On Friday in Paris, at the initiative of Brussels Secretary of State for Economic Transition Barbara Trachte, a number of leaders from European cities signed a declaration in favour of a more sustainable textile sector that respects workers’ rights.
This “Slow Fashion Declaration” calls on supranational organisations (European Union, OECD and G7) to adopt ambitious regulations to oblige textile companies to respect workers and the environment, explained Barbara Trachte in a press release.
Signatories include the mayors of Strasbourg, Dublin and Bologna and the deputy mayors of Paris and Bordeaux.
The text was signed at the “ChangeNOW” event which brings together political and economic decision-makers, as well as sustainability innovators that share good practices, including in the textile and fashion sector.
This industry is currently responsible for major environmental devastation and flagrant human rights violations, points out the Ecolo Secretary of State.
“Fast fashion is also a real brake on the development of a local, artisanal economy. In the Brussels Region, all available economic instruments are used to support slow fashion entrepreneurs. But this regional support is not enough in the face of the global giants of the industry. It is now urgent that the other levels of government get involved too”, she added.
“We cannot and will not wait for nature and biodiversity to be totally destroyed. We don’t want another Rana Plaza. We don’t want slow fashion designers to go out of business. We want to put an end to the harmful practices of fast fashion and we want fair competition rules”, she concluded.
