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In recent years, the increased awareness of the need for conservation of resources and environmental sustainability has brought a focus on the potential for a circular economy in textiles and fashion. Commissioned by the Region of Västra Götaland, a number of investigations were carried out during 2015-2019, related to redesign, reuse and recycling of textile materials and products, at the Swedish School of Textiles and Science Park Borås.

The objectives of the reports, where feasibility is a keyword, is to develop structures for circular processes in the textile industry, in order to create new business opportunities and use less planetary resources. The focus is to design for longevity, through conditional design, redesign and remanufacturing and service innovation, and to ensure that the resulting circular processes are technically, organizationally, and economically viable.

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This report highlights the key findings of a Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC) research project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project was funded through an open call for proposals to examine the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on modern slavery. The project explored the impact of the pandemic on the management of modern slavery risk in Indian fashion supply chains.

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Ethiopia’s economy has grown rapidly over the last few years, from an agricultural economy to an industrializing one. The country now has one of the highest economic growth rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Industrial parks like Hawassa are part of the government’s plan to create jobs. The Ethiopian Investment Commission touts low wages and other benefits to attract investment. The government has set up the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, and industrial parks have been built across the country to promote light manufacturing.

But what does the special focus given to the textile and garment sector mean for factory workers? What does it mean for union organizing? Unions are concerned that the country will replicate the mistakes of other low wage economies, undermining Union to keep wages low.

This short article gives a short overview about the situation of wages and women’s right in the garment sector in Ethiopia.

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The garment industry is one of the most labour-intensive manufacturing industries in the world. Clothing companies are constantly on the look-out for production locations that can make clothes quickly and at low costs. Over the past few years, Myanmar has rapidly become a popular sourcing destination for the garment industry – due ta huge pool of cheap labour and facilitated import and export tariffs. However, working conditions in this industry are far from acceptable. Labour rights violations are rife. Workers Whare Bold Enough May File Complaints or Resort Topen Protests, News of Which Sometimes Finds Its Way IntInternational Media. More often, workers toil on in silence. As well as representing the most pressing problems, the authors of this report offer suggestions for advancing ways forward thead off a crisis before it escalates.

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In 2020, the British Fashion Council launched the Institute of Positive Fashion (IPF) to create a new industry standard for accountability by acting as a catalyst for change.

By its very nature, fashion encourages expression, offering the potential to connect citizens to global issues. However, the industry is facing facing facing challenges to inspire and clothe consumers around the world while simultaneously decarbonising and reducing the waste arising from its activities.
This report reiterates ten priority action areas, each of which faces efforts across many different parts of the fashion ecosystem. Each action area is equally important and has the potential to amplify the effects of the others. They jointly contribute to the target outcomes, as shown under ‘10 priority action areas for realising the target state’ at the end of this summary and on pages 50-51 of the report.

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