The paper embarks on a comprehensive and critical review of the definitions and measurement methods of a living wage that have been used across the world by a range of institutions – from international organizations to cities, NGOs and companies – in the past decade. For each methodology, the corresponding assumptions and parameters are critically appraised. Based on this review, suggestions are put forward about possible ways to improve the estimation of a living wage and come up with a standard methodology.
Recherchetool für Materialien
Research Tool for Materials
The materials database contains media on our key topics of working conditions in the textile and clothing industry and the environmental impact of clothing. The types of media include studies, guidelines and reports, as well as films, podcasts and web tools.
The purpose of this report is to provide the basis for a new proposal on living wage regulation. For the purposes of this report, we have limited our scope to the context of living wage legislation, focusing on the non-EU aspect in particular. Based on legal research we draw on 11 diverse areas of existing EU regulation with extra-territorial effect to evidence potential parallels and precedents for EU Living Wage legislation, and to provide arguments for the EU to look beyond its own borders in its regulations.
Given the limitations of cooperation, trade agreements and remedies to address wages and labour standards, the focus of our proposal is on the responsibilities of retail companies and importers to ensure that human rights are upheld within their supply chain.
The declarations of intent of the vast majority of fashion houses only look good on paper. This is the conclusion of the Clean Clothes Campaign in its ‘Company Check 2019’, for which it scrutinised 45 of the main European brands. Despite promises to the contrary, none of the companies analysed still ensure that their seamstresses receive a living wage in real terms.
On paper, fashion companies recognize the right to livelihood wages, but in their purchasing practices they violate this human right. Despite many voluntary individual company and industry initiatives, the wage situation in the garment factories of the low-cost producing countries has not improved in recent decades. Only five fast fashion providers make living wages an issue vis-à-vis their suppliers, but they do not eradicate the poverty of workers in factories and their supply chains.
This report is an extended edition of the international report of the Clean Clothes Campaign “Tailored wages 2019. The state of pay in the global garment industry“.
Fashion designer Amy Powney is at the peak of her career, but she’s troubled by her industry’s environmental impact. Fashion Reimagined follows her transformative global journey to create a collection that’s Sustainable on every level.
The play between material, colour and space unfolds the unique oeuvre of Sheila Hicks: In large and small-format wall works, carpets, reliefs, sculptures and installations, the seemingly endless possibilities of these three dimensions are fanned out. ‘What can you do with a thread?’ is the question that the artist has been tirelessly pursuing since her studies with Josef Albers at the Yale School of Art in the 1950s. In her endeavor, she developed various techniques that repeatedly challenge and surprise our perception and our concepts of art and textiles, color and structure, work and space.