The fashion industry has woken up to the need to clean up its act in recent years – with a flurry of brands making bold commitments to reduce their environmental footprint. But what’s been largely missing is accountability. How do we know that brands are actually doing the work behind the scenes? And what about the companies that have been less forthcoming about implementing more responsible business practices?
That’s why legislation will be key when it comes to accelerating change across the industry. Historically, fashion has been largely unregulated, in part due to its unwieldy supply chains that stretch across multiple continents. But a new piece of legislation that has been put forward by the New Standard Institute in New York, named The Fashion Act, aims to address this, by requiring brands to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as their energy, water, material and plastic usage and chemical management; to set and achieve Science Based Targets (which are in line with the Paris Agreement’s aim to keep global warming to 1.5C); and implement mandatory due diligence across its supply chain (including reporting on wages).
The proposed bill – which has already received support from the likes of Stella McCartney – would apply to any brand doing business in New York that has an annual global revenue of $100million or more, meaning it could be a game-changer for the entire industry. “It’s not just New York- based companies; that’s really important,” Maxine Bédat, founder of the New Standard Institute, tells Vogue. “It’s using a model that California has used in the automotive space to drive industry improvements globally.”