth review of the current landscape, as well as potential strategies for leveraging policy for a more sustainable future in textiles.
Here are some key takeaways from the paper:
- The textile and garment industry has become globalized and complex, with supply chains spanning across multiple countries, making traceability a challenge.
- There is a significant lack of transparency in the fashion industry, with only 48% of companies sharing their tier 1 factory sources and 12% providing information on raw material suppliers.
- Power imbalances are prevalent, allowing garment brands to hold significant buying power over suppliers and engage in unfair trading practices. This makes it difficult for manufacturers to invest in safe working conditions, sustainable production methods, or living wages for workers.
- The majority of fashion brands cannot prove that they are paying their workers a living wage, leading to excessive working hours and hazardous working conditions for many.
- Voluntary initiatives by the industry, such as commercial audits or sustainability platforms, have not been able to resolve issues like power imbalances, lack of transparency, and dangerously low wages.
- Brands that don’t consider environmental and human rights factors in their supply chain pose unfair competition to those that aim to produce sustainably.
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are particularly exposed to these challenges and need customised policies and support to implement regulations effectively.
- The European Commission’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles falls short on improving working conditions and wages for textile workers and doesn’t address unfair trading practices.
- Under the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), big companies will have an obligation to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence. However, the scope of the CSDDD needs to be expanded to cover all companies regardless of size.
- Policy recommendations provided in the paper cover business models, transparency, wages, trading practices, due diligence and public procurement, and are particularly relevant for fashion SMEs.
We invite you to dive into this rich source of knowledge and perspective that promises to enlighten and challenge your understanding of this critical industry issues.