The 4th of July may be Independence Day for the United States, but now it
has been named as a “historical day” for the fashion industry and a step
towards a more sustainable and ethical future.
“Today marks a great milestone for us, but more importantly for the
thousands of workers, who are mostly women, in the fashion industry,” said
Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development. On
Monday morning 55 fashion companies, and non-profit trade organisations
such as Solidaridad, Unicef Nederland, Stop Child Labour and Four Paws,
trade unions and the Dutch government came together to sign a binding
agreement for sustainable fashion and textile, the first of its kind.
“Today marks a great milestone for us, but more importantly for the
thousands of workers, who are mostly women, in the fashion industry”
The covenant, which is endorsed by the likes of Made-By, the Sustainable
Apparel Coalition and Fair Wear Foundation, is the first of many
international corporate social responsibility agreements initiated around
the world to help transform the fashion industry into an eco-friendly,
ethical and sustainable sector as soon as possible. The signing ceremony
of the covenant comes 3 months after the covenant was first penned, as the trade organisations
and goverment aimed to have at least 35 fashion companies enter the binding agreement.
In the end over 50 fashion companies committed to the sustainablility clothing covenant, including G-Star Raw, C&A
and Hunkemoller, which together account for over a third of the Dutch fashion market
turnover, equal to 3,5 billion euros.
These “pioneer companies”, as Pierre Huppert, the Chairman of Negotiations
has called them, have pledged to tackle poor working conditions in
manufacturing countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey.
They have also pledged to offer factory workers protection from
discrimination, eradicate child labour and forced labour, improve animal
welfare, pay living wages and ensure safe working conditions in addition to
cutting down on water, chemical and energy usage and working more
sustainably.
During the signing ceremony, over 75 signatures from the participating
companies and organisations were collected on a single white t-shirt,
signifying their dedicated and committed to the agreement and each other.
“[The fashion industry] can be and should be more honest,” said Mariëtte
Hamer, chairman of the Social-Economic Council (SER). “We need to make the
industry more sustainable, eco-friendly, animal cruelty-free, child labour
free and safe for all workers and I believe we can work together to do
something about these issues. Companies who manufacture and purchase goods
abroad in these countries have an influence on the suppliers that no one
else has and we can stimulate this coming together so that in a few years
it’s better for everyone.” SER aims to see half of the Dutch fashion and
textile industry sign the agreement by 2018, and 80 percent by 2020.
Convenant duurzame kleding en textiel (Sustainable clothing) #clothing #sustainable #fashion #nieuwspoort #convenant #mode #rocmondriaan #blackandwhite #mannequin #blackclothing #elegant
A photo posted by @art.shock on Jul 4, 2016 at 8:13am PDT
Over the next coming years, each company which signed the agreement will
work on a number of sustainability goals, which they may or may not achieve
individually. The companies will develop an annual plan of action with
concrete goals, based on a study of their own supply chain and potential
risks. An independent secretary, taken on be SER, will then judge each
company’s plan of action. Trade organizations and NGO’s which signed the
agreement will offer their support and knowledge to the fashion companies
and their local manufacturers on how to best implement change and offer
additional aid from their local partners. Companies which fail to meet
their goal will be held accountable by a special commission.The Dutch government is set to start working together with local
governments in manufacturing countries to develop binding regulations, such
as strengthening labour and factory inspections. “Everyone should have the
right to unionise, to work in safe conditions, have equal rights and earn a
livable wage,” said Ploumen. “However, at the moment it remains quite the
task enforcing this throughout the industry and we can not do it alone. So
we are doing it together.” The government also aims to ensure that the
covenant works together with similar international initiatives, so that one
day it can be scaled up and become a European approach to sustainability
within the fashion and textile industries.“Everyone should have the right to unionise, to work in safe
conditions, have equal rights and earn a livable wage”“Together we can set the best example for the Dutch fashion industry as
well as the international fashion industry as long as we keep holding on to
each and keep moving forward,” added Hamer. As part of the covenant, each
signing company will publish an annual report of what they have achieved in
terms of their goals, and from the third year onwards each individual
company will be asked to separately published their own report, to ensure
transparency amongst companies and consumers.Although it will take a matter of years before consumers are able to walk
into any high street store and be assured that their garment of choice was
made in a safe, sustainable and ethical way, the sustainable clothing and
textile covenant is a step in the right direction. “Our job is to help
consumers make the right choice when they are out shopping, as they do not
have the time or motivation to look this up for themselves” pointed out
Ploumen. “We need to ensure that in the future consumers do not need to
think about how and where their clothing is made but can be free to
carelessly shop how and when they want.”“I can’t wait to start transforming the covenant into real steps,” added
Huppert. “Although we have already taken the first steps by creating and
signing the agreement, the journey is long.”Images: FashionUnited