Agreement on Sustainable Garment and Textile

On March 9th, a broad coalition of industry organisations, trade unions, civil-society organisations and the Dutch government presented an agreement on international responsible business conduct in the garment and textile sector.

In this agreement, these parties combine forces in an effort to achieve practical improvements in and ensure the sustainability of the international garment and textile supply chain. For example, they want to address problems such as dangerous working conditions and environmental pollution. The next steps in this process will be to secure funding of the agreement and have it signed – in June – by at least 35 companies in the sector, who together represent at least 30 percent of sales in the Netherlands. The parties to the agreement will then also sign it. The agreement has been drafted under the guidance of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER).