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.
© 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.
© 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!
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.
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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.
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!
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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!
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From 23 to 27 June, our long-standing Indian partner, union president Rukmini V. Puttaswamy, visited FEMNET. We are grateful for the valuable exchange with the committed activist. Her message was clear: We need more transparency along the entire supply chain and more say for trade unions.
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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.
Cover photo: © Britta Würzburg ⁇ FEMNET
Already on the 5th. Sometimes FEMNET offers an up-to-date and attractive guide for conscious shopping in Bonn.
The buyer's guide shows shops that sell fair, ecological or clothing produced in the EU 15 (old EU countries). From boutiques to children's clothing to second hand shops, the brochure offers a good overview and helps you to find your way around the cash jungle. Also new is the app to the shopping guide. This allows consumers to quickly and easily search for ecologically and fairly produced clothing in shops in Bonn on the go.
© Disposal companies City of Konstanz
Two cities, two very different tenders, but one thing they have in common: Innovative processes demand significantly more sustainability than before. The city of Trier strategically addresses several product groups at the same time, municipal companies in Constance combine criteria on several levels of textile production and care.
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After two years of travel, Daniela Wawrzyniak, coordinator of FEMNET foreign projects, and Gisela Burckhardt, CEO of FEMNET, travelled to Tirupur in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore for 10 days from 22 May to 1 June 2022. They visited our partner organizations SAVE, READ, Munnade, GLU and Cividep and bring many impressions with them.
