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Fair Trade Advocacy Office

Supply Chains / Small Players

16 May 2023

 2 minutes
Due to the high competition between small suppliers in the garment sector, brands are able to purchase orders for very low prices, even below the cost of production. These include costs required to meet code of conduct compliance, as well as necessary production costs like energy or transport prices.

Europe's Fashion SMEs: Squeezed by Unfair Trading Practices, But Power Dynamics Beginning to Change

Researchers from the University of Portsmouth under the aegis of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office have come out with a report that reviews unfair trading practices (UTPs) in textile supply chains, along with a case study analysis of emerging best practices.

By
  • Staff Writer
Supply Chains / Europe Trade

19 April 2023

 4 minutes
The Orljava garment factory in eastern Croatia produced business shirts for German brand Olymp for over 50 years. When COVID-19 hit, Olymp began drastically cutting orders at the Orljava factory, forcing it to begin laying off some of its 300 workers. By April of 2021, Olymp—representing 80% of production at the factory—stopped making orders altogether. Orljava went bankrupt and laid off the remaining 172 workers. The Orljava workers are still owed more than €450,000 in severance pay.

Brands Using Lopsided Trading Practices to Throttle Small European Suppliers

A report on fast fashion purchasing practices in the European Union paints a grim picture of the tenuous trade relations between brands and manufacturers, with business-to-business power imbalances, giving buyers even more influence in defining terms and conditions than elsewhere. 

By
  • Staff Writer
Young India Fashion Survey 2025
Textile Recycling Expo
ITF Intertex Portugal 2025
Most Popular
Footwear Markets / New Trade Disorder / IV Feature
The average effective tariff rate on both footwear and apparel is over five times higher than on all other US imports.

‘Cruel’ April Heaps Tariffs, A Pause; Global Footwear Industry Feels Clobbered

  • Richa Bansal

10 April 2025
Pioneering Change / Earth Protex Interview
The focus at Earth Protex remains its Tex2Tex technology and business scope, which specifically targets textile-to-textile recycling of polyester. Its Thermo-Mechanical Reactor recycling technology enables easy and scalable recycling of polyester textiles. In pic: The Ganni collection

Material Science at Crossroads: The Disconnect between Scientists and Creative Industries

  • Richa Bansal

24 March 2025