Not all
bad, the email actually highlighted the conference to me so I researched
further. I discovered the conference was organised by NICE (Nordic Initiative
Clean and Ethical) whom I had previously come across during my studies.
In attendance
were 1,043 key industry stakeholders of the fashion industry (yes,
unfortunately I was not one of them) from 27 different countries with the focus
on discussing ways on how to involve and engage consumers in sustainable
consumption. The summit unveiled 16
principles for establishing an ‘industry-wide common ground for ethical and
fair business’:
Human Rights
1. Businesses must support and respect the protection
of internationally proclaimed human rights.
2. Businesses must make sure that they are not complicit
in human-rights abuses.
Labour
3. Businesses must uphold the freedom of association and
the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
4. Businesses must eliminate all forms of forced and
compulsory labour.
Child Labour
5. Businesses will not accept child labour and do their
utmost to determine the correct age of the workers employed by them and their
subcontractors.
6. Businesses must eliminate discrimination in respect of
employment and occupation.
Environment
7. Businesses must support a precautionary approach to
environmental challenges.
8. Business must undertake initiatives to promote greater
environmental responsibility.
9. Businesses must encourage the development and diffusion
of environmentally friendly technologies.
Anti Corruption
10. Businesses must work against corruption in all its
forms, including extortion and bribery.
Animals
11. In businesses where animals are used for labour and/or
production, such animals must be treated with dignity and respect. No animal
must be deliberately harmed or exposed to pain.
Designers
12. Businesses and their designers must work actively to
encourage and support sustainable design and design processes.
Models
13. Businesses must through their choice and treatment of
models promote a healthy lifestyle and healthy body ideals, and the models’
minimum age must be 16 during fashion weeks and other occasions where the
workload is excessive.
Transparency
14. Businesses must work towards transparency in their
supply chains.
Jewellery
15. Businesses must work towards a stronger commitment
between retailers, suppliers, and subcontractors to reinforce the development
of a secure mining industry.
Monitoring and Evaluation
16. All businesses involved must at all times be
open and accessible for announced, semi-announced, and unannounced audits for
monitoring and evaluation of compliance with the code of conduct.
Please follow link to view the NICE Code of Conduct Manual
in more detail. This is a 112 page pdf, not easy reading. I plan to start
reading (or at least browsing) now, it may take a while.
If someone thought I went this year, I can only hope I’ll get an invite next year. It may just happen, you never know.
Image sources: Ecosalon
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