PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In response to the tragic accidents in textile factories in 2013, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development established the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles in 2014. This initiative (secretariat carried by the GIZ) brought together around 150 members from various sectors - businesses, trade unions, NGOs, and government bodies - all working towards a shared mission: improving social, ecological, and economic standards across the global textile supply chain. Members of the partnership committed to setting concrete, measurable goals to drive sustainability, with a continuous effort to make these targets more ambitious over time. Each member developed an implementation plan, or "roadmap," outlining their specific objectives based on key questions and indicators designed by working groups.

These roadmaps, first submitted in 2017, provided an annual snapshot of each member's progress, which was independently reviewed by external experts of ICON-INSTITUT together with Global Sustainable Management (GSM) for accuracy and plausibility. ICON/GSM was contracted by GIZ to conduct a full audit, evaluating each roadmap’s compliance with established standards, particularly regarding the scope and ambition of the targets. The goal was to ensure that every member was making significant progress compared to their initial baseline. A system was created for qualitatively evaluating the member performance. In addition, technical advice was offered to the partnership’s working groups to help develop a framework for comparing the performance of different members. This process of auditing and advising reinforced the partnership’s commitment to transparency and accountability, helping to drive meaningful change in the textile industry while ensuring members met their sustainability goals.

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