Sectoral project sustainability in textile supply chains

projekt beendet

TitleMainstreaming sustainability in textile supply chainsShort discriptionThe project supports organisations in Germany and worldwide in making transnational textile supply chains more ecologically and socially sustainable and fair.Key wordsTxtiles, sustainability, supply chains, environmental standards, social standardsSituation/ContextDespite increasing sensitivity towards making textile supply chains socially and ecologically sustainable, the global textile and clothing industry is largely characterised by short manufacturing cycles, tight deadlines, complex supplier structures and extremely tough price competition. The continued high demand for afford-able, modern mass goods (‘fast fashion’) has led to a ‘race to the bottom’, meaning that goods are in-creasingly being produced at particularly low-cost locations. The result is often poor working conditions and low ecological standards in production. This area of tension is giving rise to demands from the general public for politics and business to ensure adherence to social and ecological standards along the entire textiles value chain.The German contribution towards anchoring sustainability in global textile supply chains is currently not achieving as much as it actually could. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Devel-opment (BMZ) has therefore set itself the goal of making textile supply chains more sustainable. Working together with all parties involved – from politics, business, civil society, standards organisations and trade unions – it strives to improve the social and ecological conditions. In 2014, BMZ established the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles to achieve this.GoalThe German contribution towards anchoring sustainability in global textile supply chains is strengthened and internationally recognised.InterventionsThe sectoral project sustainability in textile supply chains works in two fields of activity:Firstly, it works towards improving the national and international positioning of German development coop-eration with regard to sustainability in textile supply chains by providing strategic and content-related advice and support to BMZ.Secondly, the project funds the secretariat of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. The secretariat sup-ports and coordinates the activities of the Partnership members from business, civil society, standards or-ganisations, trade unions and the Federal Government to improve the social, ecological and economic con-ditions throughout the entire textile supply chain. For this purpose, the members are required to implement individual measures and report on progress made, and are expected to take part in joint Partnership initia-tives in producer countries of the textile industry.InternetWebsite: Partnership for Sustainable Textileshttps://en.textilbuendnis.com/en/

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