Content:

Good day,

There was a lot going on with us this summer. In August, we moved into new offices at Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 11 in Bonn. In an office community with the Global Nature Fund, we now have more space for all new challenges. We also need it, because the FEMNET team is growing. The reason for this is, among other things, the new project on "Social Public Procurement", which we have just started together with the city of Bonn.

On the occasion of the fair week in September, we held several events in Bonn, were represented at trade fairs throughout North Rhine-Westphalia and had a stand at the Climate Rescue Exchange. With this publicity and education work, we have met with a lot of interest and good response. Our exhibition ‘I make your clothes! The strong women from South East Asia’ is in such demand that we have had a second edition printed. We would like to inform you about these and other events with our current newsletter.

The issue of fair wages for good work has now arrived at all levels of society. However, until something actually and noticeably changes for the affected workers all over the world, we still have a lot to do. We are therefore pleased if you continue to remain loyal to us and support our work with a donation.

Warm greetings!

Your team of FEMNET e.V.

1. Campaign work

Clean Clothes Campaign draws attention to ‘poor’ clothing

The Living Wage Now Forum will take place in Brussels from 12 to 14 October 2015. In the last two years, more than 110,000 Europeans have Petition of the Clean Clothes Campaign for Living Wages signed. This will be handed over to companies and policy makers on 13 October at the Living Wage Now Forum in Brussels.

Read more...

H&M producers in Bangladesh are slow to implement protective measures in their factories

Hundreds of H&M producers in Bangladesh are slow to implement the improvement measures in their factories required by the inspections of the ACCORD building and fire protection agreement, which entered into force in 2013, to ensure the safety of workers. This is proven by a study by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and other labour law organizations. Only half of the measures have been implemented.

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2. Projects & collaborations

Reports from our partners from Bangladesh and India

Nuremberg Human Rights Prize awarded to Amirul Haque Amin from our partner organization NGWF in Bangladesh

For the eleventh time, the city of Nuremberg presented the International Nuremberg Human Rights Prize in a ceremony. Amirul Haque Amin was honored for his involvement in the National Union of Textile Workers (NGWF) in Bangladesh.

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Our educational project FairSchnitt

Fair Fair in Dortmund

Photo: © FEMNET e.V

For the sixth time, FAIR TRADE & FRIENDS presented trends in fair trade as well as in ecologically and socially compatible consumer goods from 28 to 30 August 2015. An extensive programme of exhibitions, cooking shows, fashion shows, re- and upcycling workshops, tastings, chocolate seminars, exchanges and much more was offered. In the circle of 162 exhibitors from 17 nations, FEMNET e.V. was represented three times with its educational project FairSchnitt: with trade fair stand and exhibition as well as participation in a panel discussion.

Read more...

Exhibition Strong Women in Karlsruhe

The exhibition ‘I make your clothes’ was successfully presented from 11 to 26 September as part of the Fair Week at the Neue Ständehaus Karlsruhe. The event was jointly organized by the Stadtbibliothek and the Weltladen Karlsruhe/ Aktion Partnerschaft Dritte Welt e.V.. In addition, the exhibition will be on view until 11 October at the first Fair Trade School in Karlsruhe, at the Dominikus-Gymnasium. .Gisela Burckhardt met some of the portrayed women in person in September 2015 and

Learn more about their history Further information about the exhibition can be found on our website:

http://www.femnet-ev.de/starkefrauen

FairSchnitt workshops in summer 2015

Despite the summer semester holidays, our FairSchnitt multipliers have conducted numerous workshops at universities – since the beginning of the year there have been a total of nine assignments from Munich to Hamburg – with aspiring fashion managers, fashion journalists, fashion designers and textile technicians.

For example, Lenka Petzold and Friederike Aumüller designed a four-day workshop at the Akademie Mode und Design (AMD) in Munich, where students from all four German AMD locations were present. A special highlight was the visit to a non-profit old clothing sorting company, which is currently running at full speed due to the high volume of donations for refugees. Here, the students were able to experience the day-to-day operation up close and inform themselves about the advantages and problems of the old clothing industry.

A workshop on consumer behaviour also took place at the Akademie Jak in Hamburg, which was thematically linked to the Fast Fashion exhibition in Hamburg, which will be on display until 25 October at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. In addition to the workshops at universities, some of the multipliers were also active at evening events, such as a lecture at the University of Konstanz or at the Allerweltshaus human rights festival in Cologne.

fashionfairarbeit.de - the blog of FairSchnitt!

Soon, our blog will go online. We want to turn it into a platform for ideas - for flashes of thought, practical concepts, suggestions, opinions, experiences, demands, beliefs and visions that lure fair fashion out of its niche. What do students need to build up know-how, what do they want to know? How do graduates create a successful start with sustainable concepts and employers? What do companies, designers and professionals in the industry say - how did they make it and where do they see ways of the future? What do consumers want? Which choice, which channels, which size range, which styles, which price-performance offer – what works and what is missing? When the time comes and the blog is accessible, we will inform you separately.

Social public procurement in Bonn with the support of FEMNET e.V.

So far, like most other municipalities, the City of Bonn has mainly sought out the clothing of its staff for quality, safety standards and price. The city wants to change this in the future and also incorporate social criteria into the selection. The start will be made by the Office for Urban Greenery, which will be advised on its next call for tenders for the workwear of FEMNET e.V. employees. The aim is fair production – without human and labour rights violations.

There are already some suppliers of workwear and protective clothing that can be produced under fair conditions. But even those companies that previously supplied the city with gardener's and forester's clothing should reconsider their production, for example to ensure that the factories pay a minimum living wage and comply with certain standards for health, environment and safety.

Together with the city administration – and supported by Engagement Global with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – FEMNET is now taking the first steps towards social public procurement. By the end of the project on 31.12.2015, all participants (city administration, employees of the Office for Urban Greenery, manufacturers and suppliers) should be on board. A planned subsequent project will then continue to accompany the procurement process.

Gisela Burckhardt at a demo of the NGWF on 01.09.2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh

FEMNET CEO Gisela Burckhardt spent three weeks in India and Bangladesh in September 2015 to research for projects and meet our project cooperation partners. An important part of the trip was to review the progress of the project ‘Qualified child-friendly care for the children of textile factory workers in Bangalore’ and to meet our colleagues from CIVIDEP. . If you want to know more about the entire trip, you should read the detailed travel reports. Bangladesh and IndiaRead it. During her trip, Gisela Burckhardt also met some of the women who were portrayed for our exhibition ‘I make your clothes! The strong women from South East Asia’. The stories of four of these strong women are

published on the FEMNET homepage

Children in a state nursery

India. Photo: © Gisela Burckhardt

Together with our Indian partner organisation CIVIDEP, FEMNET intends to implement a first pilot project for a model of qualified crèches that will become a ‘blueprint’ for other companies. With the project ‘Qualified, child-friendly care for the children of textile factory workers in Bangalore’, we want to encourage and convince the purchasing companies H&M and C&A to engage their producers and create good care services for the young children.

The project is in a pilot phase with partial funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The first measures were very successful and we hope to continue the project for the next two years.

We urgently need donations to ensure the continuation and to set in motion an important improvement process for the care of young children of the textile workers. By giving children development, education and education right from the start, we offer you better conditions to break the vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation.
Our bank details
GLS Community Bank eG
Bank code: 43060967
Account: 300800800

IBAN: DE93 4306 0967 0300 800 800

BIC: GENODEM1GLS
Do you want to get involved? You can also donate online!

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Become an active member or sponsoring member of FEMNET e.V.

4. Further news and activities

FEMNET activities during the fair weeks in Bonn

12.09.2015: Fair fashion show under the open sky

"Rundum fair" was on Saturday, 12.09.15, on the Münsterplatz in Bonn: A broad alliance of initiatives and associations invited from 11 a.m. to a public fair breakfast. From 12.45 p.m. it was about the subject of clothing: At a fashion show organized by FEMNET, several shops and labels in Bonn will present their collections of fair shirts, skirts and trousers. The FEMNET information stand was heavily visited.

Read more...

17.09.2015: Dress fair exchange party with film screening ‘Sweatshop – deadly fashion’

Successful dress exchange party on 17.09.2015 in Bonn. More than 100 people crowded around hung garments on 17.09.2015, of which they will eventually take home the most beautiful ones – sounds like summer sales. But far from it! Instead, a FEMNET dress exchange party took place again, which was organized in cooperation with Greenpeace Jugend, Ev. Johanniskirchengemeinde Bonn-Duisdorf and the Bonner-Weltladen.

22.09.2015: Chic, fast, global - and catastrophic?

22.09.2015 Graphic on the Textile Alliance

As part of the Fair Week and the European Year for Development 2015, the City of Bonn and FEMNET e.V. hosted an interactive workshop "Fancy, fast, global - and catastrophic?!" on 22 September in the Gobelinsaal of the Old Town Hall.

The event was well attended and the participants were able to discuss the topic of clothing as a product of the international textile industry at theme tables. A detailed report on this event will follow.

5. FEMNET in the media
Despite the holiday season, FEMNET has been present in many media again in the last three months:

01.07.2015
Working conditions and corporate responsibility

16.08.2015
Interview with Gisela Burckhardt at Kultruradio

18.08.2015
TV show about the company Hugo Boss

25.08.2015
About our exhibition at Fair & Friends in Dortmund

11.09.2015
Interview with Gisela Burckhardt ‘What has happened since the Rana Plaza textile factory collapsed?’

11.09.2015
Communication on the awarding of the Nuremberg International Human Rights Prize 2015

19.09.2015
Report about the dress exchange party in Bonn
20.9. 2015

As part of this year’s Fair Week, the Fairs Fulda Agenda Working Group invited
under the motto ‘Fair trade creates transparency’, Gisela Burckhardt will give a presentation

29.09.2015

Programme 37° "Faces of Poverty" on the working conditions of the people of Bangladesh

6. Disclaimer
FEMNET e.V.
Feminist Perspectives on Politics, Economy and Society
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53229 Bonn

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Tel. 0228 18038116

Board of Directors: Dr. Gisela Burckhardt, Vanessa Püllen, Andrea Lindner, Franziska Gorgas, Christiane Kühnrich

Editorial and responsible within the meaning of § 5 TMG: Dr. Gisela Burckhardt