The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has recommended tougher measures, including financial penalties and blacklisting firms that fail to show that their supply chains do not pass through the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The directive came in a report that said existing UK legislation surrounding supply chain transparency and modern slavery “is out of date [and] has no teeth.” The report in particular highlighted the role of the fashion industry in addressing this, noting that many industry players have “accepted that it is not currently possible to fully trace the cotton used in final products, which means cotton produced in Xinjiang could still be part of their supply chains.”
This comes amid mounting pressure for fashion companies to disclose — and extricate themselves from — the use of commodities such as cotton from the Xinjiang region of China, where human and labour rights abuses against Uighur Muslims have been widely reported. Earlier this year, US Customs and Border Protection said it would detain cotton and tomato products produced in the region.
Fashion’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier said it found no evidence of non-compliance at farms covered by its standard, but acknowledged weaknesses in its monitoring approach.
As they move to protect their intellectual property, big brands are coming into conflict with a growing class of up-and-coming designers working with refashioned designer gear.
The industry needs to ditch its reliance on fossil-fuel-based materials like polyester in order to meet climate targets, according to a new report from Textile Exchange.
Cotton linked to environmental and human rights abuses in Brazil is leaking into the supply chains of major fashion brands, a new investigation has found, prompting Zara-owner Inditex to send a scathing rebuke to the industry’s biggest sustainable cotton certifier.