Together for change in the global garment industry

The global textile and garment industry is one of the world’s largest and most significant. With a vast and complex sphere of influence, the industry – especially brands’ business practices and the extent of government regulation around them – plays a key role in determining working and living conditions for people around the globe.

Our goal is to redefine the future of the industry: a production chain in which textile workers, mainly women, can shape their employment conditions; where successful collective bargaining happens at the factory, national and sectoral levels; and where gender equality, living wages, fair prices, and decent work become the standard for all. 

How does STITCH operate?

  • By equipping unions and labour rights organisations with knowledge, skills and tools, we help amplify workers’ voices in the value chain. 

  • By encouraging brands to leverage their power to drive industry action, we help create space for workers to organise and actively shape HRDD.

  • By guiding brands towards responsible purchasing practices, we promote a more equitable buyer-supplier relationship that lays the foundation for better working conditions.

  • By influencing the EU and its national governments to align the international regulatory frameworks for business and human rights with the OECD guidelines, we strive to build an ecosystem that supports it all.

  • Ultimately, by fostering meaningful engagement between all supply chain actors, we create a space for them to jointly work towards solutions, with the garment workers’ voices at the centre.

As a consortium, we have complementary expertise and experience in advancing improved working conditions through HRDD – by centring workers’ voices and developing practical standards to guide brands on implementation.

Together, we are well connected to key stakeholders across the whole value chain, which enables us to connect the perspectives of different actors and foster industry-level collaboration.

STITCH interventions cover garment-producing countries across Asia, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, and a regional approach for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been developed.