Femnet e.V.

Notes on the book Todschick

This book is already ten years old, but little has changed in the apparel industry – much of the book is still highly topical. On this insert, I point out where there have been developments in the meantime and link to places where you can find current information.

I wish you an interesting read.

Gisela Burckhardt
April 2025

Chapter 1: Bangladesh

Bangladesh is still the second largest exporter of clothing (after China) and generates around 80 percent of the country's export revenue. The building and fire protection agreement (Accord) as a result of Rana Plaza has significantly increased the safety of the factories. Also, many export factories now have eco-labels (such as GOTS or OCS) and there are some green factories (LEED), but unfortunately working conditions have not improved. The digitization and automation of factories has increased sharply, which has led to a reduction in the proportion of women to 58 percent. All these developments are taking place in the face of an increasingly severe climate situation, which is hitting Bangladesh particularly hard with floods, which in turn are particularly affecting workers.

In August 2024, there was a coup in Bangladesh. At first, only the students protested, then large sections of the population, until the head of government Sheikh Hasina fled the country. The interim government under Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus wants to hold elections at the end of 2025/beginning of 2026. Impressions from Bangladesh from a trip at the end of 2024 can be found here Read it. Around 100 textile factories had to close, including BEXIMCO, one of the largest companies with 14 factories. Approximately 40,000 employees lost their jobs at the end of 2024 to February 2025. BEXIMCO owner Salman F. Rahman, former adviser to the fleeing prime minister, has been charged with illegal enrichment and is now in prison. Although the coup led to job losses, the threat of US President Trump with tariffs of 37 percent on all exports from Bangladesh hit the country much harder. In response, Prof. Yunus offered the U.S. president to buy more cotton from the U.S. in early April 2025 to offset the trade deficit. The tariffs were initially suspended for three months in order to gain time for negotiations, but the tariff increases would hit Bangladesh's textile industry hard. Some U.S. companies have already cancelled their purchases.

A country profile for Bangladesh can be found on the FEMNET website. The other statements in the chapter, in particular the poor working conditions, continue.

Chapter 3: audits

Unfortunately, there are no improvements here; The audit business continues. In this blog of Business Human Rights and in the Corporate Responsibility chapter on this FEMNET website the critical arguments are reiterated, including that the factories commission and pay their own auditors.

Chapter 4: Luxury labels and discounter giants

In this chapter, I look at the working conditions at twelve factories in Bangladesh, some of which have premium brands such as Hugo Boss and H&M, and discuss the two companies in detail. Hugo Boss is doing very well, with turnover rising to EUR 4.3 billion in 2024, despite current stagnation in Germany. Sales and profits have improved, but not the working conditions at its suppliers. It can be assumed that Hugo Boss continues to produce in the same factories as discounters or cheap brands, the working conditions are still equally bad everywhere. Since 2015, I have been speaking as a shareholder at Hugo Boss's general meetings, pointing out the low wages, problems of audits at its suppliers, or gender-based violence in the workplace.

H&M does a little better in the book, but it stands out above all through green washing. In the book, I describe H&M's fair living wage campaign, in which the company promises to pay its suppliers fair wages, which has not yet been implemented. The Fashion checker (2024) notes that both H&M and Hugo Boss perform poorly when it comes to paying living wages.

Also the Description of H&M As a bad employer in Germany, it is still correct how many processes prove where employees have to sue for their rights.

Chapter 5: Laws instead of talk

Most of the changes in the field of legal regulation have taken place in the last ten years. When I wrote the book, there were no legal regulations such as the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG), for which more than 100 NGOs have advocated. In recent years, I have been working as a FEMNET representative for a strong LkSG, which actually came into force on 1 January 2023. A Supply Chain Act (CSDDD) was also adopted at European level in 2024 after long negotiations. With the elections to the EU Parliament in 2024 and the elections of the new federal government under the leadership of the CDU/SPD, the right-wing forces were strengthened. Under the pretext of cutting red tape the new German government of the CDU and SPD in the coalition agreement against the LkSG (the BMZ Minister Müller of the CSU and Labor Minister Heil of the SPD had negotiated) and at the European level, the CSDDD also wants to weaken. The lobbyists of the industry are fully asserting themselves, although this book clearly shows how urgently we need control of the companies. It is particularly annoying that the bureaucracy complained of by the companies was caused by themselves, because they sent unnecessarily long questionnaires to all their suppliers. However, the LkSG does not require this at all, on the contrary, it expects companies to remedy only where the risk of serious labour law and environmental violations is high. In the meantime, some companies have also recognized this, as they have reported to me confidentially. The law meant that for the first time, many companies were concerned with where their products came from and whether they were manufactured under forced or child labour or gender-based violence. It was a great success that the LkSG and CSDDD were adopted, although the practical implementation often fails. I have experience in filing complaints. in this article on the FEMNET website set out.

Chapter 6: Better to consume wisely than sell stupidly

The information in this chapter remains highly topical, except that the consumption of clothes has increased compared to 2015. EU citizens bought according to 2022 Fair evaluation on average 15 kg of clothing, the purchase of clothing has doubled from 2000 to 2025 (From 50 to 100 billion pieces of clothing) and is expected to triple by 2050. Although there are recycling efforts in the chemical fibers, but this is often a recycling of plastic such as PET bottles in clothing, because currently only 1 percent of all used clothing is recycled at all. Recycling does not reduce the amount of clothing. I would write less today about buying eco-fair fashion, because we should try to buy as little as possible. Vivienne Westwood's credo, which I quote at the end of the book, is still true: ‘Buy less, choose well, make it last’.