#ETHICALIZEDENIM
CALLS TO ACTION FOR
NGO’S AND LABOUR UNIONS
Help broker a legally-binding purchasing practice agreement for brands, retailers, importers and suppliers.
It has become abundantly clear that any attempts to fix the system through voluntary means — agreements, open letters, and promises — will only nibble around the edges of the problem. According to 2018 research by Dr. Amy Benstead on horizontal buyer collaboration57 (what we call multi-stakeholder initiatives or MSIs), "horizontal collaborations can fail or be delayed when there is a lack of effective governance. In the case of modern slavery, a lack of effective (informal and formal) governance can create power struggles and delays as business actors seek to meet their targets for the collaboration and bring about change internally within their organisations." The most successful industry solution in the past decade has been the Bangladesh Fire & Safety Accord created in the wake of the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory collapse. We support a similarly robust, legally binding agreement — but this time, transnational and with a fair pricing mechanism — to reform purchasing practices.
2. Create a consumer-facing campaign to support long term reform.
We’ve been impressed with the simplicity and robust- support for suppliers. ness of Remake’s #PayUp campaign, which pivoted in September into a longer-term reform campaign called Payup Fashion.58 While purchasing practices reform is a little less intuitive and more complex, we hope that nonprofits can create a message that can successfully pressure brands, retailers, and importers to sign a legally-binding agreement, along with our other directives listed above.
3. Provide pro bono legal support for suppliers.
Suppliers need access to affordable or free representation by attorneys practicing in buying countries and the supplier’s home country. We support forming a subsidiary organization to an existing NGO whose cross-jurisdictional legal team can provide legal advice to suppliers and take legal action on their behalf when necessary.
4. Lobby for transparency and due diligence legislation.
Combined with research on costing and living wage challenges, this legislation would make it impossible for buyers to aggressively haggle prices below cost, then claim ignorance when labor violations occur. Under this legal framework, if there are safety or environmental violations, the brand, retailer, or importer is financially and legally responsible for making it right, whether they were aware or not. Nonprofits can and should help with raising public awareness and lobbying for robust due diligence legislation.
5. Help administer and oversee social safety net fund for garment workers.
Brands profit from the low prices that come from a lack of social safety nets in countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia. When cancellations happen, factories end up shouldering the cost of mitigating the worst effects of layoffs and furloughs, even though they have limited funds in which to do so. An international fund administered by labor unions, worker groups, and governments from both production and buying countries that portions out a severance and partial pay to workers affected by large events would ease factories’ burden while providing help directly to garment workers. Institutional investors have supported this idea focused on labor rights.
6. Become a BRI shareholder through group buying.
Nonprofits focused on improving fashion’s supply chain can advise ESG investment funds. They can take a more direct role by pooling their resources and buying shares in fashion brands to have a say in quarterly earnings calls and investor meetings. For example, PETA bought shares in about 20 different fashion brands earlier this year to push them to stop using animal materials.
“And this is what we are also struggling with, strategically and intellectually: What is the business case for companies to really join this kind of effort? Why should I, as a brand, commit myself to changing my purchasing practices, paying more at the end of the day? Voluntary alone will not solve the problem. It should be backed up with some elements of regulatory requirements.”
Our hope is that if the stakeholders come together to follow our recommendations and find success, the denim industry can inspire the rest of the apparel and accessories industry as we look toward a more just and equitable future.
#ethicalizedenim
For more information: download the full report or return to our report page.