Or Foundation launches transparency challenge
The Or Foundation, a non-profit working for human rights and against environmental abuses in the fashion industry, has launched a new campaign, #SpeakVolumes, to urge brands and retailers to disclose how many garments they produce every year.
“If we are going to clean up fashion’s waste crisis and transform the industry to be circular, we need to know how many garments there are. It’s time to encourage the brands to Speak Volumes!” it stated in its latest call to action. The data collected can be useful to “develop more nuanced frameworks for Extended Producer Responsibility and the eco-modulation of fees” so that the policies that ultimately come to be implemented are fair and effective.
Late last month, it sent an open letter to dozens of high street brands including Gap, Primark, H&M, Boohoo, PVH Corp. Zara, Asos, requesting that they reveal their 2023 production volumes in units, not weight, before Black Friday 2024.
It has set up a website, speakvolumes.org, which will track the information collected.
This campaign aims to obtain more accurate data on the size of the apparel industry, as available statistics suggest that between 80 and 150 billion new garments are made every year, which it said, “is an embarrassing data gap”. The organisation pointed out that it is a counterproductive secret to keep. “How will our industry successfully transition to a circular economy if we do not know how many garments must be kept in circulation via reuse, repair, re-manufacturing or recycling?” it stated.
Photo: Or Foundation instagram
