As a member of the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles, FEMNET has published a catalogue of measures (Roadmap). For 2017, Alliance members have undertaken more than 1,500 measures that will lead to concrete improvements within the framework of the goals set by the Alliance. They relate to topics such as living wages, combating child labour, avoiding chemicals harmful to health or sustainable water use in cotton cultivation.
Photo: © FEMNETCivil society press release in the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles
This summer, according to civil society members, the Textile Alliance is in a crucial phase: How many roadmaps (Members’ annual action plans to implement social and environmental objectives) will the plausibility check pass successfully? How many members of the Textile Alliance will publish their roadmap? What level of ambition will these roadmaps have? Will the Alliance agree on binding content requirements for the roadmaps of the coming years, such as steps towards the implementation of living wages?
All members of the Textile Alliance had to create a roadmap for 2017 for the first time and subject it to an external plausibility check by an independent service provider. Many companies have not complied with this obligation and have been excluded from the alliance or have previously resigned. Among the top-selling and publicly known companies that have left the alliance are Engbers, Ernsting's Family, Real, Trigema and Walbusch.
Fire protection equipment. Photo: © Pieter van de Boogert Berlin. In the Multifabs Ltd. factory in Bangladesh, a heating boiler exploded on Tuesday, July 4, 2017. At least 10 people were killed and many more injured. The explosion was so violent that parts of the factory collapsed. The factory is part of the Accord for Fire and Building Safety. The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) therefore calls on the companies involved in the Accord to include the safety testing of heating boilers immediately in the safety inspections of the factories.
Marie-Luise Lämmle from FEMNET explains: What evidence of fair production conditions is credible? What are the challenges for clean production, especially with work and safety shoes? Photo: © FEMNETTen representatives of manufacturers and trading companies for work and safety shoes discussed the requirements and possibilities of fair production with the city of Cologne. Employees in charge of procurement from numerous other municipalities also sat ‘at the round table’.
Companies that apply for public tenders have to face new requirements when municipalities formulate social and environmental claims. Since 2017, we have been supporting the Office for Landscape Management and Green Areas of the City of Cologne in integrating sustainability criteria into its tenders for work and safety shoes. To ensure that the city receives good offers for shoes and that compliance with eco-social production conditions is anchored as a central competitive criterion, we spoke with manufacturers and dealers on 16 May 2017.
Bonn. Sustainable fashion is attractive. This proves the Fair fashion guide (PDF file), which will be published on 22.4.2017, shortly before the day of remembrance of Rana Plaza. In the factory collapse in Bangladesh on 24 April 2013, more than 1,100 textile workers died and 2,000 were severely injured.
"The Fair Fashion Guide is a plea for the wardrobe of the future and wants to encourage fashion to live with a clear conscience. With interviews, fashion routes and tips for restyle, in a visual language familiar to the young target group from magazines without using them without criticism," says Friederike von Wedel, editor-in-chief.
On 34 pages, professional models show fair fashion, which was produced under human rights responsible conditions. There are also tips for sustainable consumption: from clothing care to sharing and swapping to up-cycling.
On March 30, 2017, the Indonesian trade unions GSBI and FSPMI organized a protest in front of the German embassy in Jakarta to draw attention to the fate of 4,000 workers who worked for a supplier of the German companies s.Oliver and Gerry Weber. In April 2015, the insolvent textile factory Jaba Garmindo in Indonesia closed. To date, thousands of predominantly female employees, who were laid off at the time, are waiting in vain for four outstanding monthly salaries as well as severance payments totaling almost $11 million. The Clean Clothes Campaign calls on s.Oliver and Gerry Weber to participate in the compensation payments.
In a written appeal to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and the local Association of Textile Companies (BGMEA), the Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE), the Gesamtverband textile+mode, the Campaign for Clean Clothes (CCC) and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) are committed to upholding international human rights standards in the textile sector.
Textile trade unionists on strike on 10.02.2017. Photo: © NGWFBonn/Berlin. Since December 2016, many trade unionists and workers in Bangladesh have been arrested and trade union offices have been closed for participating in a peaceful strike to triple wages. In addition, hundreds of workers have been reported as unidentified and over 1,500 workers have been dismissed from factories producing clothing for H&M, Inditex (Zara/Bershka), VF (North Face) and Gap. Bangladesh's textile industry has one of the lowest wages in the region, which hasn't risen in three years despite inflation.
Bangladesh benefits from the EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ trade agreement, which is part of the International Tariff Preference System (GSP) and guarantees duty-free access to the European market for all goods except arms and ammunition for 49 least developed countries, including Bangladesh. But can this tariff relief be granted in the case of a massive violation of elementary rights such as the core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO)? As Bangladesh is keen to benefit soon from the GSP+, which explicitly links the granting of duty-free status to compliance with social standards, the CCC considers it necessary for the EU to launch a review of Bangladesh's compliance with human rights and the cessation of trade facilitation if labour rights continue to be violated.
Textile trade unionists on strike on 10.02.2017. Photo: © NGWFBonn/Berlin. Since December 2016, many trade unionists and workers in Bangladesh have been arrested and trade union offices have been closed for participating in a peaceful strike to triple wages. In addition, hundreds of workers have been reported as unidentified and over 1,500 workers have been dismissed from factories producing clothing for H&M, Inditex (Zara/Bershka), VF (North Face) and Gap. Bangladesh's textile industry has one of the lowest wages in the region, which hasn't risen in three years despite inflation.
Bangladesh benefits from the EU’s ‘Everything But Arms’ trade agreement, which is part of the International Tariff Preference System (GSP) and guarantees duty-free access to the European market for all goods except arms and ammunition for 49 least developed countries, including Bangladesh. But can this tariff relief be granted in the case of a massive violation of elementary rights such as the core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO)? As Bangladesh is keen to benefit soon from the GSP+, which explicitly links the granting of duty-free status to compliance with social standards, the CCC considers it necessary for the EU to launch a review of Bangladesh's compliance with human rights and the cessation of trade facilitation if labour rights continue to be violated.
Amsterdam. After years of sanctions, trade with Myanmar (formerly Burma) is flourishing again. Low wages and favourable economic conditions are attracting garment production to Myanmar. Numerous European brands, including well-known brands such as H&M, C&A and Primark, are taking part in this race to the bottom. in a new report (PDF file of the English summary) detailing the miserable working conditions: Low salaries, massive overtime and child labour are therefore no exception. In the expansion of industry, land rights were also disregarded.
SOMO employee Maartje Theuws: “Clothing brands should think twice about whether they really want to produce in Myanmar. The risk of labour rights violations is very high. Companies should make an accurate analysis of all potential problems. Together with their suppliers, they need to identify and manage the risks before placing orders there. However, our research shows that companies do not.”
