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Legislation 101: understanding the basics of EU legislative texts

Legal texts can be overwhelming to anyone who is not a lawyer. Explanations can become complicated quite quickly, particularly when they come from a lawyer. Yet it is important to be able at least to determine from a legal text if your company is covered by it and if so how to prepare and respond. In this webinar we will take a look at what EU-legislation is, how the EU typically makes laws and how to read them in a way that ensures you can extract the basics from EU-legislation that might have an impact on your doing business, even if it does not affect you directly.

Speaker: Ingrid Elbertse, policy and advocacy officer for Fair Wear Foundation and EU lawyer.

Ingrid joined Fair Wear in 2019, is part of the lobby and advocacy team, and represents Fair Wear in the German language area. She has a background in textile design and EU and international law, and has worked for NGOs as well as in commerce. Ingrid is based in Berlin.

An Apparel Supplier's Guide to Key Legislation in the EU, UK, and US

How are you preparing for the new legislation across the EU, UK and US? Sustainability-related legislation is on the horizon. Our latest resource developed in partnership with Epic Group, Norlanka, Shahi Exports Pvt Ltd, Simple Approach, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH contains factsheets for twelve legislative initiatives across the EU, US, and UK. The entities commissioning this work mapped over 60 different legislative initiatives with potential implications for suppliers. Find out how it could impact suppliers in the apparel value chain.

PART 2: How to Get Beyond Chemical, Social, and Material Certifications

In many ways, certification – whether chemical, social, material, environmental, or other – has been the backbone of the fashion industry’s approach to sustainability. And yet, it’s an approach that’s increasingly under fire for being inadequate and ineffective – we called this out in our deep dive report on fashion’s chemical certification complex. This panel brings together voices from different parts of the sustainable fashion community for a conversation about how to get beyond certifications.

Panelists include:

- Andre Raghu of Hire A Partner

- Aruna Kashyap of Human Rights Watch

- Crispin Argento of Fibretrace.

- Dr. Siva Pariti of BluWin

A Certified Failure: How to Get Beyond Chemical, Social, and Material Certifications

In many ways, certification has been the backbone of the fashion industry’s approach to sustainability. And yet, it’s an approach that’s increasingly under fire for being inadequate and ineffective. This panel brings together voices from different parts of the sustainable fashion community for a conversation about how to get beyond certifications.

Panelists include:

- Anne Manschot of Enact Sustainable Strategies

- Andre Raghu of Hire A Partner

- Aruna Kashyap of Human Rights Watch

- Crispin Argento of Fibretrace.

- Dr. Siva Pariti of BluWin

“Fashion's Certification Complex: Needlessly Complicated, Woefully Ineffective”

We face a common challenge: the chemical management system set up by the fashion industry is not working. However, a better system for chemical management is achievable… if we work together!

That’s why we’re bringing together representatives of a chemical company, a denim mill, and an industry body to share the ways in which, if we work together, we can rebuild chemical management in fashion so it is airtight and equitable.

You will learn:

- What brands and retailers can do to ensure the best standards

- What legislators can do to accelerate change

- What chemical companies can do to simplify this unnecessarily complicated landscape

“ANTI-GREENWASHING LEGISLATIONS, RESPONSIBLE MARKETING AND CITIZENSHIP”

Learn from Cecilia Parker Aranha, Director of Consumer Protection at Competition and Markets Authority UK, Hilary Jochmans, Founder of PoliticallyInFashion, Lavinia Muth, Corporate Responsibility at ARMEDANGLES, and Mathieu Jahnich, Responsible Marketing Expert, moderated by Marzia Lanfranchi, Intelligence Director of Transformers Foundation.

We discuss:

- How legislation will impact sustainability communications

- What legislation exists and what is coming to fight greenwashing

- How to accurately communicate claims from a brand perspective

- What the role of marketing is

BONUS MATERIAL: “Combating Greenwashing In France” by Mathieu Jahnich

Debunking Myths, Fact-Checking, and How To Use Data Responsibly

***The following video includes panellists' views that do not in all cases represent the findings of the Transformers Report: Cotton as a Case Study in Misinformation or the views of those who wrote and researched the report. If writing about or referencing the report, please refer directly to that document. That said, the Transformers Foundation encourages open dialogue in our industry. Many people have strong opinions. We don't always agree with those opinions every time, but we encourage differing points of view, especially those of experts.***

Listen to experts Allison Deger, independent fact checker, Elizabeth L. Cline, journalist and author, Terry Townsend, former ICAC executive director and cotton statistician, moderated by Marzia Lanfranchi, Intelligence Director of Transformers Foundation.

We discuss:

- The role of data and fact-checking in fashion’s sustainability discourse

- How numbers can be distorted

- How to filter misleading versus credible claims

- How to build critical data consumption

Credible Data Vs Misinformation: A Lesson In Responsible Data Use And Fact Checking

Fashion has a huge misinformation issue. While there have been attempts to resolve fashion misinformation, we have not taken the problem seriously enough. Fashion misinformation is part of the same society wide information disorder destabilizing democracies and undermining public trust. While we need not agree on a one-size fits all solution to environmental and social problems, all players in fashion—from journalists and nonprofits to consumers, suppliers and brands—need to agree on the facts, or hope for progress will fade from view.

Fact-checking is a key tool to help fight misinformation and for brands to become critical users of data and claims and accurately assess the interventions needed in their supply chains.

We will discuss:

- The role of data and fact-checking in fashion’s sustainability discourse

- How numbers can be distorted

- How to filter misleading versus credible claims

- How to build critical data consumption

A conversation about Cotton Sustainability by Transformers Foundation

What role does the supply chain have in creating a more sustainable and #ethical cotton industry?

The supply chain does a lot. They facilitate audits that a lot of the brands require despite this being quite challenging as they are constantly under pressure to cut costs while providing further #transparency.

But, what the supply chain can do is help brands understand the realities they are facing on the ground.

To learn more from the world's top cotton experts, watch the entire Fashion Sustain panel with Simon Ferrigno, Wil Jackman of Cotton Farm Sundown, Dr. Sedef Uncu Aki of Orta Anadolu, Dr. Keshav Kranthi of International Cotton Advisory Committee, and Crispin Argento of The Sourcery.