Rivet 2021 winter issue has been removed! This issue delves into the measures taken by the global denim industry to minimize its impact on the environment, from implementing zero-waste production and design processes to formulating greenhouse gas emission targets that comply with the Paris Agreement.

Labor activists said that Levi Strauss has begun to take responsibility for the safety of workers in the supply chain and pay for the improvement of materials in supplier factories. "Now is the time." On the other hand, the jeans giant said it has done enough.

To date, 150 brands and retailers, including Adidas, American Eagle Outfitters, H&M, Zara owner Inditex, have signed the International Agreement on Health and Safety in the Textile and Apparel Industry, which is the Bangladesh Fire, Construction and Safety Agreement The successor agreement of the Clean Clothes Campaign said Thursday that several of the world's largest brands are still backing down. From now on, the largest union federation in the apparel industry will target companies that choose not to participate. Its first goal is: Levi's. According to its public supplier list, the company has 17 factories in this South Asian country.

"Although Levi's sourced from at least two dozen factories in Bangladesh, it failed to sign the first two agreements," said the Clean Apparel Movement. "It's time for Levi's to start taking responsibility for the safety of workers in its supply chain and make an economic contribution to making the factory safer."

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The organization stated that many of the factories currently used by Levi's have not made any “transparency efforts” to detect and remedy potential safety hazards, such as insufficient smoke detectors and lack of fire access. As the denim brand shares some of its production lines with Accord contractors such as G-Star Raw, Next and Uniqlo, Levi's is also "free-riding" promising to "ensure that the factories they purchase are financially safe for refurbishment" from," it added .

However, Levi's argued that since 1991, it has always prioritized worker safety through its supplier code of conduct and terms of employment, and continued to devote resources to policies that "have the greatest impact on workers in our supply chain." Behind the move. And practice as needed. "

"In Bangladesh, we have established a 20-year worker safety record," a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. "During that time, we did not produce in any facilities where tragedies have occurred. In 2009, we prohibited cooperation with suppliers operating in multi-storey, multi-owner buildings where safety standards are difficult to enforce."

The Red Tab manufacturer stated that it requires all its suppliers in Bangladesh to accept third-party electrical safety audits and building integrity audits, and it is one of the first brands to extend these guidelines to countries such as Cambodia and Pakistan.

"The plans we are currently implementing cover the areas that Accord seeks to manage. Therefore, although we commend Accord's efforts and progress and the goals they are striving to achieve, we believe that our current plans and practices provide the same level of verifiable worker protection and Uphold our responsibility to ensure safety in the workplace," the spokesperson said. "Looking forward, we will continue to strictly enforce our existing high standards for fire safety and building integrity, and continue to share best practices with the industry, including cooperation with other brands sharing locations, to reduce duplication and strengthen corrective actions."

However, workers’ groups argue that the era of voluntary, self-monitoring measures is over, and the legally binding element of the original agreement is the reason it is so effective.

"It helps create a level playing field, so it's not just brands that do all the work according to their own wishes," Joris Oldenziel, deputy director of Bangladesh and International Agreement, previously told Sourcing Journal. "It [also] becomes clearer for everyone [about what they must abide by]. It creates a collective influence and puts the most remedial pressure on the factory."

The Clean Clothes Campaign stated that it will continue to pressure brands sourced from Bangladesh to sign new agreements, regardless of whether they have previously signed the original agreement but did not join the new agreement, or have never signed the previous agreement but rely on their own social audit plan or "unenforceable." Collective system", such as Nirapon. As an alternative to the Bangladesh Workers’ Safety Coalition, which worked with the original agreement before its dissolution in 2018, Nirapon is backed by more than 50 brands, including Carter's, Macy’s, Wal-Mart, and The North Face owner VF Corp.

Kalpona Akter, chairman of the Bangladesh Apparel and Industrial Workers Federation and founder of the Bangladesh Workers Solidarity Center, said: “We urge all brands that source from Bangladesh to sign international agreements to be responsible for the safety of their workers.” “There are too many brands in the industry. They continue to hide behind their own corporate plans without independent supervision, or behind opaque industry plans like Nirapon that are not trusted by workers."

The Clean Apparel Movement stated that the urgency of signing the international agreement is greater because it includes a commitment to expand to other garment-producing countries with lax safety plans. One possible candidate is neighbouring Pakistan, which has been thwarted since a factory fire in 2002 killed more than 250 workers and injured 60 people. The original agreement was also forged in tragedy: the collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in 2013 killed 1,134 workers and thousands were injured or disabled.

"The self-discipline of the brand has never saved the lives of our workers," Ackert added. "The agreement is the highest standard in the apparel industry. Any brand that produces in Bangladesh but has not signed the agreement is basically saying that they don't care about the safety of workers."

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