Femnet e.V.

The 24th of April 2018 marked the five-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza textile factory disaster in Bangladesh. Numerous multinational textile companies sourced goods from the production in this building, among them a range of companies headquartered in the EU. Five years after the Rana Plaza disaster, to what extent have EU textile companies integrated respect for human rights throughout their operations? Are EU companies carrying out robust human rights due diligence throughout their supply chains to prevent the next ‘Rana Plaza’?

This briefing explores these questions by laying out the main challenges and opportunities in the EU textile sector. Based on data collected by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre over the last seven years on over 170 allegations of negative human rights impacts, this briefing sheds light on the key human rights issues, the scale and geographical dispersion of alleged abuses, and the quality of the responses from EU textile companies to these allegations. It also shares lessons from key legal cases involving EU textile firms where alleged victims sought access to remedy. 

The briefing concludes with recommendations for EU policy-makers and decision-makers, as well as to companies, to overcome the existing challenges to respect and protect human rights in the EU textile industry and its supply chains. A key problem at present is the lack of coordination among member states on how to tackle these issues. By surveying the scale of the abuses, the lack of access to remedy for victims, and identifying the gaps, challenges and opportunities, the briefing emphasizes the need for an EU-wide homogenous set of legislation on human rights responsibilities for EU textile companies.

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Of the 40 million people trapped in modern slavery today, 70 percent of them are women and girls. Every day across the globe, millions of women and girls are used, controlled and exploited for commercial or personal gain. They are trafficked into the sex industry, kept in servitude as domestic workers in private homes, forced to work in exploitative conditions in factories and bonded into agricultural labour. They suffer terrible violence and are denied their basic rights and freedoms.

Our report, “Her freedom, her voice: Insights from the Freedom Fund’s work with women and girls “, draws on insights from our last four years working in countries with a high burden of slavery. The report identifies promising approaches to tackle this scourge, and highlights priorities for further research and investment.

The Freedom Fund has sought to identify and invest in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate slavery. Across ‘hotspots’ in Ethiopia, India and Nepal we are supporting frontline NGOs to tackle the risks and vulnerabilities that communities face, including the specific vulnerabilities faced by women and girls. From building rights awareness and keeping girls in school, to opening up new economic opportunities and improving conditions in the workplace, our local partners are working to help women and girls protect themselves from slavery, address the root causes of their exploitation, recover from trauma, prosecute those who abuse them and activate government to take responsibility. 

Globally, more research and sharing of knowledge is needed on the most effective frontline strategies to address the gender dimensions of slavery. In an effort to contribute to this knowledge, this report draws together lessons from Freedom Fund-supported interventions to date.

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Innerhalb eines studentischen Projekts der Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz in Kooperation mit dem Tierra – Eine Welt e.V. (Ulrike Kauf & Ulrike Rosemann) konzipierten und entwickelten 13 Studierende innerhalb von 11 Monaten eine Wanderausstellung in Form eines Kleiderschranks.

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This edited volume comprises ideas, visions, strategies, and dreams of entrepreneurs, managers, scientists and political experts who share their best practice experience relating to the joint goal of a more sustainable, humanistic, and responsible fashion industry. Readers will find a variety of approaches and strategies that in sum represent a rich pool of insights and cases for anyone interested in the study of new management perspectives and in the systematic advancement of sustainable fashion. In 14 chapters, international authors discuss topics such as Sustainable Business Models, Cradle-to-Cradle, Circular Economy, Human Rights, Ethical Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Fashion Consumption, Certification and Auditing, Traceability, Impact Measurement, and Industry Transformation. Business case studies include H&M, Filippa K, Melawear, Otto, Tauko, and Tchibo. Further brands that are discussed in the book are Prada, Burberry, Hermès, Hugo Boss, and many more.

The book demonstrates that sustainable fashion can hardly be realized by just one actor or by using just one business tool or governance instrument. The sustainable transformation of the textile sector requires concerted action of businesses, governments, NGOs, and consumers to clearly demonstrate a coalition for change and a willingness and power to end inhumane and unsustainable business practices in the 21st century. The sum of innovative approaches and solutions presented in this book shows that the momentum for change is strong and that mutual learning, respect and collaboration can lead to interesting and effective new paths of co-creation and shared responsibility in the fashion industry.

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This book analyses the importance of consumer behaviour in sustainable fashion and consumption. Consumer behaviour plays a major role in sustainability, and when it comes to textile products, a number of studies have shown that for certain product categories, consumer behaviour during use and disposal stages influences the entire life cycle impacts of the product more than the raw material and manufacturing stages. However green the production, the overall sustainability of a product depends on the consumers who use and dispose of it.

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