The problem with plastic: How Polyester and PET plastic can be unsafe, just, and unsustainable materials This report investigates the impacts of one of the most widely-used plastics, known as PET (for polyethylene estephthalate) and as “polyester” in its fiber form. While PET is but one of several problematic plastics, it is emblematic of concerns that may exist with all petrochemical plastics. Mehr Details
Sustainability and Circularity in the Textile Value Chain: Global stocktaking This report provides an analysis of the environmental and socio-economic hotspots along the entire textile value chain and looks at a range of associated impacts, as well as at how different stages in the value chain are dominant in different impacts. Wet processing (the bleaching/dyeing/finishing stage of textile production), synthetic fibre production and laundering in the consumer use phase stand out as particularly important with respect to the impact on climate, demonstrating natural fibre production (cotton cultivation) and the consumer use phase stand out as particularly important with respect to the water scarcity impact. Mehr Details
Made in Italy - Exploitation in the heart of Europe The reportage article shows the working conditions in leather processing in Italy: risky and health-threatening working conditions, precarious employment and low wages, which particularly affect workers with a migration history. It provides background information from research by Italian non-governmental organisations and looks over the shoulders of European campaigners for fair shoe production. Mehr Details
Country profile: Romania This country profile sums up the state of the art of the garment industry in Romania focusing on wages, economic role of the garment industry, brand practices and workers’ rights violations. Mehr Details
Hunger in the apparel supply chain - Survey findings on workers’ access to nutrition during Covid-19 This research report presents the findings of a survey of 396 garment workers across 158 factories in nine countries, located between August and September 2020. It presents new data about how garment workers’ food security—and linked dynamics of employment status and income—has deteriorated amidst the pandemic. Workers from our sample reported making clothes for over 100 apparel brands and retailers; the brands and retailers that were identified by survey examined with the most frequency were: adidas, Gap, H&M, Nike, The Children’s Place, PVH, Gildan, Walmart, JCPenney, and Express. Our data reveals an alarming pattern: garment workers’ declining incomes are leading to widespread hunger among workers and their families, as they are themselves unable to obtain adequate food and nutrition. These dynamics are a direct result of apparel brands’ responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the long-term trend of low wages for garment workers in brands’ supply chains, which has left workers unprotected. Mehr Details
