Femnet e.V.

The goal of this study was to build an up-to date and well-documented Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for organic cotton fiber (ginned and baled), representative of worldwide global production. In addition, the study provides a full Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) of organic cotton fiber (comprising cultivation and ginning operations) and identifies environmental hotspots. To the effect of achieving these goals the relevant ISO standards 14040 and 14044 were followed. The process was verified by an accompanying independent critical review process.

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As we were researching the Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report, we uncovered a rich and diverse set of stories from people who are really making a difference in textile sustainability. We decided to bring these together into this Insider Series, and the result is an uplifting read. The stories showcased here are an eclectic mix of industry leaders speaking from “inside” their organization. 

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Quick Guide to Organic Cotton is an overview of the impacts of organic cotton, including frequently asked questions and supporting facts that indicate organic cotton is the best choice for people and planet. 

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This paper focuses on work organised through intermediaries, often labelled labour agencies or labour contractors. The steep increase of such work is a concern for international labour unions such as ITUC and IndustryALL. Labour subcontractors ‘sever the direct employment relationship’ and create ‘indirect’ or ‘triangular’ labour relations which ‘reduce or eliminate’ the end-employer’s ‘legal responsibilities to the workers; it is a ‘triangular trap’. These conditions cheapen labour and curtail workers’ rights, compared to those of workers employed in formalised labour relations.

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Despite the ubiquitous nature of the discourse on human rights there is currently little research on the emergence of disclosure by multinational corporations on their human rights obligations or the regulatory dynamic that may lie behind this trend. In an attempt to begin to explore the extent to which, if any, the language of human rights has entered the discourse of corporate accountability, this paper investigates the adoption of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) human rights standards by major multinational garment retail companies that source products from developing countries, as disclosed through their reporting media. The paper has three objectives. Firstly, to empirically explore the extent to which a group of multinational garment retailers invoke the language of human rights when disclosing their corporate responsibilities. The paper reviews corporate reporting media including social responsibility codes of conduct, annual reports and stand-alone social responsibility reports released by 18 major global clothing and retail companies during a period from 1990 to 2007. We find that the number of companies adopting and disclosing on the ILO's workplace human rights standards has significantly increased since 1998 – the year in which the ILO's standards were endorsed and accepted by the global community (ILO, 1998). Secondly, drawing on a combination of Responsive Regulation theory and neo-institutional theory, we tentatively seek to understand the regulatory space that may have influenced these large corporations to adopt the language of human rights obligations. In particular, we study the role that International Governmental Organisation's (IGO) such as ILO may have played in these disclosures. Finally, we provide some critical reflections on the power and potential within the corporate adoption of the language of human rights.

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