Dear PFI community,
As countries around the world begin their vaccine roll out, we have more hope than ever before of normality resuming. Trials of vaccine passports bring hope of business travel in the not too distanct future. The pandemic has shifted the way we do business and created new norms that are unlikely to be reversed. Company executives have seen opportunities in remote working and reliance on technological advances for virtual meetings to keep teams conntected, and project management tools to maintain efficiency and results.
At PFI Fareast, we are adapting both remote and on-site working with our colleagues, partners and clients. Despite travel restrictions, we continue to develop our business overseas in manufacturing regions and remain at the cutting edge of market trends.
In recent years, due diligence laws have been enforced worldwide in countries such as France, Australia and the United Kingdom. In Germany the due diligence law “Lieferkettengesetz” is planned to come into force in 2023.
Join PFI Fareast at the International Lieferkettengesetz Conference on 20th May to learn about the challenges, impacts and tangible opportunities brought by the implementation of the law.
Our team look forward to seeing you at the conference.
Mrs. Candice Wang
Managing Director of PFI Fareast
Increase supply chain transparency with the new RMC 2.0
With the new RMC 2.0 the supply chains of a larger range of products containing recycled content are made transparent.
Join expert speakers and industry leaders at PFI Fareast’s free virtual International Lieferkettengesetz conference
The virtual International Lieferkettengesetz Conference co-hosted by PFI Fareast and cads is taking place on 20th May 2021. Check out the speaker line up now.
PFI Fareast welcomes Melanie Fuerch as PFI’s new Sustainability Project Manager
PFI Fareast, a global leader in sustainable supply chain solutions has welcomed a new member to its sustainability team.
Global Supply Chain News
New progress on German Supply Chain Law: the law has now reached the parliament
The law, Lieferkettengesetz, aims at holding German companies legally responsible for the environmental and social issues taking place along their global supply chain. The bill lobbied for by German unions was finally introduced this year.
According to the article, “German supply chain law reaches parliament”, businesses and associations formed by employers are still hoping to weaken the law, while unions are defending the law in its current state, even requesting a tougher draft of the law. Unions say that “the existing text is considered a minimum compromise, and any further weakening will not be accepted.”
The German Supply Chain Law will certainly bring changes to the existing market landscape. The law in its initial phase only covers German companies of 3,000 employees or more and their direct suppliers. Although the area of application will be extended in the near future to cover smaller companies. It is crucial for all brands, traders and suppliers to understand the law and to know how to deal with its impacts on global sourcing capabilities.
PFI Fareast and cads co-organising a virtual conference on the German Supply Chain Law on 20th May at 09:00 am CEST/ 03:00 pm HKT. The conference will take a deep dive into the challenges and the changes to the market landscape as a product of the law, with speakers from different stakeholder groups. Visit the conference website for more information and register your spot.
Source:
http://www.industriall-union.org/german-supply-chain-law-reaches-parliament
Sustainability matters to win the hearts of consumers
In the past, sustainability was not a priority for brands. Converseley today, sustainability tops the brand priority, particularly those in the luxury goods space.
The article,, “Think Sustainability Doesn’t Matter? Think Again”, details luxury brands like Hermès, Gucci and Tesla, all launching sustainability-related products, in a domino effect. A new challenge is mentioned in the article: brands who just follow the trends of sustainability are not able to win consumers’ hearts and create value. Brands must find their competitive advantage by being “innovative and inspiring on sustainability”. Thought leadership and thoughtful solutions in the arena of sustainability are the keys.
Find your competitive advantage and differentiated brand positioning with PFI Fareast. PFI Fareast’s sustainability team offers accredited product certifications: Recycled Material Certification (RMC) and Recycled Material Certification Blue (RMC Blue) to trace the recycled content of products from source to finish. The aim is to avoid plastic in the sea and in landscape, to ensure a traceable reuse and to increase the amount of recycled material in global manufacturing processes. The RMC Blue is especially focused on preventing plastic from entering the ocean – by collecting it from coastal regions.
PFI provides a QR code on the hangtags or product packaging of each certified product, enabling consumers to verify the percentage of recycled material their product contains.
Source:
https://jingdaily.com/sustainability-luxury-brands-innovate-hermes-cartier/
Report reveals dismissed garment workers waiting for severance pay
The fashion industry was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Fashion brands have been losing profits and been trying to cut costs by cancelling orders and stopping payments for placed orders. Many garment workers subsequently lost their jobs.
The article, “Garment Workers Who Lost Jobs in Pandemic Still Wait for Severance Pay” mentioned that the study, “Fired, Then Robbed: Fashion brands’ complicity in wage theft during Covid-19” by Worker Rights Consortium, has “identified 31 export garment factories in nine countries where, the authors concluded, a total of 37,637 fired workers were not paid the full severance pay they legally earned, a collective $39.8 million.” The Worker Rights Consortium’s executive director, Scott Nova, said in the interview that, “severance wage theft has been a longstanding problem in the garment industry, but the scope has dramatically increased in the last year.”
Read the article to learn more about the garment labour’s situation.
PFI offers social audit services that keep track of factory social compliance performance and consultancy by our experts to support global supply chains. We assist brands in their efforts to source from trustworthy ethical suppliers. Our highly experienced experts verify and improve the social performance of factories according to PFI standards or designated codes of conduct.
Check out the PFI’s social audit services now and see how we can help you.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/fashion/garment-workers-severance-pay-theft.html
Reports
Fired, Then Robbed: Fashion brands’ complicity in wage theft during Covid-19, Worker Rights Consortium.
“New research by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) reveals that many workers are being denied some or all of this essential compensation, in violation of the law and the labor rights obligations of the brands and retailers whose clothes they sewed.”
https://www.workersrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Fired-Then-Robbed.pdf
Measuring Fashion’s Sustainability Gap — Download the Report Now, Business of Fashion.
“Brands are talking about sustainability more than ever before, but does their rhetoric stand up to scrutiny? BoF’s new report, The BoF Sustainability Index, benchmarks 15 of the industry’s biggest companies against ambitious environmental and social goals and finds fashion is falling short.”
https://www.businessoffashion.com/reports/sustainability/measuring-fashions-sustainability-gap-download-the-report-now
Responsible business conduct and the apparel and footwear industry (2021), Australian Human Rights Commission.
“The Responsible business conduct and the apparel and footwear industry guidance and accompanying factsheet have been developed during challenging and unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has significant implications on the realisation of rights globally and further emphasises the need for responsible business conduct. As such, the guidance considers the additional impacts of COVID-19 and potential measures to address such impacts.”
https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/business-and-human-rights/publications/responsible-business-conduct-and-apparel-and
