Detox Interim Balance II How Serious Traders Take Responsible Fashion Do supermarkets sell food? Yes, but not only. A rapidly changing cheap range of clothing, home textiles and shoes has long been part of the fixed range of supermarkets. A concept that works: The way to the freezer leads past the current spring collection, and likes to slander a cheap pair of sneakers next to the mountain cheese in the shopping cart. Accordingly, Aldi, Lidl and Tchibmit each generated around one billion EurTextil sales per year among Germany's largest fashion retailers. In autumn 2014, Greenpeace takes a closer look at supermarket textiles and must realize that it has both clothes and shoes in it: The commissioned laboratory finds chemicals harmful to the environment and health in the various samples. Faced with the results introduction, Aldi, Kaufland, Lidl, Rewe/Penny and Tchib undertake to rethink: By 2020, all harmful chemicals should have disappeared from their textile range. They also promise to inform about sustainable consumption. Specifically, customers should be encouraged to buy more sustainable products and avoid unnecessary clothing and shoe purchases. Interim balance sheet: Paper is patient, we are not. That's why Greenpeace investigated what actions actually followed the words of about two years ago. In 2015, Greenpeace made its first interim assessment. The analysis and ranking on the following pages show how supermarket chains have developed since then. The rankings were based on developments in the banning of hazardous chemicals as well as in the switch to durable and recyclable fashion. These were assessed on the basis of the detox progress reports and other publicly available information from the companies. The corresponding criteria are published on www.greenpeace.de. Mehr Details
When ‘best’ is far from good enough - Violations of workers’ rights at four of H&M ‘best-in-class’ suppliers in Cambodia As with many other garment producing countries exporting to the European and American market, Cambodia has been in the spotlight because of its poor working conditions and low wages for apparel workers. The country’s garment sector engages some 750000 workers in more than 1000 factories. The report is based on interviews with garment workers in 4 H&M supplier factories in Cambodia in February and March 2016. The factories are rated by H&M as gold and platinum suppliers. Several violations were identified in each of the factories.The H&M platinum suppliers, Eastex, Vanco and Seduno, were presumed to perform better than the selected gold supplier, M&V. However, general working conditions at the platinum suppliers were actually worse than the gold rated supplier M&V. Mehr Details
Consumption collapse due to fast fashion In recent years, Greenpeace has increasingly dealt with the topic of sustainability and (excessive) consumption in the field of fashion. Several studies have already been carried out in this context and This article is about the attitudes and buying behavior of consumers. In this study, Greenpeace focuses on the question: Where to put the old clothes? Today's textile trends are tomorrow's garbage. Fast fashion fashion brands are producing new trends at ever shorter intervals. Cheap copies of designer fashion are bought en masse and thrown away again. The worldwide old clothing markets are saturated. Real recycling hardly takes place. The only solution: Less is more. Mehr Details
Trampling workers’ rights underfoot. A snapshot on the Human Rights Due Diligence performance of 23 companies in the global footwear industry Change Your Shoes initiated this shoe company assessment to get a snapshot of where the shoe industry stands in regard to social sustainability and to provide a resource for consumers on which brands are doing more and which are doing less to combat problems occurring throughout the global supply chain concerning workers’ rights. Therefore, 23 companies with an influential presence on high streets across Europe have been assessed.The assessment treats aspects such as the supply chain set-up as precondition for HRDD activities, transparency, the distribution of responsibility concerning breaches between business partners, the payment of living wages, occupational health and safety (OHS), the promotion of Freedom of Association (FoA) and Collective Bargaining, the protection of vulnerable groups as well as initiatives to improve working conditions. Editorial team: Aronsson, Charlie (Fair Trade Center); Hinzmann, Berndt (INKOTA network); Kreisler, Eva (Federación SETEM); Lucchetti, Deborah (Fair); Luginbühl, Christa (Bern Declaration); McMullen, Anna (Labour Behind the Label); Paluszek, Anna (Buy Responsibly Foundation); Pieper, Anton (SÜDWIND e.V. - Institute for Economics and Ecumenism)German summary available under the title ‘Rights of women workers trampled underfoot’ Mehr Details
Do we buy it? - A supply chain investigation into living wage commitments from M&S and H&M ‘Do We Buy It? is a new joint report by Labour Behind the Label (LBL) and Cividep India looking into the stories behind two leading high-street brands, M&S and H&M, who have made claims to be ensuring a fair living wage for workers who make their clothes.The report shows that garment workers at Marks & Spencer suppliers in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh continue to be paid poorly, forced to live in abject poverty, sharing slum housing and often subjected to illegal levels of overtime work – of up to 110 hours a month over contracted hours. Over 60% of the workers interviewed were struggling with fixing debt just to meet their basic needs. Mehr Details
