Partnership for Sustainable Textiles
In response to the tragic accidents in textile factories, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development initiated the foundation of the Textiles Partnership in 2014. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative with about 136 representatives from the fields of business, politics and the civil society (November 2019). The aim is to to bring about social, environmental and economic improvements all along the textile supply chain.To achieve this, they have developed requirements and specific measures in working groups. These include training for garment workers, supporting local trade unions in producer countries, increasing the use of sustainably produced cotton, and eliminating the use of toxic chemicals. Based on jointly defined Partnership goals, all members commit to preparing an individual roadmap with binding and verifiable targets each and must report on its implementation.
Within multi-stakeholder-initiative, members can learn from each other and, by collective engagement, jointly achieve social, environmental, and economic improvements all along the textile supply network. The Textile Partnership can achieve a lot in production countries through the purchasing power of companies, the expertise and contacts of non-governmental organisations and unions, the influence of the German Federal Government, and the increased leverage provided by joining forces.
