YORK – Alexander Kohnstamm, executive director of the Fair Wear Foundation, tells our host Philip Berman how landmark new European Union (EU) legislation will affect the textile and fashion industry.
The EU's recently agreed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) will make companies legally responsible for environmental and human rights issues in their global supply chains.
After Kohnstamm emphasises the importance of long-term partnerships between brands and suppliers to due diligence, Berman asks whether brands were not already behaving in this way and, if not, why not?
"We believe brands and retailers and their suppliers should be doing exactly this. But the reality is that's not the case," replies Kohynstamm. "The reality is one of promiscuous behavior on the part of a lot of brands and retailers where they go from factory to factory to reduce costs by a few cents.
"It is a very short term way of looking at things, whereas a little bit of a longer term view will raise profitability in the long run but also improve conditions throughout the chain, certainly for workers."
Last minute concessions had to be made for the directive to be passed, and Kohnstamm explains why he regrets that, among these, was a significant reduction in the number of companies which will be affected.
"I believe that smaller companies should also have been within scope of the law," he says. "Not to make life difficult for them but, actually, to make it a little bit easier, because you need a level playing field. It's a myth, promoted by very conservative business lobby, that SMEs can't do this."
Kohnstamm goes on to talk about which companies will be impacted by CSDDD, and when. And he talks about how they can best navigate its requirements, including by making use of Fair Wear's online learning platform, the Human Rights Due Diligence Academy.
"We've been working on due diligence long before it was called that, and certainly long before there was any legislation. I think the key thing is really good partnerships between buyers and suppliers," he explains.
Listen to the full podcast for more insights on how the EU's CSDDD will impact our industry, and how companies can best prepare to meet their new environmental and human rights responsibilities.
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