Miljø-, etik og arbejdsmiljøkrav i tekstilproduktkæden
Summary and conclusions
Introduction
Purpose
Methodology
Contents of the project
Conclusions
Introduction
Today, Danish textile enterprises become more and more specialised. From being production enterprises proper, today many enterprises are specialised within design, logistics, and trade. This means that the enterprises themselves do not have any direct influence on the production conditions, but must stipulate specific requirements to their suppliers if they want the requirements within environment and/or working environment to be satisfied.
Purpose
The scope of this study is to investigate the experience gained by Danish enterprises setting requirements upstream the textile supply chain, in order to identify the possibilities of action by enterprises as well as authorities to obtain environmental improvements. The project is based in the textile sector and focuses on experience relating to setting requirements, obtaining improvements and providing documentation in relation to the following aspects: environment, working environment, child labour, use of pesticides within cotton growing, and use of organic cotton. To identify possible barriers and possibilities of the enterprises, the study aims to investigate how different cooperation relations influence the possibilities of setting requirements. Furthermore, it is the aim to identify the preconditions on which Danish enterprises must act, in the form of international agreements and terms.
Methodology
The study uses a qualitative approach where different supply chains are analysed. Within each chain a core enterprise is chosen as a starting point of the analysis. Each enterprise is interviewed about the requirements they present to their suppliers and about the possibilities and constraints they meet. The core enterprises are all enterprises characterised by being proactive within the environmental area. To support the description of these enterprises, interviews with suppliers were carried out in such a way that all links in the chain from the fibre producer to the retailer of the final product were covered. On the basis of the interviews an analysis of the possibilities and the constraints of setting requirements within the chosen field of requirements was undertaken. The study covers eight supply chains and is based on interviews with 16 enterprises from Denmark, Lithuania, Pakistan, and Poland. Besides, a number of organisations as Max Havelaar, the international organisation for organic farming IFOAM, a textile workers’ union and a cleaner technology institute (both in Lithuania) were interviewed.
Contents of the project
To identify the barriers and possibilities of the enterprises to set requirements within the specified requirement areas, the project focuses not only on what is technically possible and impossible. At the interviews focus was also on the organisational conditions in the interviewed enterprises, cooperation relations, the motivation to set requirements, and which strategies they use to ensure that their requirements within each field of requirements are fulfilled.
Different types of cooperation relations in the eight investigated product chains are found. From a shopping culture with transient cooperation relations to relations based on many years’ of co-operation, where the enterprises in the production chain enter common development projects to reach a target. Furthermore, the motivation to set and fulfil requirements was highly different; for instance fulfilling requirements from the authorities, following the public debate and the trend it generates, possible market advantages, own values, or customer demands. The strategies used to have their own requirements fulfilled also vary, from finding a supplier who fulfils the requirements already set, for instance eco-labelling requirements, through dialogue with the supplier about fulfilling the same requirements, and finally, formulate own requirements to be fulfilled by the supplier.
The study shows a variation the number of the five fields of requirements environment, pesticides, ecology, working environment, and child labour that the enterprises have presented to their suppliers. The key enterprises were chosen because they are environmentally proactive, and therefore they have all set a number of environmental requirements often embodied in one of the existing eco-labelling systems. Nearly all the enterprises have adopted an attitude towards working environment and child labour as well as the use of chemicals in connection with cotton growing. When the enterprises make requirements to the working environment, the concept is often widely defined, and covers working conditions such as wages and conditions of employment, safety conditions, and physical working environment conditions such as dust and noise. Child labour is the field where the enterprises are most uncertain about how to set requirements. However, most enterprises have adopted an attitude to the subject, either by avoiding geographical areas with much child labour, by setting the requirement to the individual supplier that no child labour must exist, or by entering apprentice projects where the children are offered schooling combined with a few hours’ daily work.
The interviews with the key enterprises showed very quickly that the scope for action for several of the enterprises is extensively controlled by international trade agreements. Therefore, the study gives a thorough description of the World Trade Organisation WTO and the agreements that are entered under these auspices, including rules on phasing out duties as well as import quotas. Furthermore, the special regulations for the textile field are explained.
The enterprises choose different strategies to adapt themselves to these trade regulations. One enterprise chooses to keep its whole production within the EU to avoid payment of duty on its products, some choose only to make passive processing of the products in Eastern Europe to avoid duty, and some enterprises have to organise their production with a view to the suppliers who have been able to obtain an export license.
Conclusions
Focusing on different aspects such as environment, working environment, child labour, use of pesticides and use of organically grown cotton, the project has resulted in a large number of findings in the different aspects involved. However, the following common findings should be mentioned:
 | The enterprises have different reasons to start working with an aspect: Public regulation, public debate, market opportunities and own values. The same enterprise might have different reasons to start working within different aspects |
| Small and medium size enterprises (SME’s) seem to prefer long-term relations to their suppliers. In general they seem to prefer to find solutions in co-operation with their supplier when requirements are to be met rather than finding a new supplier |
| There is no uniform way of setting and managing requirements. The enterprises often use existing co-operation patterns to include new requirements on environment, working environment or child labour |
| The enterprises find it easier to set requirements if formalised guidelines or criteria within an aspect are already developed and recognised by authorities, international institutions or others. On the other hand, different guidelines and criteria within an aspect might give problems, e.g. when a supplier wants to transfer recognition from one supply chain to another. |
| International trade quota and tariffs as well as changes in currency exchange rates used for import and export influence heavily on the choice of suppliers made by the enterprises and set constraints for their ability to set requirements |
| Even SME’s can make themselves attractive as customers to other, and even bigger enterprises, and make them fulfil requirements on environment or similar aspects. Suppliers might see the requirements of the enterprise as future general customer requirements, suppliers might get new chemicals tested under real-life conditions or suppliers might get access to Danish know-how. |