The Industry We Want publishes new insights on purchasing practices, the wage gap and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Amsterdam
Multi-stakeholder initiative The Industry We Want shares its updated Industry Dashboard, demonstrating a state of stagnation across three critical indicators for the progress of the garment industry.
The Industry Dashboard illustrates the reality of workers, suppliers and other stakeholders in garment-producing countries through industry-wide scores on three critical issues in the sector: purchasing practices, the wage gap and GHG emissions. Measuring the industry’s progress and galvanising action across the commercial, social and environmental spheres, the metrics are updated annually and serve as an accountability resource for the whole industry. The new scores show little to no progress in any of these areas.
‘Measuring progress informed by data and transparency across the supply chain are essential to doing business in a fair way, improving the lives of the people who make our clothes and driving environmental progress.’
Anne Patricia Sutanto, Vice CEO at PT Pan Brothers Tbk.
Stagnating progress in the garment industry
The 2023 scores highlight the need for closer collaboration between stakeholders from along the supply chain across the following indicators:
The metric on purchasing practices is the only one showing minimal improvement: an increase by one point from 39 to 40 compared to 2022, mainly due to buyers increasing recognition of the importance of fair financial practices and timely forecasting. On the flip side, the individual sub-scores also indicate a decline in business stability and the visibility buyers provide to suppliers regarding their order planning
The wage gap metric shows a 3.5 % increase to 48.5 %, meaning that, on average, the difference between legal minimum wages and living wages has grown even further. The most significant wage gap increase has been reported in Morocco, Peru and Hungary.
The GHG metric shows an increase of greenhouse gas emissions by 0.87 % to 896.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, mainly due to slight growth in fibre use and other factors. To stay within a 1.5°C trajectory – achieving 45 % reduction by 2030 – the sector would need to reduce emissions from 0.889 Gt in 2019 to 0.489 Gt by 2030.
You can learn more about each metric on the Industry Dashboard.
Effective due diligence implementation can accelerate progress across the three indicators. The Industry We Want, therefore, invites all stakeholders to an upcoming plenary session at the 2023 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector on ‘Implementing impactful due diligence: a practical perspective from Vietnam’. This session will connect policymakers and industry experts from across the supply chain in a hybrid two-panel, two-country Forum session connecting Hanoi and Paris. Together, they will discuss how equal buyer-supplier partnerships, effective policies, and support measures can create favourable conditions for implementing OECD-based due diligence.
The initiative will also host dedicated deep dive sessions starting in May 2023 and facilitate or contribute to supplier seminars in major garment producing countries.
For more information and the event calendar, please visit: www.theindustrywewant.com
‘This year’s The Industry We Want dashboard highlights the need to take action. Not tomorrow, but today. To drive systemic change, we need all actors in the supply chain to collaborate in equal partnerships. Let’s walk the talk together.’ Alexander Kohnstamm, Executive Director at Fair Wear Foundation
About The Industry We Want
The Industry We Want is a multi-stakeholder initiative, facilitated by Fair Wear, Ethical Trading Initiative and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, dedicated to driving industry transformation towards dignity for workers in decent jobs, thriving businesses along the supply chain, and a positive impact on the planet.
This can only be realised when the whole value chain works together. That’s why The Industry We Want convenes traditionally siloed stakeholders and galvanises actions across three interconnected challenges: responsible purchasing practices, living wages and GHG emissions.
The Industry We Want developed a set of industry-wide metrics that measure progress on these three issues on an annual basis and represent those whose voices are too often silenced – helping us to hold each other and ourselves accountable. www.theindustrywant.com
1. The purchasing practices metric uses data gathered by the Better Buying Institute’s Partnership IndexTM Survey, synthesising feedback on 160 buyer companies from more than 1000 suppliers across 54 countries, with a quarter of the ratings from supplier companies headquartered in China (24.1%), and other large contributors being Bangladesh (8.7%), Hong Kong (7.8%), and Turkey (6.7%).
2. Our wage metric, devised in partnership with the WageIndicator Foundation, illustrates the gap between legal minimum wages and living wages in 28 garment sector manufacturing countries with the aim of collecting real wage data.
3. The GHG emissions metric draws data from Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Higg, and Textile Exchange and the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii), to estimate the annual apparel greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
