Fashion Regulation on the Horizon Gives Us Signs of Hope

What you need to know about The New York Fashion Act , The FABRIC Act and the EU's European Green Deal

Fashion Legislation on the Horizon

When it comes to building a more sustainable future, there’s a lot that needs to change. And with the current state of the climate crisis, time isn’t on our side. As the IPCC (an international panel of climate scientists) reports dictate, we need urgent, ambitious action. The current fastest way to achieve that is to legislate the changes. While it would be great if fashion brands would make the necessary shifts to circularity on their own because they felt responsible to participate in climate solutions, that isn’t realistic in our current fashion culture that profits off of exploitation. Therefore, legislative intervention is an important component of driving the fashion industry to be more sustainable and ethical. 

The good news is that we’ve seen a lot of progress on this front in recent years and there are several new laws on the horizon that will push sustainability in fashion forward.  

The New York Fashion Act

New York’s Fashion Sustainability and Social Responsibility Act, or the Fashion Act for short, is a piece of legislation directed at any apparel and footwear brands who do business in New York that earn an annual global revenue of $100 million or more. In other words, any big fashion business that wants to take advantage of the New York fashion market will have to comply with the demands of the Fashion Act. Those demands include 1) mapping their entire supply chain, 2) performing due diligence to take responsibility for their supply chain impact including setting sustainability targets in line with the Paris Agreement, managing chemical use, and improving the lives of garment workers, and 3) paying a noncompliance fee of up to 2% of annual revenues if violations aren’t remedied within 3 months of notice. 

What the Fashion Act aims to do is create a standard of accountability and provide the fashion industry direction in addressing its climate impact. Many fashion brands don’t even know the particulars of their supply chain and production practices because they contract it out. You can’t fix what you don’t even know. The Fashion Act would require businesses to identify and take responsibility for every step a garment takes and ensure meaningful actions are taken to address fashion’s climate impact.

Currently, the bill (identified as A8352/S7428) has been introduced in the New York State Legislature and assigned to the Consumer Protection Committees. Upon receiving feedback, an amended bill is expected to be released this legislative session where it must be put on the agenda, be passed in both the Senate and Assembly, and then signed by the governor before becoming official. 

The FABRIC Act

The FABRIC Act stands for Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change. The primary goal of the FABRIC Act is to position the U.S. as a global leader in responsible garment manufacturing and create standards to end forced labor and wage theft. The propositions of the bill are aimed at establishing transparency, improving workplace pay, and incentivizing domestic garment production. Specifically, the FABRIC Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to require garment producers and contractors to register with the Department of Labor, holds both brands and their manufacturers accountable for workplace wage violations, and eliminates piece rate pay until minimum wage is met. Additionally, it incentivizes bringing clothing production to the US via a grant and a reshoring tax credit.

The FABRIC Act (identified as S.4213/H.R. 8473) was introduced in the Senate by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand last year and then referred to the Committee on Finance. It was also introduced in the House and referred onto two relevant committees there. In order to move past the committees, the bill needs to gain more cosponsors in both the House and the Senate to build momentum. Learn how you can take action and let your representatives know the importance of pushing this legislation forward here. 

The EU’s European Green Deal

In 2019, the European Green Deal was introduced to transition the EU economy to be more sustainable. As a result, new action plans and legislation have been put forward in support of the larger strategy of the European Green Deal and the EU’s goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. A portion of that transformation is directed at adopting a circular economy that significantly reduces waste and designs products to be long-lasting, sustainable, and circular from the start with reuse, repair, and recycling potential as laid out in the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP). While the CEAP addresses several industries from food to construction to transportation, it specifically lays out a plan for textiles in the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. 

The EU’s circular textile strategy aims for the EU textile market to create products that are “durable, repairable and recyclable, to a great extent made of recycled fibers, free of hazardous substances, produced in respect of social rights and the environment.” The strategy details several action steps to achieve these goals, including setting design requirements, monitoring green claims, and emphasizing Extended Producer Responsibility.

While this is in Europe, these policies will undoubtedly impact how the U.S. moves forward with fashion regulation. For example, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is re-evaluating the Green Guides which create guidelines for how companies communicate about their sustainable efforts and could result in stricter rules around green claims, especially given the recent global trend of enforcing tighter marketing regulations to mitigate greenwashing. 

A More Transparent Future

With all the current buzz around legislating climate action, one thing is for sure— companies are going to have to step up to the challenge of understanding, reporting, and acting on their impact. Without a clear picture of how a brand operates from raw material sourcing to factory working conditions to GHG emissions, it’s almost impossible to take meaningful steps towards a better, more sustainable industry. That’s why many of these proposed bills start with building transparency and supply chain disclosure. Transparency allows for visibility and scrutiny which creates accountability. All of this is a prerequisite to the important actions and changes the fashion industry needs.

While building a better future requires a cultural shift along with policy changes and structural transformation, legislation is an essential component to creating a world we want to live in given the urgency of the climate crisis.