Through the promotion and facilitation of ethical purchasing practices and, more broadly, the effective implementation of the human rights due diligence (HRDD) framework, the Fair Wear Foundation and the Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative (STTI), based in the Netherlands, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) pledging to further strengthen their collaboration on advancing systemic change in the clothing and textile industry.
The relationship is especially crucial in light of the industry’s stalled advancement. In a joint press release, STTI and Fair Wear stated that they both share the same vision of a just garment and textile sector in which brands actively engage in communication with stakeholders from manufacturing countries to improve working conditions.
Importantly, brands must forge equitable partnerships with their suppliers who have knowledge and expertise that may help brands with HRDD initiatives like ethical purchasing. These latter are crucial in helping the suppliers, who will ultimately be required to put the improved working conditions into effect. For instance, cooperative production planning can assist in lowering the number of unneeded extra hours.
For more than 20 years, Fair Wear has actively supported and guided brands in adopting a shared responsibility approach to respecting human rights in their supply chains. For the apparel and textile industries to achieve better working conditions, equal partnerships between brands and suppliers are essential. To better define how such partnerships function in practice, especially how suppliers may assist brands in adapting their sourcing processes, we must strengthen our connection with STTI, according to Margreet Vrieling, associate director at Fair Wear.
A comprehensive group of MSIs, among them Fair Wear, and expert organizations developed the Common Framework of Responsible Purchasing Practices (CFRPP), a set of principles around responsible behavior, which includes a process of stakeholder consultation. STTI has already been contributing significant recommendations from its white paper on the Definition and Application of Commercial Compliance to the CFRPP. The STTI and Fair Wear organizations’ aspirations to further include STTI within the CFRPP’s activity are consolidated in the MoU.
“The manufacturers gathering in STTI want to work with brands and retailers to promote significant advancements in purchasing processes. The MoU with Fair Wear provides the chance to forge a closer connection with the member brands of Fair Wear. Furthermore, with Fair Wear’s experience in human rights due diligence, the partnership with STTI takes on a bigger dimension, assisting both organizations in advancing a global infrastructure that can encourage more ethical purchasing practices, according to Matthijs Crietee, secretary general at IAF and co-initiator of STTI.
By combining Fair Wear’s expertise in advising and evaluating 130 brands on their HRDD implementation with STTI’s insights from serving as the representative of supplier associations from 10 manufacturing countries, they will be able to provide useful insights and guidance on what ethical purchasing practices entail in light of upcoming European Union legislation on HRDD that will require brands to take responsibility and consider the impact of their business operations.
