The Global Fashion Agenda has launched the 2024 edition of the GFA Monitor that seeks to assist stakeholders along their journey towards a net-positive industry by offering proven solutions that can be embraced and applied by all.
- Building on the Fashion CEO Agenda’s holistic framework, it highlights the critical need for social and environmental sustainability.
- The fashion industry faces well-identified challenges and opportunities in its pursuit of a more sustainable, equitable, and transparent ecosystem. The Monitor details fields of action in as many as 5 priority areas that present the industry’s key challenges and opportunities in this direction.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Respectful and Secure Work Environments: Despite some significant advancements, continued efforts are needed to align industry standards and strengthen buyer-supplier partnerships.
- Although companies are increasingly recognising the business benefits of inclusive practices, DEI efforts must address persisting structural inequalities, often affecting women and marginalised groups disproportionately.
- While providing flexible employment to many, informal employment arrangements, such as homeworking and subcontracting, frequently expose workers to exploitation and substandard occupational protection.
- Action Areas • Responsible purchasing practices • Diversity, equity and inclusion • Terms of employment • Social protection.
Better Wage Systems: System solutions are insufficient and wage gaps persist, especially in key manufacturing regions where inflation outpaces wage growth and gender pay disparities remain a concern.
- Legislative efforts, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Directive, aim to improve wage transparency and equity.
- Action Areas • Wage transparency • Responsible purchasing practices • Freedom of association and collective bargaining agreements • Pay equity.
Resource Stewardship: While nature protection gains prominence in addition to climate change mitigation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise besides increasing resource use and industry growth.
- Biodiversity conservation, water stewardship and pollution control require holistic strategies as the repercussions of climate change increasingly disrupt manufacturing regions.
- Indigenous communities need to be included more closely in decision-making around biodiversity conservation.
- Action Areas • Energy use • Land use and biodiversity protection • Water stewardship • Chemical use • Fibre Fragmentation.
Smart Material Choices: Companies are increasingly setting goals with respect to sustainable materials, with brands aligning with the United Nations’ 2030 targets. However, virgin synthetic fibre production has increased and the share of recycled fibres has decreased.
- Regulatory initiatives such as the EU’s Green Deal push for more sustainable textile materials, but significant innovation is required to reduce raw material consumption and recapture value from existing resources.
- Action Areas • Synthetics • Plant fibres • Man-made cellulosic fibres • Animal-derived fibres.
Circular Systems Companies are increasingly setting targets, investing in solutions and implementing programmes around circularity, particularly textile recycling and circular business models, although scale has often not yet been reached.
- Despite regulatory initiatives promoting circular design and waste reduction, the gap in circularity has widened since 2018.
- To advance circularity in the fashion industry it is essential to address overproduction, improve recycling infrastructure and ensure an equitable transition for workers.
- Action Areas • Circular design • Circular business models • Textile-to-textile recycling • Just transition.
THE MONITOR: This edition is co-created with Global Fashion Agenda’s Impact Partners and stakeholders including:
- Partners: Apparel Impact Institute, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Fair Labor Association, Social & Labor Convergence Program, Textile Exchange, BESTSELLER, H&M Group, Kering, Nike, Ralph Lauren Corporation and Target, ASOS, Erdos Group, Ganni, Neiman Marcus Group, Puma, PVH Corp. and Zalando, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Fashion For Good, Maersk, McKinsey & Company, PwC, Re&Up and Worldly, ASOS, Erdos Group, Ganni, Neiman Marcus Group, Puma, PVH Corp. and Zalando.
- Industry stakeholders: ACT, Alliance for Water Stewardship, Anker Research Institute, Better Buying Institute, Cascale, Circle Economy, PEFC, The Fashion Pact, The Microfibre Consortium, ZDHC
- Editor & Authors: Sergio Laguna, Holly Syrett, Felicity Lammas, Léa Mocheff
- Designer: Florinda Pamungkas
WHAT THEY SAID:
The GFA Monitor outlines tools and proven practices the fashion industry can draw on as it transitions its practices to becoming net positive. It highlights the current state of progress in key areas for action across the five sustainability priorities of the Fashion CEO Agenda.
— Federica Marchionni
Chief Executive Officer
Global Fashion Agenda
