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FEMNET supports Öko-Test in the evaluation of women's jeans

The overall result of the test is sobering: No jeans are rated as good, not even those of Armedangels and Hess Natur, although these two get a ‘very good’ in the intermediate result ‘credibility and transparency’; She is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation. However, aniline was found in her jeans by Öko-Test.

Öko-Test has tested 21 jeans for residues in the laboratory. But Öko-Test also wanted to know more about the production conditions under which the jeans are manufactured and therefore asked FEMNET for advice on the development of the questionnaire to the companies and the evaluation of the answers.

FEMNET has been promoting better working conditions in the producing countries for over a decade, including through the Clean Clothes Campaign, and supporting its partners – trade unions and non-governmental organisations – in particular in Bangladesh and India, in the fight for higher wages and against discrimination and gender-based violence in the workplace. FEMNET therefore focused on questions on and evaluation of corporate due diligence, which have been summarised under the test result ‘Credibility and transparency’.

The overall result of the test is sobering: No jeans are rated as good, not even those of Armedangels and Hess Natur, although these two get a ‘very good’ in the intermediate result ‘credibility and transparency’; She is a member of the Fair Wear Foundation. However, aniline was found in her jeans by Öko-Test. The high negative rating of this ingredient is represented by Öko-Test, although there are different assessments of the hazardousness of the substance. Armedangels has pointed out that aniline in bound form is harmless to health, but apparently wants to improve, because it has announced: Challenge accepted.

Do the brands comply with their duty of care?

The interim result ‘Credibility and transparency’ summarises various criteria. This includes the transparency of the supply chain as well as the purchasing practice of the brands. It therefore assesses companies' due diligence obligations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This means that companies need to identify the risks in their supply chain and take preventive measures against them. The result does not seem so bad at first glance, but it is much less positive, you take a closer look. This is because: Not facts, but only efforts and promises of the companies are evaluated, as concrete achievements unfortunately hardly exist.

transparency

It is gratifying that many companies declare to know their supply chain. This was not the case a few years ago. You just don't understand: Why are so many companies still reluctant to publish their supply chain? More and more consumers are demanding transparency and traceability of every garment, from all stages of processing to the cotton field. Meanwhile, numerous large companies (H&M, C&A, Primark, Esprit, etc.) publish the names of their suppliers.

wages

No company ensures that living wages are paid to its suppliers. The payment of a minimum wage is not sufficient in any country to meet basic needs. In Bangladesh, Moldova or Romania, the minimum wage is only 19 percent of a living wage. In fact, starvation wages are paid, with the seamstress's share of the price of a garment being just around one percent. Only two companies (Armedangels, Hess Natur) implement concrete measures to increase wages, while others mention pilot projects or initiatives (such as ACT) that have not yet led to significant wage increases. Action Collaboration and Transformation (ACT) is an agreement between unions and global brands that aims to achieve higher wages through collective bargaining in producing countries by changing purchasing practices and agreeing to pay higher prices so that higher wages can be paid. So far, however, there are only declarations of intent, the agreement has not yet been implemented anywhere.

Complaint mechanisms

Women workers remain vulnerable to harassment and humiliation. You need an external trusted person to whom you can contact, for example, in case of sexual harassment. But few companies create an independent external complaints body to which seamstresses can turn. Most brands refer to in-house measures such as complaint boxes or hotlines as complaint mechanisms; But they don't do anything because the workers don't trust them.

So companies still have a lot to do to comply with their due diligence obligations. Little concrete can be presented, most of which are declarations of intent and pilot measures. This shows how urgently necessary legal requirements are that make companies' duty of care mandatory, because we can't get any further with voluntariness.