Slowing Fast Fashion in New York

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Folks, take a look at what you're wearing, your clothing right now. The New York State Legislature might want to know, do you have a good sense of how your clothing including your footwear is produced? Because as the global fashion industry contributes, stats I've seen, an estimated 4% to 8% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions from your clothing, produces 20% of industrial water pollution from the making of your clothing, all while 80% of textiles wind up in landfills, another stat I saw. There is growing consumer demand for transparent sustainability from your fashion brands. Maybe you're one of the people demanding it but you don't know how.

Well, biotech company, Genomatica, claiming to pioneer renewable practices in making chemicals and materials, conducted a survey of 2,000 teens and adults last year on their awareness and preferences related to sustainable fashion. More than 70% said they were aware of the industry's environmental impact. When clothing brands claim sustainable practices, 88% of respondents said they automatically believed them, with more than half believing it's just greenwashing.

Yet, 42% of consumers in this group of 2,000, weren't sure what makes a piece of clothing sustainable. Less than half said they didn't know where to find apparel produced sustainably but more than half of the survey's respondents show interest in buying sustainable clothing with 38% saying they would do so if there is clear information on a brand's environmental impact. Aha.

A new bill in committee in the New York State Legislature aims to provide that clear information. The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act or the Fashion Act for short, as it's being called, targets apparel and footwear brands in New York with at least $100 million in global revenue. High-end brands are included with more mass-market names like Zara and H&M.

If the Fashion Act passes, these companies would be required to disclose their environmental impacts including a partial map of their supply chains plus they would need to disclose current policies aiming to mitigate these issues including energy emissions as well as water and chemical management. There's more. Here to explain more is one of the bill's sponsors, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi of Westchester and the Bronx, and also Maxine Bédat, founder and director of the New Standard Institute which calls itself a think and do tank, seeking to drive fashion into a force for good, they say. Thanks, both of you for coming on. Welcome to WNYC today. Senator, welcome back.

Senator Alessandra Biaggi: Thanks so much for having us.

Brian Lehrer: Tell us about the Fashion Act.

Senator Alessandra Biaggi: Sure. First of all, I'm just glad that we're here to have this conversation because this is an idea and an issue that I've been thinking about since I was in law school over 10 years ago. This bill which you mentioned so eloquently, it sets out to accomplish three main things. You mentioned one of them which is to make sure that there is due diligence and labor disclosures specifically with regard to supply chain mapping as well as wages so that we're making sure that all individuals who work in the fashion industry are actually making a living wage, the local living wage that's required.

In addition to that, it requires clear and very common and transparent reporting on energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water and chemical management. The third component is that it enforces the science-based targets and standards to make sure that we are ultimately reducing the carbon footprint of the fashion industry which has for a very long time operated in almost a black box by requiring companies that want to sell to the New York market to achieve this target.

The final component which is with regard to the enforcement piece is that the law would be enforced by the New York State Attorney General and companies that are found to be out of compliance and don't remedy the issue within three months of notice that they are not in compliance would be fined or may be fined I should say because it's a may not a must, up to 2% of their annual revenue. That money would go into an environmental justice fund.

Brian Lehrer: Talk more about the workplace responsibility, the responsibility of employers aspect of the bill because I think in the intro, I really emphasized the greenhouse gas emissions aspect, the global warming sustainability but you brought up right at the beginning the employer responsibility in terms of living wages and conditions. Would you talk about that a little more specifically?

Senator Alessandra Biaggi: Absolutely. Specifically, with regard to supply chain mapping, I'm sure for your listeners, they're asking themselves if they've never heard of this before. What is supply chain mapping? I think Maxine can also shed some light on this too but when we think about the supply chain, ultimately, what we're talking about is where does the product begin and where does it end?

When we think about where it begins, we think about the actual cloth or the actual textile and then it goes into a factory and then who's putting together that pair of jeans, for example, who's in the factory doing that, whether it's sewing or putting it through a machine. Once it leaves the factory, where is it going and how is it being distributed and where is it being distributed and sold.

Each part of that supply chain it's incredibly important to make sure that there are labor standards being enforced and also followed. We find and we know that in the supply chain in fashion, there is a long history, an unfortunate and sad history of human trafficking, of slave wages, of slave labor, a bit of child labor. One of the components is to make sure that every single part of that supply chain is actually free and clear of that.

In addition to the fact that we want to make sure that all individuals regardless of where they work, whether it's in a small manufacturing facility or whether it's in a start-up in someone's apartment, that every single person is actually being paid a fair wage according to New York State standards. Just as a reminder, even though this bill is a New York State bill, the impact will actually be global.

Part of why that's the case is because the direct impact, yes, we know, is that it's New York State Legislation, however, a lot of fashion companies that have this growth revenue of over $100 billion are companies that are also selling in other states, in other countries, and around the globe. If they have to make sure that each part of their supply chain or that their labor standards are free and clear of all the things that I've just mentioned, it doesn't just impact New York because what we will be looking at is how this company operates in totality which is why this bill is so unique and also frankly so transformational for the industry.

Brian Lehrer: We have a good point of leverage here in New York State. Some of our listeners may know the California Environmental Sustainability Standards for many products which have driven the manufacture of things globally just because California is such a big market and they don't want to have to sell two versions of their products. Probably same thing in this case at least potentially.

Maxine, what would the consumer see? Would it be like the nutrition label on the foods that we can buy in the supermarket, a label on every garment or how would this clear? Assuming the information is clearly presented, where would it be presented? Where would the consumer run into it?

Maxine Bédat: I think the best kind of parallel is the one you mentioned, that California Fuel Efficiency Standard. In that case, it was across the board standard. It didn't require then the consumer to navigate what is the best and worst choice that made that requirement the one of law. This is a very similar type of legislation and it's really not making the consumer get a PhD in sustainability. It's really baked into what the products that will be sold in the state would be.

There's talk from the industry about then using these standards to showcase on a label but it's removing that guesswork from the consumers so that they can just know that if they are buying a product, a fashion product in New York, that it's going to have the standards that New York is demanding.

Brian Lehrer: Senator, I know you have to go in a minute. Just talk about this one thing, does this bill, as groundbreaking as it might be, go far enough to actually have an impact? Because I know some consumer advocates say historically, transparency isn't enough, that just because consumers know something, that has not done enough to drive change in how things are made or how workers are employed. What's your response to that?

Senator Alessandra Biaggi: My response to that is that I think we can always do more and this bill is a pioneer in regulating fashion and here's why. Because even though there are three components of this bill and it doesn't necessarily cover every single solution to dealing with the issues that relate to the fashion industry.

What we have seen, not only in the United States but also in other countries like Germany and across the EU, is that there are components of the bill that we've introduced happening. Meaning that maybe they're just looking at the labor standards, or perhaps maybe they're just looking at the science-based targets with regard to the carbon footprint that a fashion company is making in their specific industry or area of the world. However, no state or country has taken all of these components and put them together in one bill.

This is not only an important step, but this will actually make it so that the fashion industry is treated just like, as Maxine mentioned, almost every other industry when we think about consumer goods, we think about food. Now, obviously, every place can be improved, but when we look at our food labels, when we look at how we're buying gasoline, when we look at how we're buying cars or even buying homes or other products, there are very clear standards in place.

When we're buying a piece of clothing or an item from the fashion industry, we are really just being essentially given information that doesn't have any consistent or clear standard in the grand scheme. When we look at something that says, "Oh, this shirt is green or it's sustainable." What does that mean? There aren't clear definitions across the board. It's very much disorganized and also leaves the consumer, perhaps, maybe feeling good that they purchased an item that they believe is green, but there is also a lot of greenwash going on.

This is a, I really cannot emphasize it enough, a truly transformational step. It's an important step that I am really looking forward to not only building the coalition that we've already built on about but really thinking about how we can even perhaps make it stronger in particular item that we put into the bill, like the labor standards. I just want to end with this one important note.

There are a lot of companies that have taken really amazing leads in this particular issue. When we think about H&M, Nike, The GAP, they've really set out to reduce their carbon emission targets or to recycle clothing that perhaps we ultimately will see, as you mentioned earlier, Brian, sometimes it's dumped in the desert, and the Atacama Desert is one area in Chile. We know it's also dumped in other areas of the world like West Africa.

The point being that there are companies that have really taken earnest and very important steps. However, it's not standardized, it's not consistent. When we think about New York, New York is the fashion capital, if not one of the most important fashion capital of the entire world. This is a place that not only will have an impact globally, it will truly set the standard and be a leader for other areas in the world to follow our lead.

Brian Lehrer: New York State Senator, Alessandra Biaggi from Westchester and the Bronx, a sponsor of what is being called the Fashion Act. Thanks for giving us a few minutes. I apologize again for-

Senator Alessandra Biaggi: No need to apologize.

Brian Lehrer: -bringing you on late with the previous segment running long. We do have a few minutes more with our other guest Maxine Bédat and some fascinating looking phone calls coming in on this. We'll take a few. Maxine is founder and director of the New Standard Institute, which calls itself a think and do tank, seeking to drive fashion into a force for good. Let's take a call from Leon in Kansas city. Leon you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Leon: Thank you, Brian. I love your show. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Leon: I've been in footwear manufacturing my whole life and I am personal friends with a man named Jean-Luc [unintelligible 00:13:58]. He's French and his family was the owners of Baby Bot, a very large children's shoe company in France. He was hired as the president of the children's division of Bata, B-A-T-A, which is the largest privately held company of any kind in the world. They're the ones that are making all the shoes we're talking about now.

Brian, in your closet, you don't have any shoes that were not made by Bata and neither does the political guest you just had on. Every shoe you had was made by Bata.

Brian Lehrer: You mean regardless of the brand name that's on it.

Leon: Yes, sir. 100%, I guarantee you. Also I guarantee you this, if you snip with a scissors, destroy a shoe, take a snip of any part of the shoe and send it to a lab, you'll find it's contaminated with horrible chemicals, horrible. I happen to know what people are being paid in China to manufacture footwear, Nike, et cetera. They're being paid ¢1.00 to ¢1.50 per hour and this is not hyperbole. This is what the president of Bata told me in a three-hour conversation. He disclosed everything that was going on. A month after that, he quit his position. He couldn't handle it.

Brian Lehrer: Leon, I'm going to leave it there. I really appreciate your call. Please do call us again, but for time purposes you put a lot on the table and I want to get a response from Maxine Bédat, founder and director of the New Standard Institute. Maxine, first of all, is it true, as far as what you know, that all our shoes, no matter what label is on them, come from some central manufacturer named Bata? The other key thing he brings up, I think that's relevant to the Fashion Act being introduced in the New York State Legislature, is can it control what they do in China with the sweatshops?

Maxine Bédat: Well, it is true that there are major fashion players, consolidated manufacturers. It's not one single manufacturer. We think we only see the brand side but several brands can be using one manufacturing facility, that is often the case. They are sharing the same facility. It's not necessarily one but these companies are now huge conglomerates themselves that are doing either the cut and saw or the textile production. There is a large semi-consolidated space that we don't see as consumers.

It is true as the caller mentioned, that there is major chemical management issues in the space, major issues with forced labor and child labor in the space. As we've already discussed, a massive contributor to the climate crisis, and unfortunately, if we do not stop it, it's only growing. I think it's really key to highlight how this industry is currently one of the least regulated industries out there. Everything in that respect that the caller mentioned is absolutely true.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take one more call. Jim in Spring Lake, New Jersey says he's a labor rights advocate for Southeast Asian Nike workers. Jim, thank you for chiming in on this. You're on WNYC.

Jim: Brian, thanks for having me on. My name is Jim Kedi. I'm a former professional soccer player and was a Division 1 college coach at St. John University in New York City, where I lost my coaching job back in the late '90s because I refused to wear and promote Nike's products because of their sweatshop abuses. That activism took me to the slums of Indonesia in the summer of 2000, where I went and lived with Nike factory workers and tried to survive on their wages at the time, $1.25 a day.

I lost 25 pounds in a month living on a Nike sweatshop wage and have spent the last 24 years of my life going back and forth to Indonesia and meeting with factory workers and doing campaigns to raise awareness about their wages and the working conditions and Nike dumping and burning their scrap shoe rubber in villages all around Indonesia and all the things that this bill is going to try to address.

The concern that I have in reading the bill and listening to the commentary is, who is going to do the independent research to determine that these companies are not lying to the legislators because I can tell you, if you print out Nike's corporate code of conduct, the thing is about two inches thick. A third of it is about their claims commitments to lowering their carbon footprint and all these things that they're telling people that they're doing with the greenwashing, but if we went on the ground in Indonesia right now, I can guarantee you we will find scrap shoe rubber being burned in villages.

I could get you to talk with middle managers who will tell you about the two sets of books that are kept for the Nike auditors who come in, who create their corporate responsibility reports, and for what's really going on at the factory.

Brian Lehrer: I'm going to leave it there. Thank you very much. All right. How do we trust what they tell us, Maxine?

Maxine Bédat: First, I wanted to thank the caller for making such a brave this decision and choice and for his advocacy. I think he raises an important point. In trying to develop these global regulatory systems, which is what we need to create in order to regulate a global industry, part of how we get to do this is ensuring that the disclosures are not just whatever the company says but they are third-party verified. That is one component about it.

Then it's really in addition up to the Attorney General's office to go after these companies where there might be fraud. None of this is a straight perfect science, but this is how we begin to have real consequences for the issues that the caller just mentioned and ensure that the disclosures that we are getting are accurate and third-party verified which is in the bill right now.

Brian Lehrer: Jim, thank you very much. You want to do a little political handicapping before you go? We know Senator Biaggi, who's just on, is one of the most progressive members of the New York State Senate. Is there a critical mass to pass this bill and force clothing manufacturers to disclose their sustainability practices and the way they treat their workers?

Maxine Bédat: I think there absolutely is. We have a very broad coalition and we're expanding it and seeing that there is such enormous interest. I think young people, in particular, are deeply concerned with the impacts of this industry, and they're saying no. They are ready to call their senator, call their assembly member, and make sure that the products that they are purchasing are not going to ultimately impact the planet and its people.

We're thrilled about that and we're thrilled with the companies that have stepped up and said, "We want to be a part of this, we know that there is serious work to do in our industry, and we're ready to do the hard work." It's going to be a broad coalition that gets this to the finish line, but the moment is certainly now. This time is certainly of the essence.

Brian Lehrer: Maxine Bédat, founder and director of the New Standard Institute, which calls itself a think and do tank, seeking to "drive fashion" into a force for good. Thank you so much for joining us with this.

Maxine Bédat: Thank you for having me.

 

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