CCB Magazine

Since the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh with more than 1.134 deaths, calls for new working conditions in the fashion industry have become louder. A new Supply Chain Act has been in place since June 2021. It aims to force companies to be more transparent. Berlin-based entrepreneur Lisa Jaspers has been fighting for such a law for years. We want to know from her what the new law consists of.
 

INTERVIEW   Jens Thomas

CCB Magazine: Lisa, you call yourself a fashion activist and in 2016 you submitted a petition for a new Supply Chain Act under the hashtag #fairbylaw. Around 200.000 people signed the petition. A Supply Chain Act was passed in June 2021. Are you satisfied now?

Lisa Jaspers: First of all, I'm glad that there is a law at all. The new Supply Chain Act is intended to ensure that German companies do not violate human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains. However, not every company will be held responsible for everything. There are simply too many loopholes.

CCB Magazine:Which are, for instance?

Lisa Jaspers:First, the law does not apply to the entire value chain. It only affects direct suppliers. In the case of indirect suppliers, companies are also only required to identify the environmental risks if there is a reasonable suspicion of environmental damage, but most environmental damage takes place predominantly at the beginning of global supply chains. Second, the current law does not provide for civil liability. This means that people affected by human rights violations in the global south continue to have virtually no chance of suing German companies for human rights violations in German civil courts. In any case, the law, which will not come into force until 2023, will initially only affect around 600 companies with more than 3.000 employees each. In 2024, the law will be extended to companies with more than 1.000 employees, which would be 2.891 companies, according to the Federal Ministry of Labor.

CCB Magazine:In the past, companies' own misdemeanors were often blamed on other subcontractors.

Lisa Jaspers:That is precisely the problem, and the new law does not solve it. It will remain difficult to hold companies liable for human rights violations in a foreign country before a German court. A well-known example in the past was a factory fire in Pakistan. Kik, among others, produced in this factory. There was a long trial in Dortmund, which ultimately had a highly unsatisfactory outcome for the local victims, because no one was prosecuted. Unfortunately, the new Supply Chain Act will do little to change such cases.

CCB Magazine:What does the law mean for consumers?

Lisa Jaspers:The law will ensure that German companies will have to pay more attention in the future to the conditions under which they produce. However, we will see how great the influence of the law will be on production conditions in the global south once it comes into force. Even in the best case, however, the law will not lead to production under "good conditions". The law is intended to avert human rights violations, but value creation will not be distributed more equitably.

CCB Magazine:More and more companies are striving to achieve a sustainable footprint. According to a survey by the industry magazine Textilwirtschaft, as many as 73 percent of 169 fashion manufacturers and 291 apparel retailers surveyed see sustainability as "the most pressing project of our time." At the same time, according to the Circular Fashion Index, only three major companies have so far been able to achieve an acceptable result in terms of sustainability: Patagonia, The North Face, Levi's. Has the industry been lying to itself for years?

Lisa Jaspers:In many places, yes, at least as far as the big companies are concerned. However, it is gratifying that even large companies have called for improvements to the Supply Chain Act; all in all, there were around 50 companies, including Symrise, Tchibo and Beckers Bester. If a new alliance of large companies and small labels were to form here, that would be great. However, the small companies often only have a small, manageable customer base. They can hardly keep up economically.

CCB Magazine:The advantage of many micro-enterprises and sustainability labels over large companies has been that they are already sustainable and transparent. If the Supply Chain Act means that everyone has to become sustainable in the future, will the small labels still be needed at all?

Lisa Jaspers:The Supply Chain Act is only about minimum standards. It will not trigger a fairness debate about whether it is actually okay for the profits generated by the large global corporations to benefit the global north exclusively. That's why we need companies that do business in a completely different way and have different aspirations. And these companies must show that the demand for supply chain transparency must be different.

CCB Magazine:You have your own label Folkdays. What is your ambition with Folkdays?

Lisa Jaspers:We are a sustainable fair fashion and design label. We have been around since 2013 and we work with artisan businesses in the global south. We are an attempt to make fair trade interesting for a younger, more design-savvy target group. And the special thing about our products is: everything is handmade.

CCB Magazine:Do you control all the steps yourselves?

Lisa Jaspers:We can't do that down to the last detail, but that's not our claim either. After all, we only work with companies that share our values. Our focus is on poverty reduction and economic development in the respective regions.

CCB Magazine:You wrote the book "Starting a Revolution" with Naomi Ryland, founder of the job platform tbd*. In it, you address the issue of a better sustainable working world. Finally, a prediction please: What does the better working world look like in the post-corona era?

Lisa Jaspers:In this working world, people, their needs and employees are at the center of economic activity. We have simply maximized profits at the expense of people and nature for too long. With our book, we are treading new paths away from pressure, competition and profit maximization. This new society, and the corresponding world of work, is becoming fairer and more transparent. It has a new leadership culture, with more female leaders in particular. Work and the private blur in it, but in a positive way: You pursue your interests and needs, you do honest work, for yourself, but also for others. That's the only thing that has a future.

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