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This is the read only version on the first draft of the Fashioning a Just Transition Manifesto, launched on 1st March 2026.

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Fashioning a Just Transition

A manifesto for centring workers’ rights in just climate action.

Introduction

Imagine a just fashion system that puts people before profits. A system that truly meets everyone’s needs without exploiting workers or damaging the environment. We can make it happen – but only if we collectively stand up for our rights to a decent living and a liveable future. Our manifesto outlines our shared vision for a just fashion system that creates and protects dignified, climate-resilient jobs on a healthy planet.

Poor living standards. Rising global temperatures. Gendered and racialised violence. Ecological collapse. The biggest challenges of our time are rooted in the exploitation of people and the planet for the profit of a few. Today’s fashion industry thrives on an imbalance of global power and money, fine-tuned by centuries of colonialism and imperialism. The richest fashion companies get richer while millions of garment workers - many of them women - are underpaid, overworked and unprotected.

Fashion brands pump out billions of clothes every year through worker exploitation and environmental extraction. Their overproduction models are depleting our soils, poisoning our water, polluting our air, fueling deforestation and biodiversity loss and pumping out planet-warming emissions. Meanwhile, landfills and rivers are overflowing with barely worn clothes, burdening communities with polluting textile waste.

The climate and ecological crisis isn’t some distant threat. It’s already here and it’s deepening inequalities. The same workers struggling to get by are paying the highest price of climate breakdown. Floods, fires, storms and heatwaves are closing workplaces, threatening jobs and endangering workers’ health and safety. Excessive production targets are becoming harder to meet in extreme weather. Poverty wages and a lack of social protection are leaving workers without a safety net when disaster strikes. Union-busting is silencing workers’ demands.

Change is possible but so many "climate solutions” championed by governments and fashion brands are leaving workers worse off. Jobs are being lost, wages are being unpaid, and workers are being excluded from decisions about their future that are shaping their lives today.

We know we can’t repair an industry broken by design. Instead, we’re building a new, just fashion system that centres the dignity of workers and the restoration of our planet. This shift won’t happen overnight. It will take a combination of short-term reforms and long-term systems transformation. These two tracks of change build on each other in the ongoing struggle for just fashion.

Our manifesto outlines a set of principles for a just fashion system that must underpin all action about the future of fashion. A just fashion system is one that

• provides decent work, a high quality of life and equal rights to all workers along the supply chain.

• delivers justice in all its forms - social, economic, gender and climate - now and in the future.

• redistributes wealth into the hands of workers.

• ensures that the costs of climate adaptation and mitigation are fairly shared.

• is shaped by decisions made by and with workers.

• restores nature and operates within planetary boundaries.

• reduces overproduction alongside an increase in job security.

• holds companies and their executives accountable for any damage they cause.

• embraces new, just ways of making, transporting, selling, using and valuing clothes.

• is built through a movement of collective power and global solidarity.

Who we are

We are people who make and wear clothes. We are activists, social and environmental movements, civil society, garment workers, trade unions, labour rights organisations, and allies, united across the globe in the fight for a world that centres workers’ and peoples’ needs. Together, we are raising our voices for a just fashion system that respects workers’ rights and restores nature.

 Our vision is a transition to a just fashion system where…

 #1 Decent work is guaranteed, no matter the worker, the location or the job.

A just fashion system is rooted in dignity, justice and equity for all workers. All current and future workers have a right to decent, safe and healthy working conditions, free from harassment, abuse and gender-based violence. Workers’ rights are upheld across the supply chain, empowering the people who make, retail, collect, sort, distribute, repair and dispose of clothes. They apply to everyone, regardless of anyone's race, gender, class, age, sexuality, physical ability, migrant status, employment status, contract type or workplace. Decent work is guaranteed today, throughout the transition to a just fashion system, and in the future.

Definitions

• Decent work: A concept developed by the International Labour Organisation, meaning productive work for everyone in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

• Just transition: Ensuring that the shift to a low carbon world is fair, inclusive and leaves no worker behind. This demand originated in the trade union movement and is upheld in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

#2 Universal social protections equip everyone to live dignified, climate-resilient lives.

Governments and companies adapt workplaces to shield workers from the direct impacts of a changing environment. Universal social protections increase not only workers’, but our collective resilience to social and climate disruption. Everyone has sick leave, maternity pay, severance pay, pension funds and unemployment benefits to fall back on. Public spending serves the people through enabling social protections, workers’ rights and living wages, instead of funding social and environmental harm. Laws and enforceable brand agreements (like the International Accord) make brands accountable for worker welfare and safety. Brands also financially contribute to public social protection systems in the countries they source from, in addition to payments made by their suppliers.

Definitions

• Social protections: A combination of labour protections including wages, working conditions and health and safety, social security, including sick pay, maternity pay, severance pay, a pension fund and unemployment benefits and public services, including education, health care and skills training that enrich workers’ livelihoods and shield them from income loss in times of vulnerability.

• The International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry: A legally binding agreement between brands and trade unions that was established following the tragic collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh in 2013. The Accord ensures that factories supplying brands that have signed it are inspected and that identified safety risks are resolved.

• Enforceable brand agreements: A binding agreement negotiated, implemented and signed by at least one brand and local trade unions, that makes the brand(s) accountable for the working conditions and workers' rights in their supply chain.

#3 Workers’ livelihoods come before company profits.

A just fashion system enriches the lives of workers, their families and their local communities. Industry wealth is distributed fairly, prioritising the needs of people and the environment over executive and shareholder profits. Universal living wages enable us all to afford life's necessities and build savings. Companies and their owners pay a fair share of taxes along the supply chain, enabling social protections for everyone and adaptation to a changing climate. Public and private investment flows away from companies that profit from harm, and funds organisations embracing new models of care, equity and justice. Companies cost living wages, social protections and climate adaptation into their purchasing practices. The transition to a just fashion system is equitably financed. The companies and countries historically responsible for the climate crisis front the cost of adaptation and mitigation.

Definitions

• Executives: High-ranking corporate employees, such as the CEO and directors, who lead and manage the company.

• Shareholders: An individual or company who invests in a company in return for partial ownership and potential financial returns.

• Purchasing practices: How companies engage with and buy from their suppliers, including the payment terms, deadlines and order volumes. Poor purchasing practices, such as exploitative pricing, last minute cancellations, changes or discounts and overdue invoices negatively impact workers’ rights by driving down wages and driving up production pressure and unpaid overtime.

• Adaptation: Taking actions to prepare for, reduce vulnerability to and build resilience against climate change impacts.

• Mitigation: Taking actions to reduce or prevent emissions to limit the severity of global heating.

#4 Everyone has a say in the decisions that impact their lives.

The people who make, retail, collect, sort, distribute, repair and dispose of clothes have a democratic seat at the table. We freely organise in independent trade unions and social movements to negotiate better working conditions and climate protections. Workers have greater ownership of their workplace to determine their working conditions. Education about their rights equips workers to defend and advance them. Training on climate and ecological challenges supports workers to participate in decision making about the future of the industry – at every stage. Redistribution of profits and respect of planetary boundaries are facilitated by robust labour laws, collective bargaining agreements and social dialogue. Anyone can speak up without fear or repression.

Definitions

• Collective bargaining agreements: Transparent, binding and enforceable agreements between employer(s) and workers on working conditions negotiated by trade unions.

• Social dialogue: A way for workers to advance their interests and improve their working conditions through negotiations, consultations and information exchanges between representatives of workers, employers and governments on social and economic policy.

#5 Clothing production meets everyone’s needs while respecting planetary boundaries.

The Earth can’t sustain today’s extraction-heavy model of mass-produced, temporary trends. In a just fashion system, fashion brands are responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, from raw materials to end of life. High-quality, valued clothing is designed to be kept in circulation and rarely discarded. Brands fund waste management systems and protect workers and communities against the environmental and health impacts of textile waste. Resource use is determined by genuine global and local needs. Just clothing production goes beyond minimising climate and ecological footprints - it actively fosters a restorative relationship with the Earth and all its living species.

#6 Decent work, job security and wages increase as production volumes fall.

Garment pricing reflects the true cost of labour, triggering a rise in living wages and a decrease in overtime and production volumes. Slower production models underpin a just fashion system to minimise emissions, halt global warming and restore biodiversity. Governments co-develop plans for transforming clothing production. All changes are carefully negotiated with workers and their unions to prevent sudden job losses, workplace closures and income insecurity. Wage guarantees, social protections and alternative employment pathways provide greater job security. Workers receive advance notice of workplace closures and are entitled to severance pay. Responsible exit plans ensure no one is left behind.

Reskilling and upskilling opportunities offer workers safer, more climate-resilient jobs or alternative employment as the industry responds to a changing climate. Trade relations and international support equip production countries to build up their own economic power in other sectors to facilitate global equity in the creation of new green jobs. Global brands, suppliers, investors and governments take shared responsibility for safeguarding jobs by providing long-term sourcing and re-training opportunities.

Definitions

• Planetary boundaries: Nine interconnected life supporting systems that regulate the stability of the planet. Remaining within these limits will prevent irreversible environmental changes.

• Severance pay: A financial package workers are entitled to when their employment is involuntarily ended, for example when a workplace closes or their position is made redundant.

#7 Companies are accountable for any damage they cause.

Voluntary commitments won’t deliver justice; legally binding global rules will. A just fashion system holds companies legally and financially accountable for any harm they directly or indirectly cause. Under the law, companies’ duty to workers extends across their entire supply chain and the complete lifespan of their products. Accountability is far-reaching, making fashion brands jointly accountable for the operations of their suppliers, no matter where their headquarters are located. All brands regularly assess their supply chain to identify and prevent any human rights risks, and remediate rights violations. Mandatory transparency laws make it easy to scrutinise companies’ claims, policies and business practices.

A just fashion system doesn’t only prevent future harm; it repairs past damage and redresses global power imbalances. Fashion brands pay reparations for historic injustices against workers and remedy any instance of wrongdoing, including current and future labour rights violations and harms caused by maladaptation. Every worker can easily seek justice without fear of retaliation. National labour authorities are well financed to effectively monitor the fashion industry and ensure all companies follow the law.

Definition

• Maladaptation: adaptation measures that increase workers’ vulnerability, exposure or risk to climate breakdown, rather than reducing it.

#8 Clothes are valued in recognition of the people who made them.

Clothing meets all of our needs - individual, collective, functional, emotional and creative - not companies’ profit margins. Changes in production, universal living wages and a flourishing sharing economy increase the accessibility of sustainable fashion options. Wardrobes are slowly curated with ethically-made clothes that are treasured and valued. Clothes are reworn, repaired, resold, swapped, gifted, upcycled and recycled. Tailoring services, clothing swaps, second-hand shops and libraries, repair workshops and clothing care education help keep clothes in circulation for as long as possible. Advertising, social media and fashion publications promote new aspirations: longevity and high-quality craftsmanship over cheap, fleeting trends. Marketing that incentivises worker exploitation and environmental destruction is banned. Slower, more intentional consumption frees up energy to take collective action and live in community. We see ourselves as so much more than consumers. We value garments as a form of cultural and individual expression and respect the labour that produced them.

#9 Just fashion thrives on global solidarity and collective action.

Solidarity is the thread that binds the people who make and wear clothes. Our collective power lies in organising in trade unions, supporting workers’ struggles, pressuring brands and governments to support just fashion, and rejecting throwaway consumption culture. Community building, mutual aid and skillsharing builds resilience in our connected struggle for social and climate justice. Every individual action makes a difference, but we are stronger when we act together. Change doesn’t start in boardrooms. It starts with us: clothes makers and wearers. Our collective future is ours to shape. Make your voice heard for a just fashion future. Sign the manifesto and commit to building a world that puts people and the planet before profits.

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