Textiles
Creative and inspiring fashion helps us look good and feel good. But for many High Street brands, cheap, fast fashion is the norm - with textile workers and our environment paying the price.
The textile industry
Fashion retailers and buyers dictate prices, creating a huge power imbalance between them and suppliers, which is the root cause of many of the human rights violations found in the textile manufacturing sector.
About 60 million people around the world work in the garment and textile sector - eight out of ten of them women - and on average they earn half what they need for a living wage. In fact, the average wage of a worker in the fashion industry represents only 0.6 percent of the cost of a t-shirt.
Current challenges
The textile industry faces various challenges that impact the environment, society, and the economy
- Unfair wages: Many workers in the garment sector earn below living wage level, which would allow them to feed, house and clothe themselves decently, as well as being able to afford healthcare, education and transport.
- Labour conditions and rights: Textile workers are often kept from organising collectively or unaware of their legal rights. In addition, many textile factories are unsafe and unregulated. The Rana Plaza disaster of 2013, which killed 1,134 people and left thousands more injured - brought worldwide attention to deathtrap workplaces within the garment industry.
- Gender equality: Textile production is largely carried out by women - they make up nearly 60 percent of the global workforce, reaching nearly 80 percent in some regions. Women often struggle to be heard, earn less than men, must look after children and are more exposed to violence and discrimination.
- Climate impact: The environmental footprint of the textile industry is a major concern. From water-intensive processes to the use of harmful chemicals, textile production can contribute to pollution and resource depletion.
“I feel very comfortable to work here. It is safer. I have an exact time to start and finish work'
S. Krishnaveri, worker at Sags Apparels, India
How Fairtrade makes a difference
While Fairtrade initially focussed on achieving better terms for cotton growers, in 2016 we introduced the Fairtrade Textile Standard and Programme to reach people at all stages of production – from seed cotton to finished garments.
- Decent livelihoods: The Fairtrade Textile Standard requires that workers are paid living wages within six years of certification and that working hours and employment contracts are regulated. In addition, textile workers decide for themselves how to spend the Fairtrade Premium, whether investing in childcare, education, training or environmental projects that matter most to them.
- Gender equality: Fairtrade requires no gender discrimination, zero tolerance of sexual harassment; no pregnancy testing when recruiting and mandatory gender policies.
- Health and safety: Our standards set criteria for safe workplaces and buildings, as well as for the use of protective equipment and safe handling of chemicals.
- Consumer awareness: Fairtrade was a leading partner of the Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign which pushes the European Union to require brands to pay a living wage to the people who make our clothes.
Engaging all supply chain actors to drive meaningful change
The Fairtrade Textile Programme aims to engage all actors across supply chains to build capacity, drive change, and positively impact workers lives. Businesses, suppliers and factories all play a pivotal role in empowering factory workers and increasing their wellbeing. The programme goes beyond auditing, has capacity building at its core (including training on workers’ rights, living wage and health and safety measures among others) and has our Textile Standard as a compass. By offering this program at all tiers of the supply chain, in addition to the current Fairtrade Textile Standards, we are helping reach all supply chain actors from factory to end-market. An extension of the Fairtrade approach to the entire textile supply chain, it currently engages almost 30 textile producers.
Nilesh Kamli - Driving fair fashion in India
Learn about Nilesh Kamli from Gujarat. He the Fairtrade-certified Purecotz Ecolifestyle textile factory near the Indian west coast in the small town of Umargam and is driving fairer textiles.
Read the story