There are many stations and work steps between the extraction of fibers for a garment and its arrival in one's own closet. A large part of the production takes place in Asia.
Due to the complex supply chain and international interconnectedness, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the textile industry and its workers hard, and in some cases the negative effects continue even now.
This digital exhibition shows projects of German development cooperation to support the Asian textile industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 65 million people worked in the textile industry in Asia in 2019, accounting for around 75% of all textile workers worldwide.
Main garment and textile producing countries in the region are:
Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Due to COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns, many factories in the producing countries had to close temporarily and thus stop or reduce their production. Many workers received their wages late or not entirely, others were laid off. Because wages are already very low and workers hardly have any savings for emergencies, the money in many households was barely enough to survive on. At the same time, returning to work also posed a health risk.
In addition, international demand for clothing collapsed and companies postponed or canceled their orders, causing them to pile up in factories. In some cases, exports fell by up to 70 percent. Many countries in Asia that produce, and export large quantities of textiles faced extreme challenges.
Even before the pandemic, the textile industry repeatedly violated and disregarded human rights, labor, and environmental standards. For this reason, the German development cooperation has been committed to social and ecological improvements for years with a series of projects.
The projects listed here are implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ):
It quickly became clear that the employees at the suppliers and in the textile factories urgently needed support. It was a great advantage that the existing development cooperation projects were well networked locally and could therefore react quickly to the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic and help.
Different measures in several countries were aimed at:
With the onset of the pandemic, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and their partners launched extensive information campaigns in selected Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The aim of the campaigns was to inform textile workers about COVID-19, prevention measures and opportunities for financial support.
Posters provided textile workers in Myanmar and Cambodia with important information about COVID-19 and how to protect themselves from infection. They were displayed right in the factories and on the trucks that workers use to travel to work.
The campaigns in Cambodia and Myanmar were coordinated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the ministries of health of both countries and implemented together with Better Factories Cambodia, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and numerous international fashion companies such as H&M, Primark and Tchibo.
Numerous information posters were placed in factories and also on the trucks used by workers to travel to the factories. The posters provided information on hygiene measures.
Nargis, a 25-year-old textile worker, is the face of a social media campaign in Bangladesh. Through Facebook alone, Nargis informed around 312,000 people on how to deal with COVID-19, including social distancing, hygiene measures, health and safety in the workplace.
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supported textile workers not only in coping with the acute COVID-19 crisis, but also in developing perspectives for the time after - among others in Vietnam and Cambodia.
As of April 2021, over 4,000 crisis-affected workers have participated in training on financial literacy, access to government benefit systems, stress management, and access to training or alternative income opportunities. In 2022, GIZ will continue this project due to the ongoing pandemic.
Textile workers affected by the crisis take part in resilience training in Vietnam.
The Cambodian garment sector employs more than 800,000 people and 80% of workers are young women who remit income to support the livelihoods of their families. Most of them have moved from rural areas to work in the city, often come from low income households and have a low level of education. To empower garment workers, the GIZ project FABRIC created an app called ‘Seth Yerng – Our Rights’.
The app’s objective is to improve the knowledge of garment workers on their rights and obligations under the Cambodian labour law focusing on the most important labour laws and occupational health and safety. During the pandemic the app also provided information about health regulations at the work place.
The ‘Seth Yerng – Our Rights’ app was promoted via social media in order to raise awareness of the app amongst textile workers in Cambodia.
In this campaign 8 posts per month were developed over a period of 3 months. Those posts included:
In cooperation with different foreign chambers of commerce, textile production facilities could be supported in protecting their employees against infections with the coronavirus. The aim was to strengthen the pandemic management and to keep factories operational.
Employees were trained as multipliers to pass on their knowledge. Training materials, posters and videos were developed and adapted to local contexts in producing countries.
As the pandemic also affects other supply chains and businesses, the concept was adapted for other sectors (food, public transport/transport and banana production).
The project has reached businesses in Asia, as well as businesses in other regions:
Textile workers received information on how to improve their living conditions via live broadcasts on radio and Facebook. With the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 issues were also integrated into the campaign. Through these campaigns, textile workers were able to address their questions, concerns and fears to invited experts.
Wrong! In fact, the media campaign revealed that the issue of "sexual harassment" was the most important to workers. With 10,126 clicks, this topic accounted for 26 percent of video views.
The topic of "saving money" generated 856 clicks and a 2 percent share.
Right! The media campaign revealed that the issue of "sexual harassment" was the most important to workers. With 10,126 clicks, this topic accounted for 26 percent of video views.
Wrong! In fact, the media campaign revealed that the issue of "sexual harassment" was the most important to workers. With 10,126 clicks, this topic accounted for 26 percent of video views.
The topic of "life balance" generated 4,392 clicks and an 11 percent share.
The three most clicked videos were on sexual harassment, work-life balance and saving money.
A total of 28 radio shows were held and several videos were created during this campaign in Cambodia.
01: Life-Balance
02: Saving Money
03: Reproductive Health
04: Literacy changes your future
With the onset of the pandemic, physical exchange formats were cancelled and digital conferences were launched.
In April 2020, the online seminar series "Asian Dialogues - Getting through the crisis together" was launched. At a total of 13 events, various industry players and experts discussed how they can deal with the effects of the pandemic and prepare the industry adequately for the future.
The online seminar series "Getting through the crisis together" received a great response and established itself in the industry. Topics discussed included the resilience of factories, workers' perspectives and the importance of sustainability in times of crisis.
In 2018, several members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (PST) launched a joint initiative that aims at systematically improving the working conditions within the textile and clothing industry in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu, especially for women and girls in spinning mills.
Until the outbreak of the pandemic, the Partnership Initiative Tamil Nadu focused on social dialogue between local stakeholders and factory trainings. The dialogue is intended to raise awareness of workers' rights. In addition, a training program accompanies the planned establishment of complaints offices in 200 spinning mills and factories. Local implementation partner is the NGO Social Awareness and Voluntary Education (SAVE) together with the Multi Stakeholder Initiative Tamil Nadu (MSI-TN).
However, when the Corona pandemic broke out, the PST members and local partners adjusted the project activities. From then on, they supported spinning mills and textile factories in effectively addressing health risks in the workplace. The goal was to sensitize workers and management and familiarize them with WHO guidelines for protection against coronavirus infections.
Details about the Partnership Initiative Tamil Nadu
Short presentation about the Partnership Initiative Tamil Nadu
MSI-TN staff trained about 850 managers and middle managers from 140 spinning mills on the government's "Standard Operation Procedures" between July and September 2020. They also distributed government guidance on dealing with COVID-19 in about 580 spinning mills and factories, covering personal protective measures, rules for workers, correcting myths about the spread of COVID-19, and rules for factory canteens.
Even before COVID-19, the MSI-TN was committed to ensuring that workers organized themselves in Internal Complaint Committees (ICC) and Workers Committee (WC) in order to represen their interests to factory management. These committees are also important during the pandemic: Around 2,600 representatives of these committees in 304 spinning mills took part in training courses on how to deal with the pandemic, as did around 1,800 employees in committees for safe canteen management in 214 spinning mills.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed how fragile complex global value chains are. The crisis and the accompanying demand shocks hit the textile industry particularly hard, especially suppliers and workers in Asian production countries.
COVID-19 exposed the consequences of purchasing practices for production companies and workers, and the need for a fundamental change in the industry's business model. The challenge now is to rethink the future of the industry, to make it more resilient and socially and environmentally sustainable.
Not only the COVID-19 crisis, but also climate change, the enormous consumption of resources, the use of hazardous and toxic chemicals, and the large amount of waste demand a rethink in the textile and apparel industry. Therefore, all stakeholders must act together - companies, suppliers, NGOs, trade unions and governments.
This exhibition is a production of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Responsible: Isabelle Berns, Constantia Chirnside, Malena Reimelt
Editors: Constantia Chirnside, Malena Reimelt
Editorial assistance: Jana Hupperich, Selina Haitz
Design and programming: Framework GmbH, Köln + RMH Media GmbH, Köln
