Understanding the Remake Fashion Accountability Report 2024

The Remake Fashion Accountability Report 2024 provides an in-depth analysis of the fashion industry’s impact on human rights, labor conditions, environmental sustainability, and corporate governance. This report evaluates the performance of 52 major fashion companies against 88 distinct metrics across six key categories: traceability, wages and wellbeing, commercial practices, raw materials, environmental justice, and governance.

Key Findings

Wages and Wellbeing

The Remake Fashion Accountability Report 2024 reveals a poor state of wages and well-being for garment workers across the fashion industry. Despite vocal commitments from various brands, tangible and progressive advancement remains minimal. Among the 52 companies assessed, only two—Hanesbrands Inc. and Cotopaxi—publicly disclosed the percentage of their garment workers receiving living wages. Hanesbrands Inc., which owns a significant portion of its production facilities, ensures that 80% of its products are made in-house, giving it more control over worker conditions. However, Cotopaxi has yet to clarify its definition of a living wage, reducing the transparency of its claims.

H&M Group had previously promised that its workers would earn a living wage by 2018, but this goal has not been met. Instead, the company shifted its focus to broader indicators such as “democratically-elected worker representation,” which, while important, does not directly address wage issues. The report emphasizes that no company assessed demonstrated comprehensive support for unionization, with only nine companies revealing rates of unionization or collective bargaining agreements in their Tier 1 factories. Furthermore, only two companies, Adidas and PUMA, have systems for workers to safely report grievances and measure worker satisfaction with these processes.

Despite increased awareness and initiatives, poverty wages persist. The report highlights the gap between current wages and the living wage benchmarks set by organizations like the Asia Floor Wage Alliance. For instance, the legal minimum wage in Bangladesh is approximately $113 per month, while a living wage is estimated at $484 per month. This significant shortfall underscores the ongoing exploitation and financial insecurity faced by garment workers, who are crucial to the fashion supply chain.

Commercial Practices

Commercial practices within the fashion industry heavily favour brands at the expense of suppliers. The report criticizes fashion companies for not implementing Buyer Codes of Conduct, which would hold them accountable for fair purchasing practices. Instead, the prevailing Supplier Codes of Conduct place the burden of compliance on factories, without ensuring that brands uphold their end of ethical practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of suppliers, as many brands invoked force majeure clauses to cancel orders and demand discounts on already completed work. This left many suppliers unable to pay their workers, leading to widespread factory closures and financial distress. Despite public outcry and advocacy efforts, such as the #PayUp campaign which recovered $22 billion in canceled orders, the practice of unfair treatment towards suppliers persists.

The report highlights that only Hanesbrands Inc. and MUJI include detailed responsible sourcing timeline considerations in their order planning. This failure to integrate fair practices into purchasing agreements exacerbates the precarious conditions faced by suppliers, who are often forced to meet unrealistic deadlines without adequate compensation.

Environmental Justice

Environmental justice is another critical area where the fashion industry falls short. The report points out that while efforts have been made to reduce toxic chemical use, the overall environmental impact continues to grow due to overproduction and waste. The fashion industry relies on a linear business model that prioritizes constant production and disposal, contributing significantly to environmental degradation.

Only a few companies disclose their annual production volumes and those that do report increases year over year. This excessive production leads to massive waste, with unsold inventory often ending up in landfills or incinerators. The report underscores the environmental burden placed on countries in the Global South, which are often the recipients of discarded fashion waste from wealthier nations. For example, mountains of secondhand clothing dumped in Chile’s Atacama Desert have created severe environmental and health issues, with local recycling initiatives failing due to economic unfeasibility.

The report calls for a transition to circular business models that focus on reducing, reusing, and recycling materials. This shift would involve creating durable products, offering repair and upcycling services, and ultimately reducing the volume of new products entering the market.

Governance

Governance scores within the fashion industry remain disappointingly low, reflecting a lack of genuine leadership and accountability. The report highlights the surge in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, but notes that many of these initiatives appear performative and have not led to significant long-term changes. The overall average governance score has not improved, suggesting that many companies are failing to integrate meaningful DE&I practices into their core operations.

Few companies disclose comprehensive data on their workforce demographics or the outcomes of their DE&I initiatives. Only six companies—Desigual, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co., LVMH, PUMA, and PVH—disclose the percentage of their employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Moreover, only PUMA states that it pays all its direct employees a living wage and provides the benchmark used to determine this wage.

The report also criticizes the industry’s failure to link executive compensation with social and environmental performance. While some companies, such as Inditex and Kering, have begun to include specific social and environmental metrics in calculating executive bonuses, these measures are not yet given the appropriate weight to drive substantial change.

Conclusion

The Remake Fashion Accountability Report 2024 paints a bleak picture of the fashion industry’s current state, highlighting the significant gap between corporate rhetoric and actual practices. Despite some individual improvements, the overall progress is insufficient to meet the urgent challenges of ensuring fair labor practices, environmental sustainability, and robust corporate governance. The report serves as a call to action for all stakeholders—citizens, companies, policymakers, and investors—to drive systemic change towards a more equitable and sustainable fashion industry.

References

Remake Fashion Accountability Report 2024. (2024). Remake. Retrieved from Accountability Report 2024 — Remake.