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Dignity factory workers producing shirts for overseas clients, in Accra, Ghana

Hot Air: How will fashion adapt to accelerating climate change?

Impacts of Climate Change on Global Apparel Production

How have weather conditions already changed in major apparel production centers? In this follow-up to our Higher Ground? reports, we looked at the past twenty years of weather data in our 23 focus cities to try and find that out, as well as ask how workers, brands and retailers, manufacturers and their governments should react and adapt to our warming future in a world of corporate due diligence. Read our findings here.

A flooded area near to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Labor Outcomes Metrics

Read about the Global Labor Institute's new quantitative metrics that measure labor outcomes—actual impacts for workers.

Workers in Bangladesh
Read more about Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Latest Events

Higher Ground? Climate change and apparel production

This brief for apparel brands and manufacturers—based on analyses by the Cornell University Global Labor Institute and U.K.-based fund manager Schroders—looks into fashion’s near future to calculate the possible economic damage caused by high heat, rising humidity, and disruptive flooding.
Flooded buildings and streets
Higher Ground? Climate change and apparel production

Brussels CSDDD Event Readout

Measuring outcomes for supply chain workers is “part and parcel of [European] competitiveness,” says MEP Lara Wolters at a recent GLI, ECCHR, and HRW event
MEP Lara Wolters stands at a lecturn with a Press Club Bussels Europe sign on it, in front of a white banner with black and blue text that says "Press Club Brussels Europe" and "Be Hear. Say it in Brussels" at an event
Brussels CSDDD Event Readout

Event: Corporate Sustainability and Accountability: How is it working for labor rights?

Please join us for this event in Brussels organized by Cornell GLI, ECCHR, and Human Rights watch on due diligence and reporting requirement, like the EU CSDDD and their forced labor ban. Member of European Parliament Lara Wolters will be a part of the two expert panels.
White text saying "Corporate Sustainability and Accountability: How is it working for labor rights?" is on a red-colored image background, and black text on a white background says "October 16, 14:00 - 16:00 CEST, Brussels, Belgium." The logos of ILR Global Labor Institute, ECCHR, and Human Rights Watch are on the bottom of the image.
Event: Corporate Sustainability and Accountability: How is it working for labor rights?

Eliminating Gender-based Violence and Harassment in Global Supply Chains

We present here our analysis of processes and outcomes in year 2 of the operation of the agreement, as a prelude to a more comprehensive evaluation in 2025 when the agreement expires.
Busy factory floor with rows of sewing stations
Eliminating Gender-based Violence and Harassment in Global Supply Chains

Eliminating Gender-based Violence and Harassment in Global Supply Chains

We present here our analysis of processes and outcomes in year 2 of the operation of the agreement, as a prelude to a more comprehensive evaluation in 2025 when the agreement expires.
Busy factory floor with rows of sewing stations
Eliminating Gender-based Violence and Harassment in Global Supply Chains

25 Metrics to Measure Due Diligence in Global Supply Chain

Cornell ILR’s Global Labor Institute (GLI) launched its Labor Outcomes Metrics on May 29. The new set of 25 quantitative measures allows regulators, firms and unions to score, track and compare impacts over time.
Better Work Programme -  A worker in Bangladesh
25 Metrics to Measure Due Diligence in Global Supply Chain

In the News

Nike Repeatedly Raised Concerns About Repression in Cambodia. It Expanded Its Factory Workforce There Anyway.

Pro Publica
Brands increasing their orders from Cambodia while raising concerns about labor rights are “obviously mixed messages,” Jason Judd said. “And one message, the purchase order, has a lot more weight than the other. Until those are credibly threatened, the government has no reason to act.”
Nike Repeatedly Raised Concerns About Repression in Cambodia. It Expanded Its Factory Workforce There Anyway.

CBS News: 'Forget tariffs — this U.S. shoe company vows not to hike its prices'

CBS News
Jason Judd, describing the impacts of tariffs on consumers: "That pain will lessen as terms and sourcing patterns change, but the longer-term costs per family will still be around a $425 increase per year."
CBS News: 'Forget tariffs — this U.S. shoe company vows not to hike its prices'

How Trump’s tariffs could affect Nike and its factory workers

Pro Publica
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, discusses the impact of tariffs on Nike's workers.
How Trump’s tariffs could affect Nike and its factory workers

To Eliminate Gender Based Violence and Harassment

Dindigul Agreement

This is GLI’s year two assessment of the processes and outcomes of an innovative agreement regarding freedom of association and the elimination of gender based violence at a South Indian apparel factory that could be a model for other factories around the world.

Busy factory floor with rows of sewing stations
Read the report

Higher Ground? Fashion’s Climate Breakdown

Impacts of climate change on global apparel production

In partnership with Schroders, we report the impacts of climate change on global apparel production. In our first report, we track climate change impacts at the global, national, and factory levels. We map fashion's climate vulnerabilities across production centers, and estimate future economic damages from extreme heat and flooding. Our second report examines company-level climate risk, cost, and financing for adaption and just resilience.

Textile workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Read the reports

Change or Groundhog Day? What new research tells us about what works in global labor governance

2024 GLI Conference Highlights

Samira Rafaela
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