New report suggests 33 sustainable targets for a just fashion system

Industry watchdog Public Eye proposes 33 concrete targets for a just fashion system in its new report “One-Earth Fashion”. It highlights the fact that while the Earth is facing a climate emergency, the fashion system is simply adding fuel to the fire.

“This leaves us in a situation where small, positive steps – for example, reducing plastics in packaging, using more renewable energy in offices, or raising workers’ wages just above the minimum wage – are presented as evidence that the industry is becoming more sustainable, even though the bigger picture shows that such changes are far too small, or are being cancelled out by increased production or other rebound effects,” states the report.

Thus, tweaking the old system will not lead to the desired results, hence the request for “a new operating system for fashion”. The report aims therefore to advance the international debate on socio-ecological transformation and a just transition in the fashion system by proposing concrete targets for change and paradigm shifts.

To tackle negative impacts and risks of the fashion system, the report has identified twelve hot spots that impact one or more planetary boundaries:

• Waste
• Overproduction
• Fibres
• Water and chemical use
• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Plastics
• Living wages
• Secure employment, social protection
• Trade union rights
• Working hours
• Discrimination, gender-based violence and harassment
• Safety and health at the workplace

For each area, the experts then outlined an overall transformation aim, a long-term vision of what a fair fashion system – within planetary boundaries – should look like in each priority area. They then formulated the proposed 33 targets - specific and time-bound milestones - intended to enable the vision for the scale of change by 2030. Following are the aims and targets of each priority area for transformation, which are supported by steps for businesses, ideas for regulation and potential challenges in the report.

Reducing virgin material use and overproduction

Aim: Fashion passes its material peak. The amount of virgin material input shrinks, especially from fossil, non-renewable resources. The focus of fashion’s business models shifts from material output growth and stockpile production to increased use-value from less and better material. Fashion design endorses circularity as a key principle; from the choice of material, through timeless design, quality and durability, to easier reparability, recyclability and biodegradability.

Targets:

• Total quantity of virgin material input shrinks by 40 percent.
• Share of fibre-to-fibre recycling material is increased to at least 15 percent.

Slowing down fashion, reducing waste

Aim: Fashion becomes slow, more circular and timeless. The actual lifespan of garments is significantly extended, and at the end of their life, most materials are recovered and recycled. The amount of fashion products sent to landfill and incineration is reduced to a minimum, and waste collection and processing takes place in controlled environments with the lowest possible environmental impact and safe and decent jobs.

Targets:

• The number of days in which clothes are in active use is doubled, on average.
• All textile waste and used clothes are collected separately, and at least 50 percent of used clothes are re-sold and re-used in proximity, not on other continents.
• The volume of non-recovered clothing waste (going to landfill or incineration) is halved.
• The recovery, handling and recycling of used clothing is considered an integral part of the fashion system. In consequence, the majority of sectorial and company policies include measures to guarantee decent labour conditions and environmental sustainability in the post-use and re-use phase.

Paying living wages

Aim: All workers across fashion’s global value chains receive at least a living wage. A living wage is the basic wage earned in a regular working week (excluding special allowances, bonuses or overtime) that covers the basic needs of workers and their family and allows them to have discretionary income. Wage discrimination is eliminated, and the excessive wage inequality within companies and across value chains is reduced.

Targets:

• Wages of all workers increase to at least living wage levels (+ 200 percent on average, adjusted for inflation).
• Gender pay equality is achieved (raw pay gap reduced to <5%, adjusted pay gap to ~0 percent).

Ensuring decent working hours

Aim: A healthy and socially just work-care-life-rest balance: Gainful work shall not dominate life and should not be exhausting. People shall have enough time for care work, social and community activities (such as eduation or politics), for good nutrition and health, for engagement in maintenance and ecological conservation, for well-being, culture, leisure and rest.

Targets:

• Across the industry, regular working hours are effectively limited to 40 hours per week, prospectively less..
• Reliable, long-term and more stable production planning becomes the norm in fashion supply chains, and the average Better Buying Index rating for “Planning and Forecasting” rises to at least 4 of 5 stars.

Protecting union trade rights

Aim: All workers are able to exercise their human and labour rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining freely and without fear. Freely elected, representative, independent and democratic trade unions are present throughout the industry and are respected social partners by employers and governments.

Targets:

• Freedom of association is no longer systematically violated, and all major garment-producing countries move to a score of 3 or better on the ITUC Global Rights Index.
• Collective bargaining is the norm, and at least half of workers in the fashion value chain are covered by CBAs negotiated by independent trade unions.
• The trade union rights of women, migrants, homeworkers and other groups of often discriminated workers are respected, and they are represented more equally in trade unions and their leadership.

Guaranteeing safe and healthy workplaces

Aim: Every worker in the global fashion system has a safe and healthy workplace. Well-being is a priority in production planning and workplace design and the ILO code of practice on safety and health in textiles, clothing, leather and footwear is fully implemented.

Targets:

• Health and safety units, monitored and supported by occupational safety and health (OSH)committees, operate effectively in all workplaces throughout the fashion system.
• In all major fashion-producing countries, workers are protected by effective industrial safety programs (including inter alia fire, electricity, buildings, pressure vessels) that meet or exceed the standards of the International Accord.
• All workers are effectively protected from heat, cold, flooding and other climatic hazards in their workplaces and from loss of income in the event of climate-related shutdowns and restrictions.

Providing secure employment relationships and social protection

Aim: Jobs in the global fashion system are free from precarious and exploitative conditions and offer workers security, dignity and empowerment through their work. All workers, irrespective of employment status, citizenship or workplace setting, enjoy the full range of labour rights and comprehensive social protection that covers healthcare, sickness, injury and disability, unemployment and pension, maternity and family support.

Targets:

• All workers have formal and fair employment and contractual relationships that guarantee workers’ rights, predictability and security against arbitrary or repressive dismissal.
• Public social protection schemes are improved globally, and at least 75% of workers in the global fashion system enjoy social protection in line with ILO minimum standards (ILO C102).

Ending discrimination, gender-based violence and harassment

Aim: All workers enjoy equal rights and general freedom from discrimination, violence and harassment. All fashion workplaces are safe spaces that do not tolerate discrimination. They have preventive policies, training, grievance systems and other mechanisms in place. Workers receive equal pay for equal work, and genders are evenly represented in company and union leadership positions.

Targets:

• All workplaces in the fashion system implement inclusive and gender-responsive policies and protection committees to prevent and eliminate discrimination, violence and harassment.
• All workers have access to a confidential complaint and grievance mechanism against discrimination and violence in the workplace.

Fostering an agro-ecological transition of fashion’s agriculture

Aim: Natural raw materials for fashion are grown in fair and sustainable farming systems using agro-ecological practices. No new natural areas are converted to farmland or plantations. Modern slavery and child labour in agricultural production systems is eradicated and ownership and income are more equitably distributed.

Targets:

• No deforestation or other land-use change for fibre crops or leather.
• Shift at least 50 percent of natural fibre production to agro-ecological systems.
• Reduction of virgin natural materials by 10 percent.
• Complete phase-out of highly hazardous pesticides (PAN List of HHPs), and 75 percent reduction of remaining agrochemicals (volume and toxic units).
• Eradication of modern slavery and child labour in production systems for cotton and other fashion raw materials.
• Living income reference prices for cotton established as minimum standards in at least 50 percent of cotton sourcing.

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions

Aim: The fashion system is on a 1.5 degree pathway. Fossil fuels are phased out and GHG emissions at all stages of the garment lifecycle – from raw materials, manufacturing, logistics, retail, use and post-use – are drastically reduced to meet planetary boundaries. The low-carbon fashion system is also more equitable. It is achieved through a just transition, where workers are actively involved and protected.

Targets:

• Reduce absolute GHG emissions from fashion by at least 60 percent compared to 2019 (in own operation and the whole value chains and without offsetting schemes).
• At least half of the companies in the fashion system develop decarbonization strategies in genuine social dialogue with workers and trade unions, aiming for green and decent jobs, and leaving no-one behind.

Ending fashion’s addiction to plastics

Aim: Fashion’s addiction to plastic is stopped. The use of plastics made from fossil fuels and materials that do not decompose naturally in the environment within a reasonable period of time become the exception. Where the use of plastics is unavoidable, they are predominantly made from recycled textiles and designed to facilitate recycling and reduce the release of microplastics into the environment.

Targets:

• Reduction of virgin fossil fuel materials by 60 percent.
• Halve the release of microplastics into the environment.

Ensuring sustainable water and chemical use

Aim: At all stages of the fashion product lifecycle, water resources are used sustainably, conserved and restored for future generations. Fashion’s use of water does not exacerbate water stress but instead prioritises the protection of ecosystems and vital human water needs. The amount and hazardousness of chemicals used in fashion is reduced, and the remaining chemicals are applied in controlled circuits that ensure the safety of workers, communities, water systems and the larger environment.

Targets:

• The most dangerous chemicals are banned across the fashion supply chain (Detox priority hazardous chemicals and highly hazardous pesticides according to PAN).
• All wastewater and sludge from the fashion industry‘s processes are treated, tested and transparently monitored to reduce negative environmental impacts.
• All workers have free and continuous access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities in workplaces and dormitories.

The full report can be viewed on the Public Eye website. Its aim, to open a global discussion, will start through an online discussion series titled “One-Earth Fashion: how do we get there?” that runs from January to April 2025.