03.03.2023: News from KW 9

Studies and Co.

the industry we want "Dashboard": The second edition of the dashboard on the three impact indicators - wages, purchasing practices and greenhouse gas emissions - has been published. It summarizes comprehensive wage data from 28 producing countries, feedback from more than 1000 suppliers from 54 countries and new estimates of emissions from the clothing sector. The average percentage gap between minimum wages and the estimated average living wage is 48.5%. The gap has increased by 3.5% compared to 2022, meaning that workers in the apparel and footwear industry receive less than half of the money they need for a decent standard of living. On a possible scale of -100 to +100, the value of purchasing practices reaches 40 (39 in 2022). The greenhouse gas value for 2023 is 0,897 Gt. This means that global emissions from the clothing sector are estimated at 896.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2021, representing about 1.8% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of emissions are accounted for at level 2, material production, with over half of emissions (53%), followed by level 4, raw material extraction, with 23% (for the results of the first dashboard, see the news update of KW 8 from '22, Video of this year's results).

Asia Floor Wage Alliance & Global Labor Justice/International Labor Rights Forum "Big Fashion & Wall Street Cash in on Wage Theft" (PDF): The report shows that managers and investors of Nike, VF Corp. and Levi's boosted their profits through share buybacks and dividends after recovering quickly from a brief pandemic slowdown in 2020. Meanwhile, the vast majority of garment workers, who lost an average of 22% of their normal wage in 2020, have not received any compensation and remain in a perpetual crisis as factories still withhold overtime pay or pay wages below the minimum wage. The new report is based on an AFWA-Report from 2021 entitled "Money Heist", which surveyed thousands of workers at the start of the pandemic in 189 factories manufacturing clothing for some of the world's largest brands. The report documented $163 million in lost wages as apparel manufacturers bypassed national laws on workers' pay (see news update of week 27 from '21). 20 Trade Unions in Six Asian Countries Join ForcesIn order to demand an end to the share buybacks by large US-based fashion companies after years of unpaid wage demands, the "Fight the Heist" campaign.

Changing Markets Foundation "Trashion: The stealth export of waste plastic clothes to Kenya" (PDF): The amount of old clothes flowing to Kenya from all over the world has increased significantly in recent years. Each Kenyan has 17 garments a year, of which up to eight are waste from the outset. In 2021, more than 900 million garments are sent to Kenya from all over the world (named exporters are the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and the EU). Currently, more than two-thirds (69%) of textiles are made from synthetic fibres, and this share is expected to increase to 73% by 2030. Of the 112 million old clothes shipped directly from the EU to Kenya each year (over 40% of them from Germany), up to one third contain synthetic fibres and are of such poor quality that they are immediately disposed of or incinerated into the environment. The implementation of the EU Textile Strategy is an important lever to put the textile industry on a more circular path and to hold brands and retailers accountable for their textile waste (see News Update Special: Circularity from last week). The forthcoming revision of the Waste Framework Directive should, according to the Changing Markets Foundation introduce a well thought-out Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) with binding ecodesign requirements that will hold fashion companies accountable for the end of the life cycle of the products they put on the market. In addition, governments must regulate the proliferation of cheap plastic fibers, which are one of the main driving forces of the fast fashion industry, through a tax on new products made of e.g. polyester. This ensures that those who benefit from cheap fast fashion also bear the costs of disposing of the waste (to the summary (PDF) and to the docu.

European Environment Agency "EU exports of used textiles in Europe’s circular economy": The report examines the patterns and trends of EU exports of used textiles from 2000-2019. It shows how exports have increased from year to year and have evolved from a major export to Africa to an almost even export to Africa and Asia, and how the global trade in used textiles as a commodity is becoming more and more specialized. The amount of old textiles exported from the EU has tripled in the last two decades, from just over 550,000 tonnes in 2000 to almost 1.7 million tonnes in 2019. In 2019, 46% of old textiles exported from the EU ended up in Africa. The textiles are mainly reused locally, as there is a demand for cheap, used clothing from Europe. What is not suitable for reuse usually ends up in open landfills and in informal waste streams (see next point "waste colonialism"). 41% of old textiles exported from the EU ended up in Asia in 2019. Most of these textiles are routed to special economic zones where they are sorted and processed. The used textiles are then usually downcycled to industrial plastercloths or filling material or re-exported for recycling to other Asian countries or for re-use in Africa. Textiles that cannot be recycled or re-exported are likely to end up in landfill. briefing).

News

Waste Colonialism: In one Articles by Business of Fashion There is talk of "waste colonialism": Every year, millions of tons of used clothes are shipped around the world as part of the global trade in second-hand clothing. For example, about 15 million old clothes arrive in Ghana every week, mostly from the wardrobes of North American, Chinese and European consumers (more on the old clothes problem in Ghana in News Update KW 37 from '21). Minister Schulze and Minister salvation Recently visited the Kantamanto-Market and the textile waste dump not far away in Accra (also FashionUnited reported). Schulze Says "Ghana can be recycled", but not in those quantities that are shipped here from the world of the rich. "If we didn't deliver so much garbage here, but really recyclable clothing, it would be different," she says. The industry's waste problem has caught the attention of regulators, and proposals to blame brands for what happens to clothing at the end of its lifespan are gaining worldwide approval. The Or foundation published the report "Stop waste colonialism! - Leveraging Extended Producer Responsibility to Catalyze a Justice-led Circular Textiles Economy" (PDF) and together with the KantamantoCommunity in Accra a single extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles that includes the costs of waste management and is globally liable (for: petition). The proposal is the starting signal of a campaign to influence politics in the run-up to the summer, when the European Commission (in the course of the EU strategy on sustainable and circular textiles) to present their plans for a fashion-focused EPR.

Research Zalando-Returns: In the case of one Investigative research by flip, The time and fullscreen (Southwest radio) There were ten in Zalando ordered garments equipped with GPS transmitters and retouned. Zalando promises customers climate-neutral returns and claims on the website that 97% of the retounated goods are sold again in the shop (at Zalando up to 480 orders are received per minute, half of the packages are returned). After four days, seven of the ten garments send signals from Gardno, Poland, where a logistics service provider is located. There, sorters don't even have one minute per return (unpacking, looking at, refurbishing, packing and putting away). Textiles that appear worn (e.g. perfume smell) or are dirty or damaged are sorted out. A former worker tells us that this sorted out commodity was tilted on the wall in shaft openings. These tubes end in containers of Stena recycle And the clothes in it will most likely be destroyed. A baby tramp travels to Gardno further towards Gdansk, then back to Swinoujscie (north-western Poland), from there to Malmö and Stockholm, further to Denmark, back to Germany and then back to Poland - a total of 7000km. All ten garments travel together almost 29,000km until the trail is lost. The cause of the wrong paths of returns is called returns researchers Björn Asdecker Predictive analytics. Every trip by truck is based on speculation as to where the garment could be ordered next. Explained on request Zalando, that the 97% do not include articles written by partners about Zalando We sell clothes from more than 800 partners. Zalando Thus, knowingly deceives the customers. A lot Zalando-Goods are also sold to wholesalers via "intermediaries". Their task is to bring the goods out of the core market of Europe - so that the business is not broken with cheaper offered goods (Research video of full screen).

Countries of production

Corruption perception index: The Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI 2022 includes 180 countries ordered on a scale from 0 (high level of perceived corruption) to 100 (no perceived corruption) Table ranking). Myanmar is in 157th place (23 points), Vietnam rises to ten places (77th place, 42nd place), Pakistan is in 140th place with 27 points and scores worse than ever, also Indonesia Place deteriorates and falls to place 110 (34 p.), Cambodia improves and rises to place 150 (24 p.), title="External link - opens in a new window/tab" target="_blank" rel="noopener"Bangladesh is in 147th place (25 p.) and India in 85th place (40 p.)

Sri Lanka: The new study of Clean clothes campaign (CCC) "No relief? - Why clothing brands must take responsibility for worker relief payments amidst the economic crisis in Sri Lanka" (PDF)shows that workers in Sri Lanka do not have the full Emergency Relief Allowance - ERA receive a sum of LKR 10,000 (€28), which is intended to alleviate their desperate situation in the current severe economic crisis. The financial and political crisis, which began more than a year ago in Sri Lanka and led to the overthrow of the president, has weighed heavily on the approximately 350,000 garment workers in the country, who already live at the subsistence level (more on the situation in Sri Lanka in the news update of KW 32 from '22 and the Articles by IndustriALL). Instead of involving the workers and their representatives in the solution, the new Sri Lankan government ignores its commitment to social dialogue with the trade unions and takes action against the protesters with draconian emergency laws. In the paper, the major brands that source their products from Sri Lanka (e.g. PVH (Calvin small, Tommy Hilfiger), Gap, Levi's, Nike, Victoria's Secret, Amazon, Asos, Next, Patagonia, Ralph Lauren) to ensure that workers in their supply chains are unconditionally era their right to unionisation and to decent working conditions in accordance with the conventions of the ILO Remains preserved.