Femnet e.V.

Achieving social dialogue in garment supply chains presents many challenges. Those regions where the downstream parts of the global supply chains are often located may lack both a tradition of social dialogue and the institutions that support it. With limited experience of social dialogue being available, suppliers and workers may not always be fully aware of its benefits, or familiar with the tools used in the process of social dialogue, and it therefore remains little used.

This good case practice describes the actions that Fair Wear Foundation, a partner of the Global Deal, is undertaking in order to break through the potential stalemate in negotiations and achieve more social dialogue and better industrial relations in global garment supply chains.

Nach dem Feuer im Rana Plaza 2013 und dem Tod von über tausend TextilarbeiterInnen entschließt sich Regisseurin Rubaiyat Hossain, einen Film über den Kampf der mutigen jungen Frauen zu drehen, die sich gegen die Verhältnisse auflehnen. Eine junge Gewerkschaftsführerin berichtet ihr vom Leben unter schlechten Arbeitsbedingungen, patriarchalen Familienstrukturen und Islamisierung. Die Geschichte von Shimu basiert ihren Erzählungen.

Shimu ist Anfang 20 und arbeitet in einer Textilfabrik in Dhaka. Als Jugendliche war sie aus ihrem Dorf weggelaufen, um einer arrangierten Ehe zu entfliehen.

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In Toritama im Nordosten Brasiliens werden pro Jahr ca. 20 Millionen Jeanshosen hergestellt und verarbeitet. Neben den großen Textilfabriken wurden in Garagen und Hinterhöfen zahlreiche private Werkstätten gegründet, in denen die Bewohner der Stadt scheinbar selbstbestimmt arbeiten und sich das Arbeitspensum selbst einteilen können.

Marcelo Gomez’s Dokumentation gibt Einblicke in eine Stadt, in der die Mehrheit der Einwohner*innen von der Jeansproduktion leben und in der die Nähmaschinen nicht still stehen.

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This tool offers a new perspective on buyer-supplier relationships by examining those relationships through the lens of partnership quality. Using just 12 subjective measures, the BBPI opens up new opportunities to learn about the impacts of purchasing practices by enabling suppliers in a range of industries and supply chain tiers to participate.

A total of 679 ratings were received during the 2021 ratings cycle. One hundred buyers were rated, including 94 buyers in the Softgoods category and 6 in the Hardgoods category (buyers that sell product types other than apparel, footwear, and household textiles). Most ratings were for Softgoods buyers (519 ratings), while the remaining were for Hardgoods buyers (160 ratings).

The suppliers that submitted ratings were from 50 different countries and regions, with nearly half of the ratings coming from the following areas: China (16.2% of all ratings), Taiwan (10.3%), the United States (9.9%), Hong Kong (6.3%), and South Korea (5.9%).

Key takeaways:

• Suppliers are under much pressure: many buyers never, rarely, or sometimes providing enough time, adequate visibility, stable business, and fair financials
• Many buyers are missing opportunities to improve their businesses by not seeking their suppliers’ ideas for product and process innovation
• Suppliers seem to currently have a low bar for what they consider an acceptable business relationship
• Buyer supply chains are further threatened by potential supply disruption, higher costs, and increased reputational risks.

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The article presents changes that took place in the textile and apparel (T&A) industry in Poland in the years 2004–2020. To describe the changes, we adopted the supply chain management perspective, which allowed for a global view of the changes taking place. We discuss the basic characteristics, such as the size and structure of the industry, innovation, production value, and the use of information and communications technology (ICT). In the research, we used the databases of the Central Statistical Office (GUS) on the sold production of the T&A industry, as well as imports and exports. Our research shows that, at the level of basic characteristics, the industry is close

to the European model. However, it is characterized by a smaller share of small companies in the structure of enterprises. The research showed an upward trend in the production of sold textiles and, to a lesser extent, apparel. At the same time, the operation of the Polish T&A industry is influenced by the import of finished products and raw materials from China, Germany, Bangladesh, and Turkey. The export is directed to the German, Czech, Romanian, and Ukrainian markets. The article provides an overview of the development trends in the Polish T&A industry in the broad context of international conditions.

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