Where are the green shoots of a Just Transition for the industry? This report by Safia Minney produced with Middlesex University and funded by ACCESS (Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science) presents alternative approaches from the perspective of key suppliers in Bangladesh and India that serve the UK market, and sets out to challenge the unsustainability of the current UK fashion and textile sector. The report does so by identifying key insights into good practices that will need to underpin pathways towards a Just Transition and a regenerative textile and fashion industry.
The Just Transition refers to the process of shifting to a more sustainable and equitable economy in a way that supports workers and communities who are directly or indirectly affected by the transition. In the fashion industry, there are several examples of initiatives and efforts to promote a Just Transition. Regenerative approaches aim to give back to the environment and society more than is taken away. It is not an easy term to define and the businesses in this report are on a journey to a regenerative approach in different ways. A key element of a regenerative approach is a focus on living well within our planetary boundaries, and not pursuing models of economic growth regardless of the cost to planet and people. This can be referred to as a post-growth approach where success is defined by quality, creativity, sustainability and well-being alongside a reasonable return to businesses.
In our research, we position regenerative approaches as the underpinning practices that drive a Just Transition towards a society that is aligned with planetary boundaries and agnostic to economic growth.
This report introduces case studies of the research in India and Bangladesh.
The research draws on ideas from a wide range of social science disciplines to understand the nature of the supply chains, the working conditions, the strategies used, and the existing and emerging relationships of actors along the supply chains, as well as the voices of different actors from the Global South that are so often either omitted or silenced.
Providing a summary of emerging insights, this report presents elements of common good practice in four key areas: (1) Low-impact materials; (2) Regenerating Nature: Water, Soil and Waste; (3) Renewable Energy; and (4) Worker’s Wellbeing, Living Wages, Women’s Development and Strengthening Communities.
It was exciting bringing together buyers, suppliers, their workers and in some cases their family members. These stakeholders helped us understand what is important to them, and the commercial contexts in which they work and live. We were also able to collect data, images, sound, etc. from workplaces, facilities supported by suppliers, homes and communities to bring more perspectives, information and meaning/ truth to the research.
We hope this provides insights into regenerative practices, and a discussion about how these can be scaled, and that together we can tackle the very real obstacles to creating a Just Transition in the textile and fashion industry.
— Safia Minney
