STTI spokesperson and Vice President BGMEA Miran Ali called for a
globally standardised approach to due diligence at the prestigious Global
Fashion Summit last week.
Mr Ali was speaking at a panel focusing on the upcoming due diligence
legislation, led by OECD due diligence head Tyler Gillard, alongside Maxine
Bedat, founder and director of New Standard Institute and author of the book
"Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment" and Sebastian Herold,
deputy head of division sustainable textile supply chains and sustainable
consumption at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ).
He made clear
that for manufacturers it is crucial to have a globally standardised approach
and not fragmented regulation in different countries, regions and states. He
went on to say that "The terms of trade have changed. The Sustainable
Terms of Trade Initiative (STTI) was created to give the supply chain a voice.
If we are going to make change as an industry there needs to be a discussion on
equal terms." Maxine Bedat backed Miran Ali’s pledge and stated that
"We have to shift away from passing the buck to manufacturers. There is a
tendency of brands to cascade requirements up into the supply chain, but this
is old fashioned." She called for approaching legislation and compliance to be two way streets.
This year's Global Fashion Summit was clearly focused on industry wide
alliances and the STTI alliance among manufacturers was often referred to. At
the same time, the summit also laid bare that despite the steps forward taken
by the formation of alliances, much of the heavy lifting is still be done.
The
STTI and its partners are working hard on building the necessary infrastructure
to create structural improvement of purchasing practices, working on the
development of model contract clauses with Rutgers University, researching
options for arbitration with GIZ, creating collaborations with Multi
Stakeholder Initiatives building purchasing practices codes, and developing a
long-term mechanism for measuring progress on commercial compliance by brands
and retailers, among other activities.
For further questions please contact:
Miran Ali | STTI Spokesperson | miran@bitopibd.com | Mobile +880
171 1565070
Fatima-Zohra Alaoui | STTI
Deputy Spokesperson | f.alaoui@amith.org.ma
Matthijs Crietee | STTI Project Lead at
IAF | crietee@iafnet.com | Mobile +31 653
93 06 74
---The Sustainable Terms of Trade initiative,
led by the STAR Network, the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the
Better Buying Institute and supported by GIZ FABRIC consists of 14 industry
associations from 11 countries facing similar challenges regarding purchasing
practices in the textile and garment industry. These are: API, Indonesia;
VITAS, Vietnam; CNTAC, China; GMAC, Cambodia; MGMA, Myanmar; BGMEA and BKMEA,
Bangladesh; AEPC, India; PHMA, PTEA, TMA, Pakistan; TCMA, Turkey; ECAHT, Egypt
and AMITH, Morocco
Disclaimer: All participants in this
initiative declare that the work carried out in this initiative is not in any
way aimed at a curbing of competition or a setting of prices. All associations
and member companies involved undertake to comply with antitrust rules within the
framework of this initiative without exception and no competition-relevant
information is exchanged. This project is aimed purely at improving purchasing
practices with the aim of ultimately improving sustainability and working
conditions for factory workers.