The Ethical Fashion Report

Right as I’m about to hand in my DA the ethical fashion report for 2021 got dropped, a perfect way to close l.w.S- the sustainable.

What is the ethical Fashion report?

The fashion report is a large PDF that can be sent to your inbox for free, tabbing through it I can quickly grasp the main concepts that make up the report. Overall, it is a grading report on brands across the world. The grading is from A+ to F, taking in the “three big challenges – modern slavery, climate change and COVID-19” (2021 Baptist World). It also compares the report from previous years to show where improvement has been made and where it is lacking. The website also provides a space to type in your favourite brands to see what rating they get.

https://baptistworldaid.org.au/resources/ethical-fashion-guide/?append_order_id=504875&key=wc_order_KHSO6E0yabINr

the insight into 2021

80 billion items have been bought across the world annually.
Over 50 million people work in the industry.
420 Brands were assessed, 20.5% ranked in A+ and A, 56% ranked in B and C and 23.5% ranked in at D and F.
Fashion industry is TOP 5 in most exposed to MODERN SLAVERY RISK.
The industry also contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gasses.

the COMPARISON to PREVIOUS years

– Only four companies achieved A+, them being; Etiko, Joyya, Mighty Good Basics and Outland Denim.

The Modern Slavery challenge

“Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to forced labour because they are outside of the protections of their home company.”
The industry and companies involved have a level or responsibility, and in many cases higher levels of monitoring are put in place to keep up fair work.
But certain cases in which the “governments may be complicit in human rights abuses, boycotts may be the only option to mitigate modern slavery risk.”
37 companies signed the Uzbek Cotton Pledge (commiting to the end of forced labour in the cotton section in Uzbekistan.
22 companies have signed the Turkmen Cotton Pledge (commiting to the end of forced labour in the cotton section in Turkmenistan.)
China is still in very early days, but progress is slowly being made.

Xinjang is “the largest cotton producing region in China” making it difficult to verify if it is free from forced labour .

The climate challenge

70% of the fashion industry’s emissions stem from the supply chain and the other 30% is related to the consumer, retail and end-of-life phases.
If the fashion industry doesn’t take a significant reduction in emissions, the greenhouse gases are predicted to rise from 2.1 billion tones a year (2018) to 2.7 billion tones a year (2030).

– Introduction of circular fashion, which is the use of existing resources to create rather than extracting from the earth.

Overproduction and over consumption (fast fashion) is how businesses model there sales, but half of the companies surveyed are looking at re-evalutating and this is worth it! If the whole industry minimised by 10% the emissions produced could be reduced by 158 million tonnes by 2030.

Some major concerns

Only four companies could demonstrate paying a living wage to 100% of there workers in 2021, but in 2013 it was just two companies. Almost 10 years and 2 more companies joined the team!
Only 29% of companies have pathways in place to target decarbonisation.

What can you do?

Take the quiz at http://www.myshoppingtype.com.au to see where you are at.
Take interest in reports, articles and blogs about the ethical consumption.
Make small switches to brands that score well or even better, BUY SECOND HAND!
Start a conversation!