Bhopal, 27 October(KNB):– Non-profit organisations Fair Wear and Solidaridad have announced a strategic partnership to advance human rights and environmental due diligence in the global garment industry.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) brings together two organisations with decades of hands-on experience in improving working conditions and driving environmental sustainability across global supply chains.
By combining Fair Wear’s expertise on labour rights and responsible business practices with Solidaridad’s holistic supply chain approach towards environmental and social sustainability, the partnership aims to provide brands with an integrated, practical framework for due diligence.
“This partnership allows us to connect the dots between human rights and environmental due diligence in a way that’s practical for brands and meaningful for workers, producers and the environment,” said Annabel Meurs, Executive Director of Fair Wear. “By collaborating with Solidaridad, we bring coherence, clarity and actionable guidance to brands, helping them drive lasting change.
”Bridging Silos in Due DiligenceTraditionally, human rights and environmental due diligence have been treated as separate efforts, limiting their effectiveness. With EU and national legislation evolving, Fair Wear and Solidaridad’s Europe and Asia teams aim to demonstrate what due diligence looks like in practice, enabling brands to address risks and harm across their supply chain more meaningfully.
This collaboration focuses on the doing of due diligence: building capacity, sharing tools and supporting companies to implement practical ways to address both social and environmental risks and harm across their supply chains.Core Areas of CollaborationThe partnership is built around pillars designed to generate immediate and long-term value. These are:- Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement Pilots in key Asian production hubs will test, refine, and prove the efficacy of the integrated Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) model in real-world conditions.- Operationalising and facilitating integrated HREDD, by connecting Solidaridad’s environmental insights and tools as well as their experience on social due diligence in the upstream supply chain until the stage of cotton farming into Fair Wear’s due diligence approach. This will serve as a centralised intelligence platform providing FW members with integrated HREDD risk analysis, guidance, and remediation pathways.- Integrated Environmental and Insetting Initiative, where Solidaridad’s decarbonisation and environmental expertise will guide Fair Wear brands in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions directly within their own supply chains, creating tangible benefits for both brands and producers.
Driving Positive ImpactFor the over 100 brands associated with Fair Wear, this partnership not just supports them with identifying environmental risks but also guides them towards proven, impactful remediation programmes delivered by Solidaridad—closing the loop from risk identification to action. For workers on the ground, the integrated model promises less duplication and more coherent support. Investments in cleaner production can directly contribute to safer and healthier working environments.
“This partnership allows us to bring our on-the-ground environmental programmes to a wider group of brands, driving concrete and measurable action,” said Shatadru Chattopadhayay, Managing Director of Solidaridad Asia. “Together with Fair Wear, we aim to become the collective architects of a more responsible, resilient, and regenerative fashion industry.”By demonstrating a credible model for collaboration between two experienced, government-supported organisations, Fair Wear and Solidaridad aim to contribute to a broader movement towards systemic change in the fashion industry—helping businesses align around a new normal of what effective HREDD looks like in practice.
About Fair Wear: Fair Wear advances workers’ rights across global supply chains by embedding due diligence into the way business is done. With 25+ years of experience on responsible business conduct, over 100 member brands, local stakeholder networks, and normative yet pragmatic insight, we co-create scalable, worker-centred approaches. This way, we make responsible and resilient business conduct both practical and impactful.
About Solidaridad: Solidaridad is a global network organization with more than 55 years of experience implementing sustainability solutions at the source of supply chains. It acts as a strategic bridge between consumer markets and producer communities, with expertise in environmental management and social equity.(KNB)