The draft GRI Textiles and Apparel Sector Standard addresses the entrenched social and environmental harms in the industry.
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By Peter Dawkins, GRI Standards Senior Manager
The textiles and apparel sector employs more than ninety million workers globally, according to the ILO. Meanwhile, those working in this geographically diverse sector include significant numbers of marginalized groups, such as migrants, caste-affected communities, and refugees. Despite powering a multi-trillion-dollar industry, the very workers who sustain it are too often left behind — trapped in poverty, exposed to unsafe conditions, and subjected to systemic discrimination, which reinforces inequality and exclusion across global supply chains.
We also find that women make up over the majority of garment workers in many countries. They are paid less than men, face precarious working conditions — typically without access to social protections — and are denied maternity and parental protections and excluded from leadership. Harassment and violence are widespread, sometimes with limited access to justice or grievance channels.
When it comes to migrants, who can comprise up to 75% of the workforce, they often face isolation, language barriers, and union restrictions. Undocumented workers are also typically paid less, forced into unsafe and unfair contracts, and housed in dangerous conditions.
These realities are not mere statistics, but an indictment of a system that thrives on inequality, laid bare most starkly when viewed through the lens of ethnicity — especially where it intersects with gender.
Discrimination takes daily forms, such as denied bathroom breaks, harassment by supervisors, coercion into excessive overtime under threat of dismissal, or being bound by exploitative contracts. These conditions undermine fundamental rights and strip workers of dignity. According to the UN principles and ILO conventions, the human rights of textiles workers are being violated as part of day-to-day operations. If the sector is striving towards sustainability, there can be no ‘good fashion’ without social justice. Simply put, exploitation sustains profits.
Roadmap for transformation
The sector won’t be transformed by glossy reports or vague pledges but by enforceable change. That means:
- Ensuring workers feel safe, respected and treated with dignity;
- Extending protections to contract laborers, migrants, refugees, workers with disabilities and caste-affected groups;
- Guaranteeing representation for women and migrants in decision-making.
Transparency is a necessary precursor to change: publishing findings, committing to remediation, and enabling independent monitoring. We also need policymakers to enforce binding protections and due diligence, brands to guarantee living wages and safe conditions, and unions, NGOs, civil society and consumers to demand accountability.
The draft GRI Textiles and Apparel Sector Standard represents a pivotal step towards addressing the entrenched social and environmental harms in the industry. By requiring reporting organizations to disclose their most significant impacts, from wages and working conditions to biodiversity and climate risks, the Standard will seek to introduce a new level of transparency that has long been resisted.
This shift is not just about reporting; it’s about accountability. It will empower stakeholders, especially workers and communities, to hold organizations to measurable commitments and demand real change. Crucially, it will help dismantle the selective narratives that obscure negative impacts, replacing them with clear, comparable data that can drive policy, investment, and advocacy.
This level of transparency has been resisted by the sector for too long — and is exactly what is needed now. Freedom from discrimination is a basic human right, and the textiles and apparel sector must guarantee safe, fair and inclusive workplaces. True accountability means measurable action, transparent reporting and the empowerment of workers who are at the heart of this industry.
An opportunity to shape the new Sector Standard
For the Textiles and Apparel Standard to truly reflect the realities on the ground and drive meaningful change, broad stakeholder participation is essential. Open until 28 September, the global comment period offers an opportunity for interested stakeholders to share input on the draft standard. Feedback does not need to address the entire standard; stakeholders may instead focus on the sections that best reflect their interests or areas of expertise.
By contributing perspectives from across the sector — especially from those most affected — stakeholders can help shape a standard that promotes accountability, safeguards workers’ rights, and supports a just transition to sustainability.
Reinforcing the links between textiles and labor rights
The issues of working conditions and workers’ rights are directly connected to the GRI Labor Standards, which are currently under revision through a consultation open until 15 September. Stakeholders are also invited to provide feedback on the exposure drafts of two updated Topic Standards. Covering non-discrimination and equal opportunity, once published, these Standards will have an important interconnecting role with the Textiles and Apparel Standard.
A sustainable future for the sector will be impossible without transparency and accountability. At the heart of that must be achieving social justice for the people on which this global industry depends. In delivering a new Sector Standard for textiles and apparel, GRI aims to unlock the consistent and widespread disclosure needed to illuminate impacts and be a catalyst for positive change.
Author: Peter Dawkins is project lead in the development of GRIs draft Textiles and Apparel Sector Standard. Based in the UK, prior to GRI, Peter has worked in the NGO sector for over a decade, with the majority of this time spent in sustainability and standards development roles, including jewelry and textile fibers. Peter holds a degree in International Relations from the University of Sussex.
