SAN FRANCISCO - The non-profit Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) has revealed the first five beneficiaries of grants from its Fashion Climate Fund - supported by Target, Lululemon, H&M and the Schmidt Family Foundation - to help meet the industry's…
LONDON - Human Rights Watch says the social audits and certifications that brands and retailers rely on to monitor threats to workers trying to organise independent trade unions are "totally inadequate". It follows an analysis of standard social…
DHAKA - Leading brands and retailers, including H&M, Inditex and Primark, have joined calls for a substantial increase in the minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh. Members of the Action, Collaboration, Transformation (ACT) initiative have…
EUGENE - Nike is being pressured by a group of investors who are urging the sportswear giant to pay compensation to supply chain workers who lost their jobs in Cambodia and Thailand. They want the company to pay $2.2 million to make up for unpaid…
DELAWARE - The Better Buying industry initiative has launched its first annual commercial compliance tracker report, which measures how much brands and retailers comply with the minimum levels of performance set by manufacturers and the terms of…
KARACHI - The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has marked the 11th anniversary of a fire in a Pakistan garment factory to urge brands to sign up to the Pakistan Accord. More than 250 workers were killed in a fire at the Ali Enterprises garment factory…
BERLIN - A formal complaint has been lodged against the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over loans to one of Uzbekistan’s largest cotton producers which has been accused of human rights violations and land grabs. The Uzbek…
TIGRAY - The IndustriALL global trade union is calling for the restoration of Ethiopia's trading privileges which were lost as a result of human rights issues during the civil war which ended last year. It claims former garment workers and their…
NEW YORK - Global nonprofit The We Mean Business Coalition has launched the Supplier Cascade programme to assist business across a range of industries, including apparel and textiles, accelerate the pace at which they reduce their Scope 3 emissions.…
NEW YORK — WSP, the US-based environment, engineering and professional services consultancy, has joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Textile Exchange. WSP, which counts a number of apparel retailers and brands amongst its clients, said…
DHAKA – Hundreds of export-oriented ready-made garment (RMG) factories in Bangladesh are still “not under the purview of any inspection mechanism at present”, according to the Bangladesh Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). During a press briefing for…
DHAKA - A coalition of five NGOs is calling for an increase in the minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh which they say is currently well below the cost of living. The Ethical Trading Institute (ETI), Amfori, Fair Labor Association (FLA),…
OTTAWA - Fashion brands Hugo Boss and Diesel, as well as retail giant Walmart, are the latest companies to find themselves under invesigation in Canada for alleged supply chain links to forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China. Sheri…
LONDON - The Fairtrade Foundation has partnered with global nonprofit B Lab on a new guide to support small companies in their human rights and environmental due diligence. The guide, ‘People and planet in business – A simple guide to how small and…
YANGON - Workers rights campaigners are urging fashion companies Next and Superdry to honour $500,000 said to be owed to Cambodian garment workers after their factory closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Labour Behind the Label initiative says…
PHNOM PENH - Retail giants Walmart and fashion company Centric Brands are investigating allegations that inmates at Cambodia's largest women's prison were forced to produce garments for export. The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA)…
WASHINGTON DC / AMSTERDAM - Workers' rights non-profits GoodWeave International and the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) have joined forces to highlight child and forced labour in hidden and informal parts of apparel and textile supply chains. The…
YANGON - Swedish fashion giant H&M has announced that it is to stop sourcing from Myanmar following a new report which outlined 20 worker abuse allegations at factories in its supply chain. Earlier this week, H&M promised to investigate after it was…
OTTAWA - The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) is to investigate fashion brand Ralph Lauren for allegedly benefitting from forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China. It follows a complaint from a coalition of 28 civil…
YANGON - Brands still sourcing from Myanmar need to conduct heightened human rights due diligence and plan to responsibly withdraw from the country if that is not possible, according to a new report from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre…
WAKEFIELD – The latest report from Cotton Campaign insists the time has come for the fashion industry to act conclusively on forced labour in Turkmen cotton fields, with human rights lawyer and researcher Allison Gill telling Ecotextile Talks that…
RAHIM YAR KHAN - The Better Cotton initiative has linked up with the SearchForJustice not-for-profit in a new project aimed at reducing child labour in Pakistan. The 18-month programme aims to prevent, identify and remediate child labour in cotton…
YANGON - An exiled Myanmar trade union leader has condemned a statement from the country's ruling military junta in which it appeared to hold out a promise of free trade unions for workers. Khaing Zar Aung, the president of the Industrial Workers'…
WASHINGTON DC / AGUASCALIENTES - The US and Mexico have agreed on a course of remediation at a denim factory in Mexico where garment workers had accused their employer of union-busting. The action, at the Industrias del Interior (INISA) factory in…
LONDON - US retailers Amazon and Kohl's, Inc. have so far failed to set the science-based emissions reduction targets they previously committed to in line with their pledges to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The two retail giants are…
DHAKA - The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) has called on the Bangladesh government to address issues surrounding garment workers' welfare whilst also raising concerns over fair pay issues. Outlining the strong relationship between…
PHNOM PENH - More than 50 garment workers have been injured after an overcrowded truck taking them to work overturned in Cambodia where campaigns have been launched to cut road deaths and injuries involving commuting workers. The latest accident…
BOSTON - Water strategy consultancy Bluerisk and sustainability not-for-profit Ceres have developed a new framework designed to give a greater understanding of water stewardship to brands, retailers and investors. The 'Development of a Company-Level…
KARACHI - The Pakistan Accord garment factory safety programme, launched late last year by the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry, has published its first list of approved suppliers. The list contains…
MONTREAL - Gildan Activewear, the major global apparel and sock manufacturer, has announced that its 2030 near-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Underpinning a key…
SAN FRANCISCO – Impact intelligence platform Worldly, formerly known as Higg Co, has acquired the assets of the NGO Fair Factories Clearinghouse (FFC), which builds scalable software that facilitates continuous improvements in social, environmental…
TORONTO - Canada Goose has today extended its US recommerce platform throughout Canada alongside releasing its latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report in a bid to gives new life to its products and to keep ‘quality pieces in…
BRUSSELS - The apparel industry must take urgent action to reduce textile waste, address emissions gaps and reach the climate targets of the Paris Agreement, according to a new report. The report 'T(h)reading a path: Towards textiles waste…
LONDON - The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s (ICVCM) latest guidelines provide a set of much-needed incremental improvements but fail to raise the quality of carbon credits sufficiently, an industry watchdog has warned. Although…
WASHINGTON DC - The International Cotton Advisory Committee has released the first in a new series of reports aimed at highlighting the performance of the 'speciality cotton' sector, much of which falls under programmes encouraging ethical and…
GENEVA - Following on from its recent revision to its key Principles and Criteria document, Better Cotton has outlined how its explicit focus on climate change will prioritise mitigation and adaptation. Better Cotton, which bills itself as the…
AMSTERDAM - US apparel company Gap has become the 65th brand to sign up to the Pakistan Accord garment factory safety programme launched late last year by the International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry. Gap, which…
PHNOM PENH - An alliance of 58 trade unions and workers' rights campaigners is urging Nike to pay supply chain workers in Cambodia $1.4 million in unpaid wages and benefits which they say they are owed after their factory closed without notice in…
LONDON - Social enterprise CottonConnect has published its first-ever code of conduct aimed at raising standards in the crucial ginning stage of the cotton supply chain. The result of a six-year programme involving more than 100 gins, multiple…
DHAKA - Garment manufacturers and trade unionists in Bangladesh have issued a joint statement condemning the murder of a garment workers' leader who was beaten to death after leaving a meeting with factory management over a pay dispute. Shahidul…
GLOBAL - Two major new studies have been published which seek to shine a light on sexual harassment and gender-based violence in the global garment industry. The Solidary Centre has released a cross-sector study of gender-based violence and…
LONDON – A new report has outlined the environmental cost of the use of animal-derived materials (ADMs) in the fashion industry, while also urging consumers to explore alternatives. The first section of the two-part report, Taming Fashion, from…
OTTAWA - The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) is to investigate sportswear giant Nike for allegedly benefiting from the use of forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China. Forced labour complaints against Nike Canada - and…
YANGON - The IndustriALL global trade union is renewing its call on the European Union (EU) to withdraw support for the 'MADE in Myanmar project' following the arrests of garment workers and workers' rights campaigners who now face military court…
DHAKA - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the US and the European Union to consider the response from Bangladesh authorities to the recent murder of union leader Shahidul Islam when finalising current trade talks. Islam, who was president of the…
YANGON - German sportswear brand Jako has announced plans to withdraw from sourcing in Myanmar following the arrest by the military junta of two garment workers at one of its suppliers. Heiko Rumm, head of purchasing at Jako, told Ecotextile News it…
BRUSSELS - Major textile and garment producing countries including Bangladesh, Turkey, Guatemala and Myanmar have been named among the worst in the world for workers’ rights, according to a new report.
GAZIPUR - Workers' rights campaigners have condemned the murder of a garment workers' trade union leader who was beaten to death after leaving a meeting with factory management over a pay dispute. Shahidul Islam Shahid, 45, an organiser of the…
WASHINGTON DC — Chinese retail giant Temu, which recently overtook rival Shein in terms of sales to US consumers, has no system in place to prevent goods made with forced labour being sold on its platform, according to a US house select committee…
AMSTERDAM – The Dutch-based non-profit Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) claims to have saved factories US$23 million through the adoption of its tool designed to reduce audit duplication. The claim is made in the SLCP's 2022 Impact Report…
Or if you prefer email, click on the button below and we'll get back to you asap
Why Subscribe?
Founded in 2006, Ecotextile News is the environmental magazine for the global textile and fashion industries and provides unrivalled daily coverage, comment and expertise in both print and online formats.
Focused on sustainable innovation and industry best practice, subscribers enjoy:
Daily breaking news on our market leading website.
Six printed magazine issues delivered to your door.
A weekly e-bulletin delivered to your inbox with all the latest developments
Unlimited access to our daily news website, including premium content
Digitised versions of every printed issue we’ve published since February 2007
Unlimited access to the MCL News and Media app with breaking news from our four market leading publications.
Exclusive discounts on MCL News & Media reports and magazines.
What we offer:
Inside track on the environmental strategies of brands and retailers
Influential commentary on MRSL’s and supply chain compliance
Exclusive interviews with key industry figures
New technology for sustainable textile production
Textile recycling, closed loop systems and recycled synthetics
Reports on social compliance and labour in developing nations
Guidance on environmental regulation and textile standards
How to select sustainable raw materials
Expert comment and analysis on textile dyeing and chemistry
Live reporting from global textile exhibitions and conferences
Breaking news on environmental policy briefings
The impact of natural resource consumption by the textile sector
Independent commentary on third-party sustainability tools
Textile manufacturing case studies
News on downstream pollution and wastewater treatment
Implications of trade agreements on environmental and social concerns