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Sustainable consumption and textile agreements: Should businesses and consumers be required to comply with minimum standards?

In October 2014, the Alliance for Sustainable Textiles was founded by representatives of business, civil society, standard organisations and trade unions to achieve social, environmental and economic improvements along the textile supply chain. After a little over a year of validity, are there any signs of initial success? Sabine Ferenschild, SÜDWIND e.V. Institute for Economics and Ecumenism, sees a shortcoming of the Textile Alliance in the fact that it is based on voluntary work. On the other hand, the consideration of all textile processing stages and the coverage of a wide range of content standards in the social as well as in the ecological sector are positive. At present, we cannot speak of success or failure, as the Alliance is busy creating its own foundations. Stefan Körzell, DGB, emphasizes that companies in particular must ensure that their global production sites or those of their suppliers are safe. This should not be voluntary, but requires stricter liability rules for companies, at national and international level. According to Thomas Silberhorn, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the alliance is an example of how politics, business and civil society can work together on social and environmental improvements. But a critical awareness of consumers is also necessary to increase demand for sustainably produced goods and services, thereby incentivising companies to produce more sustainably.

Scope: 10 pages
Reference: free of charge for download