All News & Press Releases

© Small tricks

It's time: To date, too little attention has been paid to the potential of sustainable public procurement in practice and also in the media. A new initiative wants to change that. More than 60 public figures in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have already joined, including Rosa Grabe on behalf of FEMNET.

The initiative wants to give a face to the common cause and communicate this commitment in all areas. Your vision: By 2030, sustainable procurement will become the standard in around 30,000 public procurement agencies in Germany. In their daily work, they then contribute to achieving the 1.5-degree climate target and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Germany.

Read more …

© Studierendenwerk Bonn

In front of the canteen Campo in Bonn Poppelsdorf, a long queue of students formed at 5:30 p.m., who wanted to exchange old treasures for new favorite parts.

Around 400 guests gathered on 20.10.22 under the motto ‘Swap, don’t shop’. The event was organized by the Studierendenwerk and the student radio bonn.fm in cooperation with FEMNET.

More information about this first clothes exchange, which will certainly not be the last, is on the homepage of the Studierendenwerk Bonn to find.

© FEMNET

With popcorn and living room atmosphere, we brought the feature film ‘Made in Bangladesh’ to the screen in the motoki living room in Cologne-Ehrenfeld on 14 September 2022. During the subsequent reality check, Sina Marx from the Clean Clothes Campaign and Ruth Helmingdirks from FEMNET showed how film and reality match.

Read more …

As the supporting organisation of the Supply Chain Act initiative, FEMNET joins the call Justice is Everybody’s Business to. The campaign is supported by numerous civil society and trade union organisations from across Europe and beyond. It is committed to using laws to hold companies to account that violate workers' rights and destroy the livelihoods of communities.

Read more …

© Somo ⁇ Maartje Theuws

With the executions of the four activists at the end of July, the violence of the military regime in Myanmar has reached a new, sad climax. De facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another six years in prison. The situation of Myanmar's textile workers is also becoming increasingly threatening. Raids and arrests in the factories are on the rise. At the same time, labour rights are curtailed, wages are cut and unrealistic production targets are set.

Read more …

© andresr - istock.com

Joint press release by the Global Nature Fund (GNF), FEMNET and the Schäder Foundation

Bonn. Workwear, bedding or fabric bags – companies are wholesalers of textiles. At the same time, textiles are at the heart of the sustainability debate. How can the purchasing of this product group be made socially and ecologically sustainable and make its contribution as part of a company-wide sustainability strategy?

In order to raise public awareness of the relevance and feasibility of this lever for more global justice, Global Nature Fund and FEMNET, in cooperation with the Schäder Foundation, invite representatives from business, science and politics to Darmstadt. The conference discusses the challenges and opportunities of sustainable textile procurement, examines detection systems, presents best practice examples of previous companies and offers practical support for its own implementation. Be there too!

Read more …

Under the new Minister Svenja Schulze, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has presented its future guideline ‘For a feminist development policy’ and promises a paradigm shift. ‘The BMZ takes care in all development projects to address gender equality and, in particular, to specifically promote women, girls and other marginalised groups and to involve them on an equal footing’, the new guideline states.

Read more …

© FEMNET

In recent months, we have already been able to implement a number of workshops on climate and clothing in schools: From Bonn to Koblenz, from grades 7 to 11, we were active in AGs, project groups and in the class association. In the new school year, too, we are pleased to hold numerous educational workshops with students, to raise their awareness of the climate impact of the textile industry and to hold inspiring discussions with them on the importance and future of clothing and fashion.

Read more …

Wages that come to life – this is what the EU citizens’ initiative calls for with its campaign ‘Good Clothes and Fair Pay” Currently, the majority of textile workers in the global apparel industry cannot afford to live in a decent home, eat a healthy diet or go to the doctor. The national minimum wage is often insufficient to cover the cost of living.

A living wage is not a luxury, it is a basic human right!

Read more …

+++ Save The Date +++

Do you like to write or do you want to creatively put your thoughts on the topic of clothing on paper? Whether advanced or newcomer: Join our digital writing workshop!

Read more …

© FEMNET

How can content on the climate crisis, production processes and associated climate impacts be excitingly packaged in educational contexts? Which ‘dead-killing arguments’ can education officers counter? How does the balancing act manage, on the one hand, to generate emotions and, at the same time, to avoid feelings of powerlessness? We discussed these and similar questions during the one-day training for the educational workshops in the project Klima & Klamotten.

Read more …

More Articles …