According to Euronews Green, we’re in a climate crisis and we don't have time to propose new legislation that allows for corporate loopholes and the maintenance of the status quo.
Fashion critics around the world agree that change is needed. A report by the World Resources Institute found that the industry is responsible for 2% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. With reports of rivers of chemical pollution and dangerous working conditions, fashion crimes are no secret. So is the Fashion Law enough to enforce real change?
Thanks to the New York Fashion Act, being traceable and transparent will be mandated by law. The bill was introduced earlier this year in the New York State Assembly in which the state aims to force fashion companies to trace and communicate their environmental impact throughout the value chain. If passed, it would be the most ambitious law of its kind and could open the door to similar regulations in other countries.
The Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act (Fashion Act), proposed by Senator Alessandra Biaggi and State Assembly member Anna R. Kelles, is supported by the New Standard Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, as well as designer Stella McCartney.
The rule would apply to fashion companies, regardless of their place of origin, that operate in New York and have an annual turnover of more than 100 million dollars. Practically all the big groups in the sector fall into this category, from Inditex to H&M, via Shein, including Spanish groups such as Sociedad Textil Lonia and Desigual.
An Advancement for Transparency
The Fashion Act obliges fashion companies to identify at least 50% of their value chain, from raw materials to logistics, and measure which part has the greatest social and environmental impact in terms of carbon emissions, chemicals and water management, energy consumption and living wages.
In addition, companies must share their production volumes and analyse how much cotton or polyester they consume. The information must be available on the internet, and companies will have twelve months to comply with supplier identification and eighteen months to analyse their impact.
The regulation provides for fines of up to 2% of annual turnover for violators, which will go into a fund administered by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. An annual list of non-compliant companies will also be published. Companies are required to share their production volumes and analyse how much cotton or polyester they consume.
The Fashion Act marks a turning point in sustainable fashion legislation. Never before has any regulator gone so far: in countries such as Germany, France, the UK or Australia, the regulation focuses solely on human rights due diligence.