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Textiles Partnership at ISPO Munich

News
07.12.2022

Textiles Partnership at ISPO Munich

Sustainability was one of the main topics at the large sports and outdoor trade fair ISPO in Munich from 28-30 November. The Textiles Partnership also presented itself at the Sustainability Hub.

GreenroomVoice organised the Sustainability Hub . In addition to the Textiles Partnership, 44 other brands, service providers and organisations were present, including Textiles Exchange and the Fair Wear Foundation, VAUDE and Sympatex. On each of the three days of the fair, around 60 visitors took part in a guided tour of the Sustainability Hub.

This year, the Sustainability Hub focused on circular economy, climate protection and transparency. The Textiles Partnership presented its cooperation with the Open Supply Hub and the aggregated list with data of production sites on the same platform. In addition, visitors to the fair received general information about the Partnership, its members, partners and projects.

At the Digital Transparency Tour ISPO 2022, 13 companies and organisations from the Sustainability Hub present themselves. You can watch all videos in this Playlist .

Das Textilbündnis-Poster

If you click on the image, the poster will open as a PDF.

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More organic cotton on the world market

News
21.11.2022

More organic cotton on the world market

The current market study by Textile Exchange shows that more and more cotton farmers are switching from conventional to organic cultivation. With two projects in India, the members of the Textiles Partnership are also promoting more organic cotton on the world market.
Textile Exchange Organic Cotton Market Report

The Textile Partnership has been cooperating with Textile Exchange for many years. Recently, the organisation published the Organic Cotton Market Report (OCMR). According to the report, more and more farmers are converting from conventional to organic cultivation. The area of in-conversion has increased fivefold to 293,204 hectares from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Textile Exchange states:

"Based on our estimates, the 2020/21 global harvest saw 342,265 tonnes of organic cotton fiber produced on621,691 hectares of certified organic land, and 180,726 tonnes of in-conversion fiber produced on 293,204 hectares of land in-conversion to organic. Compared to 2019/20, this represents an estimated 37% growth in organic fiber. With overall cotton production reported by ICAC in 2020/21 totaling 24,380,507 tonnes, this means that 1.4% of all cotton grown is estimated to have been organic."

Textile Exchange, Organic Cotton Market Report 22, p.17.
Organic Cotton in the Textiles Partnership

This is good news for the members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. Because they have set themselves a common goal: By 2025, the share of sustainable cotton is to increase to a total of 70 per cent, and the share of organic cotton contained therein to 20 percent.

Im Review-Prozess erhebt  das Textilbündnis die Mengen an verschiedenen Fasern, die die Mitgliedsunternehmen beschaffen. Laut den Zahlen aus dem Review-Prozess 2021 beschafften die Bündnisunternehmen:

  • 971.470 t cotton in total, of which
    • Organic cotton (142,512 t = 14.7%)
    • other/other sustainable cotton (489.620.88 t = 50.4%)

Organic cotton and otherwise sustainable cotton combined, this is an increase from 32.2% to 65.1% compared to the 2019 review process. Read on the Review Processpage, which standards the Textiles Partnership recognises as organic or otherwise sustainable.

With regard to their sustainable cotton target, the Partnership members are thus on the home stretch: Only 5.3 percentage points are missing for organic cotton to reach the overall target of 70%.

Joint Action in India for more organic cotton

The Textiles Partnership is promoting more organic cotton on the world market with a pilot project and with the Partnership Initiative . Both projects are running in India, where, according to the OCMR, most organic cotton is grown worldwide (38%).

The organic cotton pilot project in India (South Odisha) pursues the above-mentioned goal through, among other things, training, targeted promotion of women, support in the conversion to organic cultivation, GMO-free seeds, purchase guarantees and premiums.

The Organic Cotton Alliance Initiative also aims to make the organic cotton supply chain fair, environmentally friendly and economically viable. 11,500 cotton producers in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Gujarat are expected to benefit from the project by switching to organic farming. For this purpose, the farmers receive GMO-free seeds and support in converting to organic farming, among other things through training in organic farming methods and humane working conditions, as part of the"OCA Farm Programme" .

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BMZ Conference on Living Wages: From Ambition to Implementation

News
22.11.2022

BMZ Conference on Living Wages: From Ambition to Implementation

Conference report
Introduction

On Tuesday, 27 September 2022, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) hosted the virtual conference “From ambition to implementation: Scaling successful approaches to living wages in textile supply chains” and convened over 100 participants from politics, business, and civil society to strengthen international cooperation on the way towards living wages.


In her keynote speech, Parliamentary State Secretary Dr. Bärbel Kofler stressed the importance of living wages, especially for women who make up around 70 per cent of the workers in the textile supply chain and laid out BMZ’s efforts to support living wages.

“We have a responsibility towards the people working in the textiles supply chain. The vast majority of the employees are women. They are particularly affected by low wages and precarious working conditions. Let us continue to pool our efforts and let us take the next step towards achieving living wages worldwide.”

Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary
Panel discussion

During the high-level panel session, speakers from different stakeholder groups discussed the various challenges and key drivers that promote living wages for textile workers in producing countries.

Speakers

Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Ms. Christina Hajagos-Clausen, Director, Textile and Garment Industry, IndustriALL

Khalid Mahmood, Executive Director, Labour Education Foundation, Pakistan

Allan Jørgensen, Head of Responsible Business Conduct Centre, OECD

Marco Hühn, Head of Quality Management, CSR, Deuter Sport GmbH

Key messages
  • There is a growing realization that living wages and living income are an essential element of the concept and standards of responsible business conduct (e.g., UN Guiding Principles, OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct)A smart mix of voluntary and mandatory measures is relevant to support textile brands, retailers and producers to respond to sustainability challenges and pay a living wage to workers.
  • Legal frameworks are necessary to enable a level playing field in which responsible and sustainable business conduct is not a competitive disadvantage.
  • Responsible purchasing practices (RPP) reduce the risks that lie disproportionately with the supplier due to long payment terms, sharp production peaks and prices that neither cover production costs nor allow for the payment of a living wage. Hence RPP are crucial to ensure that manufactures can pay living wages to their workers.
  • Industry-wide collective bargaining is necessary to realize living wages in the economically volatile and rapidly changing textile sector and to give a voice to concerned workers.

Watch the whole opening speech and panel discussion here.

Discussion in Working Groups: Key Takeaways

Following the high-level panel participants discussed what is needed to advance progress on living wages in four working groups:

Working Group 1: Enabling living wages through responsible purchasing practices

Working Group 2: How can collective bargaining lead to the payment of living wages?

Working Group 3: Living wage cases: How retailers, civil society and standards organizations are working together towards living wages

Working Group 4: The role of the financial sector in advancing living wages

Collaboration is key
  • A collaborative approach is a key prerequisite to address the challenges to achieve living wages. No actor will be able to solve all the obstacles alone. To bring about systemic change and move beyond a pilot approach, collaboration and knowledge sharing between actors is indispensable.
  • This includes purchasing companies that work in direct collaboration with their supplier, standard organizations, government actors, unions and civil society organizations.
  • Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) like the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles play an important role in bringing the parties to the table, building trust between actors and supporting joint action.
Closing the information gap

An important enabler for making progress on living wages is to improve availability of reliable wage data.

  • Also, supply chain transparency is an important prerequisite for progress on living wages. Transparency also means more disclosure. Only a marginal number of companies currently disclose any information about their payment of living wages.
  • Digital tools to collect and monitor wages and sharing the available data between brands, suppliers and other organizations can strengthen transparency and social compliance.
  • To achieve this transparency, building trust among and between stakeholder groups is crucial.
  • It is also essential to gain information from rightsholders themselves to integrate into the benchmarking process.
Responsible purchasing practices
  • Long payment terms, sharp production peaks and low prices put pressure on suppliers. Responsible purchasing practices can help reduce these negative impacts and have a positive effect on wages – e.g. through fair prices, long-term supply relationships or reasonable delivery times.
  • Expectations and roles of each actor in the value chain need to be clearly defined. By establishing an equal partnership between buyers and suppliers, sustainable and transparent production planning and open costing becomes possible.
  • A common definition of what responsible purchasing practices look like is needed to mainstream efforts and move towards a systemic change. The Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices (see below) can be a reference document for the garment industry.
Right to freedom of association (FOA) and collective bargaining are a key avenue to achieve systemic change on wages
  • Dialogue between employers and trade unions is needed. Workers should have a saying when it comes to discussions about wage level.
  • Brands should engage in creating structures for and supporting dialogue between employers and trade unions.
  • Social dialogue should be used to give employers a better understanding of the rights of FOA and collective bargaining and to highlight the benefits of collective bargaining also for the employer side.
  • There needs to be zero tolerance for FOA violation and access to remedy on such violations. In case of a dispute, remediation and any other corrective action should be supported by brand response.
Summary and next steps

The conference was a great opportunity to take stock, determine where the biggest obstacles still lie ahead and discuss approaches on how they can be overcome.

With upcoming binding legislation such as the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains and the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, it is important that the crucial role played by civil society and MSIs in the implementation is recognized and promoted.
Businesses, civil society, unions, and governments are encouraged to:

  • Join MSIs that are working on achieving living wages and actively engage
  • Enhance transparency and build trust between buyers and suppliers by e.g. actively working together with partners, sharing learnings and data
  • Enable responsible purchasing practices by using the Common framework as a guidance (see below)
  • Strengthen labor unions and support freedom of association and collective bargaining in producing countries
  • Promote national minimum wages that secure a decent standard of living
Related activities

BMZ and its partners, many of which were present at the event, will continually work on advancing efforts towards living wages in the textile industry and beyond:

  • A group of MSIs have worked together to develop the ‘Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices’ (CFRPP), as an aligned reference document for the garment
    industry. The Framework provides a common language and alignment on what constitutes responsible purchasing practices. In five principles the framework formulates practices that enable companies to purchase responsibly. Conversely the Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative (STTI) has published a White paper on the core principles manufacturers want the garment and apparel companies who buy from them to comply with. In a Learning and Implementation Community (LIC), supported by the BMZ, companies wanting to take new steps towards progress in their purchasing practices, develop solutions and share learnings with peers, experts and supply chain partners over the next two years. Please contact info@cfrpp.org if you want to know more or get involved.
  • Financed by the BMZ, the OECD is developing a practical-action handbook on living wages and income to guide companies in their efforts in global supply chains at the example of the agricultural and textile sector. The handbook will be based on the OECD due diligence framework and will refer to the current legislation on corporate due diligence at national and EU level. An informal expert group including experts from various regions and stakeholder groups is overseeing the drafting process. A public consultation on the draft handbook and the release of the handbook are planned for the first half of 2023.
  • As a multi-stakeholder initiative, the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) that was initiated by BMZ is a platform for learning and dialogue. It initiates joint projects such as the Living Wage Lab with the aim to support members in developing and implementing individual living wage strategies and to develop scalable solutions together with their suppliers. Find out more about becoming a PST member here.
  • The Green Button, a certification label for sustainable textiles run by BMZ, aims to ensure that producers will be paying living wages in the future. For the new version, the Green Button 2.0, companies are required to carry out a wage gap analysis as part of their risk analysis, develop a strategy to promote living wages at the manufacturing level, begin with its implementation and show concrete progress after two years. Find out more about the certification process and get involved here.
  • Under the umbrella of the Platform on Living Wage Financials (PLWF), financial institutions come together to encourage, support, assess, and monitor investee companies with regard to their commitment to enable living wages and incomes for workers in their supply chains. A guidance document was last updated in 2022 and can be found here. Additionally, the PLWF has published its annual report, which includes the 2022 assessment results for the garment and footwear sector on Oct 17, 2022.
  • ACT is an agreement between trade unions and both global brands and retailers to transform the garment, textile and footwear industry. The actors work together to achieve living wages for workers through collective bargaining at industry level, freedom of association and responsible purchasing practices. Brands that are interested in getting involved can find more information and get in touch with ACT here.
  • The Good Clothes Fair Pay campaign, a European Citizens’ Initiative, calls on the European Commission to introduce legislation requiring that brands and retailers in the garment sector conduct specific due diligence in their supply chain to ensure workers are paid living wages. It builds on the Commission’s proposal for a European due diligence law. You can sign the campaign here.
  • The IDH Living Wage Summit in Brussels on December 7, 2022 is another opportunity for companies and organizations to exchange and discuss how to accelerate and scale up their action on living wages. Register here.
  • Fair Wear Foundation has launched the Fairprice App, which allows fact-based costing as a methodology to support factories and brands to calculate the purchasing price that needs to be paid in order to allow the payment of a living wage. Fair Wear is also offering seminars for suppliers in different producing countries.
CONFERENCE REPORT
AGENDA

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Changes in the Textiles Partnership

News
16.11.2022

Due Diligence, Transparency and Focus Topics

Changes in the Textiles Partnership

In the meeting on 28 September 2022, the Steering Committee adopted a new concept for the Textiles Partnership. In the future, the Partnership's work will focus on three core elements:

  1. Implementing due diligence
  2. Supply Chain Transparency
  3. Addressing focus topics

"In recent years, the environment for the economy in general, and thus also for the textile industry, has changed significantly, for example in the area of regulation, the social and technological environment, as well as among important cooperation partners of the Textiles Partnership. The aim of the new concept is to enable the Partnership's positive contribution to the transformation towards a more sustainable and responsible textile and garment sector and to support our members in this process in the best possible way." Noor Naqschbandi, head of the PST secretariat.

Implementing due diligence

Already in 2017, the Steering Committee decided to align the work in the Textiles Partnership with the due diligence approach as prescribed and recommended by the UN, ILO and OECD. "The clear commitment to the due diligence approach has contributed in no small way to the fact that the Partnership companies are much better prepared for the current and future requirements in the implementation of due diligence and the associated obligations to provide evidence," said the former head of the PST secretariat Jürgen Janssen when he left the Partnership in September (see news article).

What does this mean for the companies in the Textiles Partnership? The new concept also provides for PST members to publicly report every two years on how they implement their due diligence obligations. As before, they can do this on the basis of the Partnership's own Review Process . What is new is that from now on, the Textile Alliance also recognises the report to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) within the framework of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and reporting in accordance with Green Button 2.0 requirements as proof of the implementation of due diligence obligations.

Supply chain transparency

Knowing one's own supply chain is crucial in order to identify grievances and initiate measures that mitigate risks and introduce improvements. The PST supports its member companies in bringing more transparency to their supply chains, among other things with a guideline.

LEITFADEN TRANSPARENZ
TRANSPARENCY GUIDELINE

Since 2020, the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles has published an aggregated list with a total of around 6,450 production sites from 23 member companies on the Open Supply Hub. In this way, the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles contributes to the accessible, collaborative, supply chain mapping platform and thus promotes transparency in the industry.

Until now, member companies could voluntarily provide their supply chain data for the aggregated list. From 2023, this will be mandatory for all member companies, and they will have to provide a list of their suppliers, especially ready-made garment factories (Tier 1), on an annual basis. In addition, they are required to gradually increase transparency into the deeper supply chain.

Addressing focus topics
Living Wages and Purchasing Practices
Circular economy and climate protection
Gender equality
Grievance mechanisms and remedy

The Textiles Partnership identifies these four topics as main challenges of the textile and garment industry as well as key elements of the due diligence approach. At the same time, it also sees a particularly large leverage for improvement in these areas.

For all four focus topics there is a Reference frameworkwhich is based on international guidelines and recommendations and presents the goals of the PST. In addition"Individual Commitments"of the member companies: Using standardised indicators, each member can measure progress in the focus topics individually and the Partnership in an aggregated way. The progress is published annually. Details on the reference frameworks and KPIs can be found on the respective focus topic page by clicking on the icons above.

In addition, for all focus topics there will be Joint Action implemented jointly by the members in the production countries. These projects should also make a measurable contribution to the focus topics and contribute to the individual indicators and targets. Participation in these projects is mandatory for members from the 3rd year of membership.

In November, the PST launched a Call for Proposals where members can submit project proposals. At the Members' Meeting on 29 November in Hamburg, the PST members will also discuss the focus topics and develop project ideas.

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Mitgliederversammlung am 30. November 2022

News
15.11.2022

Mitgliederversammlung am 30. November 2022

Partnership 2023 - Let's get started!

Der Steuerungskreis hat Ende September eine Neuausrichtung des Textilbündnisses beschlossen. Die zukünftigen Schwerpunkte der Arbeit im Textilbündnis werden anhand von drei Basiselementen deutlich:

  • Implementing due diligence
  • Transparenz in Liefernetzwerken
  • Addressing focus topics

Bei der Mitgliederversammlung am 30. November in Hamburg geht es in erster Linie um die Neuerungen. In Workshops widmen sich die Mitglieder den vier Fokusthemen: Existenzsichernde Löhne und Einkaufspraktiken, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Klima, Geschlechtergerechtigkeit sowie Beschwerdemechanismen und Abhilfe.

Darüber hinaus findet eine Paneldiskussion zum Thema  „Die EU Textilstrategie– zukünftige Herausforderungen und Verpflichtungen“. Dabei wird Brigitte Zietlow vom Umweltbundesamt (UBA) einen allgemeinen Überblick über die EU Strategie für nachhaltige Textilien geben sowie die aktuellen Entwicklungen aus heutiger Sicht vorstellen.

Mitglieder finden detaillierte Informationen zur Veranstaltung und zur Anmeldung im geschlossenen Mitgliederbereich.

Die neue Struktur des Textilbündnisses in der Übersicht:

Weitere Informationen lesen Sie auf der Seite „About us“ und im Factsheet.

program
8:45 am

Ankommen

9:00-09:45 Uhr

Begrüßung und Bericht zu Neuheiten im Bündnis

9:45-10:30 Uhr

Q&A mit dem Steuerungskreis und Bündnissekretariat

10:30-11:00 Uhr

Kaffeepause

11:00-12:30 Uhr

Session 1

1A Focus on: Existenzsichernde Löhne und Einkaufspraktiken

12:30-13:30 Uhr

Mittagspause

11:00-12:30 Uhr

Session 1

1B Focus on: Kreislaufwirtschaft und Klima

13:30-15:00 Uhr

Session 2

2A Focus on: Geschlechtergerechtigkeit

15:00-15:30 Uhr

Kaffeepause

13:30-15:00 Uhr

Session 2

2B Focus on: Beschwerdemechanismen und Abhilfe

3:30-4:30 pm

Input und Q&A mit dem Umweltbundesamt:

„Die EU Textilstrategie – zukünftige Herausforderungen und Verpflichtungen“

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Neue Handreichung zum Integritätsmanagement in Unternehmen

News
15.11.2022

Neue Handreichung zum Integritätsmanagement in Unternehmen

Die Verankerung von Integrität in allen Bereichen unternehmerischen Handelns ist zunehmend eine grundlegende Voraussetzung für nachhaltigen wirtschaftlichen Erfolg. Die Allianz für Integrität und das UN Global Compact Netzwerks Deutschland haben daher eine neue Handreichung erarbeitet, die Unternehmen beim Integritätsmanagement unterstützen soll.

Integrität spielt in der öffentlichen Debatte eine immer wichtigere Rolle – auch und insbesondere im Zusammenspiel mit anderen zentralen gesellschaftlichen Zielen von Klima- und Umweltschutz über der Wahrung von Menschenrechten bis hin zur Förderung von Gerechtigkeit. Verbraucher*innen berücksichtigen bei Kaufentscheidungen auch ethische Erwägungen. Gleiches gilt für Unternehmen bei der Auswahl von Geschäftspartner*innen.

Vor diesem Hintergrund können Unternehmen anspruchsvolleren, sanktionsbewehrten Regularien auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene oft nur dann gerecht werden, wenn sie zusätzlich zu Social Compliance Mechanismen Integrität in ihrer Unternehmenskultur verankern.

Trotz der zunehmenden Relevanz der Thematik und dem daraus resultierenden Handlungsdruck sind viele Unternehmen oft unsicher, wie sie Integrität effektiv in Unternehmenskultur und -praxis etablieren können. Die Handreichung „Integrität in Unternehmen. Ein Praxis-Katalog“ der Alliance for Integrity und des UN Global Compact Netzwerk Deutschland soll Unternehmen daher mit konkreten Handlungsempfehlungen, vielfältigen Best Practice Beispielen sowie erprobten Tools bei der Verankerung von Integrität unterstützen.

Hintergrund: Was bedeutet Integrität?

Die Herausgeber definieren Integrität in der neuen Handleitung so:

„Integrität bezeichnet die Konsistenz von Handeln, Werten, Prinzipien, angewandten Methoden und Maßnahmen, Erwartungen und Resultaten. In der Ethik wird Integrität als eine eigenständige Qualität aufgefasst, die sich in einem intuitiven Verständnis von Ehrlichkeit und Aufrichtigkeit mit Blick auf die Motive des eigenen Handelns zeigt.

Unternehmen verwenden den Begriff in der Regel, um verantwortungsvolles und regeltreues unternehmerisches Handeln und dessen Orientierung an allgemein akzeptierten ethischen Standards und Prinzipien zu beschreiben. Genauer verpflichtet sich ein Unternehmen mit einem Bekenntnis zu Integrität im Sinne einer Selbstbindung dazu, die Geschäftstätigkeit, Entscheidungen und Unternehmenshandlungen so auszurichten, dass moralische Grundwerte eingehalten werden.“

Details und weiterführende Informationen lesen Sie im Praxis-Katalog.

 

Further information:

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Purchasing practices: Common Framework to guide action in the Partnership

News
27.10.2022

Purchasing practices: Common Framework to guide action in the Partnership

In future, the "Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices" will serve as a foundation to support members to systematically improve their purchasing practices.

Companies have a duty to conduct human rights due diligence for their international activities and revising their purchasing practices is an important element of this. They have the potential to support and enable improved working conditions, the implementation of living wages and better planning and business sustainability among suppliers.

The Partnership for Sustainable Textiles has developed the "Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices" (CFRPP) together with other multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). The document provides companies and MSIs in the textile sector with a common understanding as well as universal points of reference to adapt their purchasing practices and reduce negative impacts on people and the environment.

The Steering Committee has now decided to make the CFRPP the reference framework in the Textile Partnership and thus the guiding principle for action on the issue of purchasing practices. With this decision, the Textile Partnership is also making an important contribution to applying the CFRPP in practice. Companies can use the document to better fulfil their individual responsibility to establish responsible purchasing practices. The initiatives support this by offering workshops and peer learning in working groups, for example.  

In addition, several European companies have joined forces in a "Learning and Implementation Community". The members share practical experiences and thus support each other in implementing the CFRPP. The aim is to develop workable solutions to the various challenges related to responsible sourcing practices and to communitise concrete best practices.

Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices

Several multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSI) have developed the Common Framework for Responsible Purchasing Practices (CFRPP), a unified reference document for the industry. In addition to the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, the group includes the Ethical Trading Initiative, Ethical Trade Norway and Denmark, Fair Wear Foundation and the Dutch Agreement for Sustainable Garments and Textile (AGT, expired in 2021, a new agreement is being planned). The working group has also consulted with ACT (Action Collaboration Transformation), Better Buying Institute, Better Work and amfori.

The framework recognises and emphasises that the responsibility to respect human rights and environmental standards in textile supply chains cannot be placed solely on suppliers, but that purchasing companies must also take responsibility. Action needs to be taken by purchasing companies to amend their purchasing practices, where these undermine good working conditions.

Further information

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Welcome to the Partnership: WiBU TextilPlus GmbH

News
11.10.2022

Welcome to the Partnership: WiBU TextilPlus GmbH

We are pleased to welcome WiBU TextilPlus to the Textiles Partnership.

The company from Schleswig-Holstein offers services and products for all textile needs for major customers in the social sector.

WiBU TextilPlus sees quality and durability as particularly important factors for the production of workwear and home textiles. Therefore, manufacturing and distribution processes are based on recognised and common textile standards. For example, selected production companies manufacture exclusively in Germany. All fabric manufacturers and suppliers are certified and committed to compliance with ecological and social standards.

In addition, the company has been in the Green Button certification process for a short time in order to be able to label their products with the governmental, independent textile seal by the end of the year.

Managing Director Simone Kraus explains: "Function and emotion is the value proposition that customers all over Germany should associate with the WiBU subsidiary. We always try to offer a portfolio of quality products with textile added value for the customer. In this way, we guarantee products with a long life cycle and continuously increase our overall performance based on our sustainable development initiative".

You can find more information about WiBU TextilPlus GmbH at https://www.wibu-textilplus.de/.

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Tackle Grievances from Shared Factories more effectively

News
22.09.2022

Tackle Grievances from Shared Factories more effectively

amfori, Fair Wear and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) are pleased to announce the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration to jointly address workers grievances from shared factories of their various member brands. This collaboration will initially be piloted for a year, with the objective to improve working conditions in our members’ supply chains and to offer learnings for the industry to align access to remedies.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) strongly recommends in its Accountability and Remedy Project III that “operators of non-State-based grievance mechanisms cooperate proactively and constructively with each other in order to raise standards and promote good practice with respect to the resolution of grievances arising from business-related human rights harms” .

In global garment supply chains, brands are likely to source from the same suppliers and/or factories. Those brands are often part of member organisations that seek to promote the improvement of working conditions in supply chains by providing (non-judicial) grievance mechanisms.

Production sites where multiple member brands, from different member organisations, source from, offer unique opportunities to pool resources and make a joint impact. With this in mind, and to integrate efforts and avoid overlap, amfori, Fair Wear and PST have agreed to work together to jointly address complaints raised in shared factories. The objectives are to

  • support member brands and their suppliers in resolving complaints
  • align approaches and standards
  • strengthen collaboration among stakeholders
  • provide better (access to) remedy for workers

In line with the OHCHR’s recommendations, this initiative will also help provide a space to test such collaboration between operators of grievance mechanisms, find synergies and align complaint handling, including investigation and remediation steps, across the industry.

In this endeavour, the organisations – in consultation with their main stakeholders – have drawn up a protocol setting out the scope, terms and processes for implementing this collaboration. The protocol does not replace any of the organisations’ complaints mechanisms but serves as an additional “instrument” to escalate incoming complaints whose resolution could benefit from such a collaborative approach While any grievance raised through a channel of the participating organisations may be covered by the collaboration protocol, complaints that are more complex in nature and where the additional leverage and resources provided by the collaboration would allow for better remediation, are more likely to be escalated.

This approach will be piloted for one year from September 2022. Thereafter, learnings and feedback received from various stakeholders during the first year will form the basis for evaluation and adaptation of the collaboration protocol.

Fair Wear has years of experience in handling complaints under its Fair Wear complaints mechanism , that operates in a large number of countries. amfori recently piloted its supply chain grievance mechanism, Speak for Change Programme, in Vietnam and is in the process of rolling it out in other countries. The PST does not have its own grievance mechanism, but promotes mechanisms of other organisations and engages in joint actionto improve access to remedies for workers in their members’ supply chains.

Although amfori, Fair Wear and PST are the first to sign the MoU, it is open for other like-minded organisations to join and learn from this shared experience.

The three organisations look forward to launching this new collaborative initiative to promote better working conditions in their members’ supply chains and learn for better industry alignment on access to remedies.

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Partnership for Sustainable Textiles

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Abschied Jürgen Janssen