|
Dear friends,
Please find below some information on two recent publications
that might be of interest.
- The second public report on the independent monitoring pilot
project with Liz Claiborne (Coverco)
- Sustaining the Rag Trade
The International Institute for Environment and Development
has published a report on the clothing secotr in the UK and their
purchasing and supply chain policies called "Sustaining the
Rag Trade". Please find below the executive summary and details
on how to order it at IIED.
Recently the Guatemalan organisation COVERCO
(Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct)
pulbished:
The second public report on the
independent monitoring pilot project with Liz Claiborne
This full report in PDF can be found here
Their first report in PDF can be found here
Brief description:
In 1996, Liz Claiborne Inc. (LCI) initiated conversations with a
number of representatives of Guatemala's civil society about the
possibility of beginning independent monitoring in Guatemala.
These conversations motivated several of the Guatemalans to crystallize
their preliminary reflections about independent monitoring. In 1997,
they created the Commission for the Verification of Codes of Conduct
(COVERCO).
By mid-1998, COVERCO began talks with LCI about implementing a
pilot project in independent monitoring at their supplier factories
near Guatemala City.
The terms of the study were negotiated over the next several months,
and COVERCO began to visit one factory in November, 1998. The pilot
project came on stream in January, 1999.
LCI agreed that COVERCO would have uninhibited access to the factory,
would be able to set up occasional meetings with factory management
and would have full access to factory records.
COVERCO agreed to provide LCI with regular updates on the situation
at the factory, highlighting cases of non-compliance with LCI's
Standards of Engagement. In addition, COVERCO committed itself to
presenting periodic public reports summarizing our findings. This
is the second such report.
In return, LCI agreed to maintain fluid communication with COVERCO
and with management of the local factory, and to take appropriate
measures to ensure compliance with their Standards.
Or you can order them via
COVERCO - Comisión de Verificación de Códigos
de Conducta
1 Calle 7-68, Zona 1, Edificio Peña segunda nivel, Oficina
B
Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala, C.A.
Tel: (+502) 232-0195 Fax: (+502) 253-5025
e-mail: coverco@terra.com.gt
mail only: GUA 629, 8424 NW 56th St., Miami, FL 33166 USA
Sustaining the Rag Trade
The International Institute for Environment and Development has
published a report on the clothing secotr in the UK and their purchasing
and supply chain policies called "Sustaining the Rag Trade".
Please find below the executive summary and details on how to order
it at IIED.
Executive summary
Over the last decade, the clothing sector in Europe has been at
the forefront of efforts to raise the social and environmental standards
of international trade. Whether it is child labour or toxic dyes,
clothing retailers are under pressure to demonstrate responsible
practice along their supply chains. This ethical imperative coincides
with and is partly driven by the accelerating globalisation of sourcing,
which is opening up new opportunities for textile and garment exporters
in the developing world. The challenge now facing the 'rag trade'
is whether its largely defensive efforts to minimise social and
environmental risk can be transformed into a coordi-nated strategy
for the sustainable development of the supply chain: improving performance,
sharing benefits and broadening accountability. Sustaining the rag
trade attempts to answer this by looking in detail at the UK cloth-ing
retail sector. The report forms part of IIED's Stimulating Sustainable
Trade project, whose aim is to provide practical guidance on how
to expand exports of sustainable goods and services from the developing
world to the European Union. It emerges out of a need expressed
by IIED's partners in the South to better understand the demand-side
factors that are driving social and environmental performance into
the heart of trading realities.
A sector in transformation
Powerful forces are transforming clothing retail in the UK (Chapter
2). Fashion cycles are shortening, new entrants are shaking up established
players at both the premium and value ends of the market and e-commerce
promises to deliver further shocks. But one of the overarching trends
is the way in which supply chain management is becoming central
to retail success. To bring down costs and improve quality, leading
retailers are rationalising their supply base: C&A has halved
its suppliers in recent years, for example. Cost pressures have
also driven up imports threefold since the mid-1980s - leading to
mounting job-losses in the domestic textile sector. Scheduled liberalisation
of textile trade through the removal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement
by 2005 will further increase imports into the UK and Europe. The
result is a 'buyers' market' where retailers set the terms of trade
for price, quality and delivery within the supply chain. But the
mature clothing market in the UK means mounting competi-tion and
ever-increasing attention to enhancing brand value as a way of attracting
customers. And it is this concern for branding that is providing
the opening for increasing integration of social and environmental
factors.
The sustainability challenge
Traditionally, the social and environmental side-effects of clothing
have been dealt with reactively and in parallel (Chapter 3). But
there is now increasing recognition of the need to take an integrated
life cycle approach that identifies the critical issues from fibre
production through cloth making to garment assembly, use and disposal,
and aims to incorporate social and environmental factors into mainstream
decision-making. Looking across the breadth of the sustainable development
agenda for clothing, four priorities emerge:
- Eliminating environmental hazards, such as pesticide use in
cotton cultivation and toxic chemicals in textile manufacture.
- Improving water and energy efficiencies, particularly during
textile processing and clothes' washing.
- Cutting pollution and waste, especially from dyeing and new
concerns over 'genetic pollution' from genetically modified cotton.
- Establishing social justice, such as raising standards for
workers, particularly women and children. The direct social and
environmental impacts of clothing retail are relatively minor.
But three factors are pressing retailers to extend responsibility
along the supply chain, including: o Government policy: Regulation
remains a powerful driver, particularly to control toxic chemicals
and reduce packaging waste. Following the failure of the EU eco-label
scheme, the UK government is rethinking its approach to product
policy, and has launched an Ethical Trading Initiative to raise
labour standards.
- Public pressure: Campaigns from environment and development
organisations have proved a potent force for change, particularly
to tackle 'sweatshop' condi-tions in garment production. Campaigns
against GM cotton could arise in the future.
- Market demand: Consumer preferences for 'green' or 'ethical'
clothing have been the weakest pressure, due to low awareness,
lack of point of sale informa-tion, as well as perceptions of
poor design and high prices for 'alternative' ranges. This contrasts
with other countries, such as Germany, where company leadership
has built up a green market for clothing.
The business response
The rag trade is fiercely individualistic and the UK's leading retailers
are responding to these pressures in a range of different ways (Chapter
4). Market leader, Marks and Spencer, was the first to introduce
environmental policies in the 1990s, and is cur-rently exploring
a common environmental standard with its major suppliers. M&S
has recently adopted a set of Global Sourcing Principles and joined
the ETI to tackle the social agenda. Faced with a downturn in consumer
sales, the challenge for M&S will be to upgrade the sustainability
dimension of its brand and communicate directly with customers as
part of its recovery strategy. For Next, social issues have been
to the fore and the company has worked with Oxfam to develop an
internal Code of Practice; it has not yet adopted a formal environmental
policy. The privately-owned Dutch-based C&A has been the focus
of campaigning since the early 1990s. It now has a Code of Conduct
for supply, and an arms-length agency, SOCAM, to monitor implementation.
Environmentally, it has taken a leadership role, installing ISO14001
in its operations and adopting the Oeko-Tex 100 standard for its
clothing. Part of the Storehouse group, Bhs has both an Environmental
and an Ethical Sourcing Code of Practice, while Littlewoods also
has an ethical code and is a member of the ETI. For most clothing
retailers, action on social and environmental responsibility is
rela-tively new and in a state of flux. In some cases, there is
clear commitment to change from chief executives, and a new willingness
to engage in dialogue. However, the driving forces for change are
largely defensive, with few examples of active attempts to win market
position by bolstering social and environmental reputation. Here,
other European companies such as Otto Versand in Germany show how
environmental factors can become part of corporate strategy.
Recommendations for the future
The rag trade has seen a flurry of activity in recent years as companies
act to install basic systems to give assurance on social and environmental
performance in the supply chain. But these measures do not yet add
up to a clear strategy for sustain-able development - and the sector
risks falling behind government strategy, public expectations and
business best practice. Six priorities stand out for action:
- Vision: The rag trade needs to develop a strategic vision of
its contribution to sus-tainable development, both nationally
and globally along the supply chain.
- Entrepreneurial leadership: A virtuous cycle of innovation
is required that rewards those who 'stick their heads above the
parapet'.
- Awareness raising: New tools are needed to raise consumer awareness
of the social and environmental issues that lie 'behind the label'.
- Collective action: A common platform is required for clothing
retailers to develop and project a strategy for sustainable development.
- Transparency: A culture of transparency needs to be reinforced
through the pro-vision of clear, objective information on the
social and environmental impacts of clothing products.
- Supply chain partnerships: More could be done to build real
partnerships with suppliers in developing countries, particularly
to ensure that the distribution of the burden of change is fair.
The full report can be ordered via:
IIED,
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1HoDD
+44-171-3882117
mailbox@iied.org
http://www.iied.org/
|
