Press Release - Building Trust and Equity: Manufacturers, brands and stakeholders gather to discuss and actively promote responsible purchasing as the new norm
Amsterdam, 5 September 2024
On September 9, 2024, The Industry We Want (TIWW) and the Initiative for Global Solidarity (IGS) will host a high-level event in Munich, titled "Building Trust and Equity: Responsible Purchasing Practices as the New Norm." This event, held in conjunction with Cascale’s Annual Meeting 2024, will bring together top decision-makers, industry leaders, policymakers, manufacturers, and key stakeholders from the garment and footwear sectors to engage in a critical dialogue on responsible purchasing practices and their impact on global supply chains.
Setting the tone for change
The garment and footwear industry is on the verge of a transformative shift. For too long, the burden of ethical and sustainable practices has disproportionately fallen on manufacturers. However, emerging norms and new legislation, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the German Supply Chain Act, are now driving a move towards shared responsibility across supply chains. This event comes at a crucial time, as the industry navigates these changes and seeks to redefine commercial relationships based on trust, equity, and mutual accountability.
The event aims to showcase the opportunities that arise when brands and suppliers collaborate as true partners, driving meaningful improvements across the value chain. By focusing on responsible purchasing practices, the industry can progress towards fair wages, environmental sustainability, and decarbonisation, ensuring better working conditions and ethical business operations.
“Meaningful stakeholder engagement is a key component of responsible purchasing. In many of the regions where we operate, freedom of association and collective bargaining are often limited, making effective stakeholder engagement even more critical. It will be important to observe how brands approach these challenges and the stakeholders they choose to engage with in their efforts to ensure ethical and responsible supply chains.”
Gopinath Parakuni, Director of Strategy at Cividep India
Shared responsibility for shared success
Speakers will reflect on long-standing power imbalances within the industry and focus on how to jointly move forward in a new direction rooted in accountability. Discussions will explore how new legislative frameworks can drive significant change and practical approaches to implementing responsible practices. The goal is to move beyond basic compliance and embed responsible purchasing as a core principle for doing business.
Expert and practitioner insights will guide attendees in navigating the transition towards more responsible business models, focusing on collaboration and innovation to develop effective, scalable, and inclusive solutions. They will speak to the framing of new legislative realities and how to practically enable impactful due diligence; a mix of instruments is essential in establishing strong foundations for supply chain accountability, such as the draft Accountability Framework on Responsible Purchasing Practices and legal resources from the Responsible Contracting Project (RCP).
"Manufacturers and trade unions are both committed to advancing responsible purchasing practices and driving meaningful change. Their perspectives must be integrated into decision-making processes, ensuring that shared responsibility and workers' rights lead to actionable improvements and tangible results in our industry."
Alexander Kohnstamm, Executive Director at Fair Wear.
A new norm for the industry
By bringing diverse voices into the room, the event aims to foster a deeper understanding of the interconnected impacts of social, environmental, and commercial practices, and to create a space where real solutions can be crafted.
As due diligence laws become more stringent, ensuring fair and just implementation is crucial. The discussions in Munich will explore how to achieve this balance, moving beyond the status quo and committing to collaboration that will drive the industry forward. This event is about more than identifying problems—it’s about finding solutions and committing to collective action for a future where responsible purchasing is the norm, not the exception.
"This event marks a pivotal moment in the transition towards responsible purchasing practices and collaborative engagement between brands and manufacturers—a shift further reinforced by the new EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Over the past three years, the Initiative for Global Solidarity has been at the forefront of pioneering solutions to make responsible purchasing a tangible reality in partnership with our allies. In this event, we are honored to share our insights, tools, and solutions with a broader audience, expanding the reach and impact of our collective efforts.”
Thorsten Metz, Head of Programme at Initiative for Global Solidarity (IGS), GIZ
For a comprehensive overview of the day's agenda, please click here.
About The Initiative for Global Solidarity
The Initiative for Global Solidarity (IGS), a project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), promotes the implementation of human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) in global supply chains by scaling and harmonising proven approaches. The IGS enables buying and supplying companies to exercise shared responsibility for the impacts of their business practices on people and the planet.
About The Industry We Want
The Industry We Want is a multi-stakeholder initiative, facilitated by Fair Wear, Ethical Trading Initiative and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, dedicated to driving industry transformation towards dignity for workers in decent jobs, thriving businesses along the supply chain, and a positive impact on the planet. This can only be realised when the whole value chain works together. That’s why The Industry We Want convenes traditionally siloed stakeholders and galvanises actions across three interconnected challenges: responsible purchasing practices, living wages and GHG emissions. The Industry We Want has developed a set of industry-wide metrics that measure progress on these three issues on an annual basis and represent those whose voices are too often silenced - helping us to hold each other and ourselves accountable.