New citizens’ initiative calls for legislation on living wages
in global fashion industry
Brussels, 19 July 2022 – Today, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Good Clothes, FairPay” launches to demand legislation on living wages for the people who make our clothes.
This year-long campaign needs at least one million signatures from EU citizens to call on
the European Commission to introduce laws on this important issue. The initiative is led bya coalition of citizens, and supported by NGOs, policymakers and experts on living wages.
The ECI demands EU laws requiring companies selling garments, textiles and footwear in theEU to take action on living wages in their supply chains. Brands and retailers would be legallyrequired to assess wages in their own supply chains, put in place plans to close the gap
between actual and living wages, and publicly disclose their progress. The ECI can be signed
on www.goodclothesfairpay.eu.
Right now, most of the people who make our clothes earn poverty wages while brands
continue to make huge profits1. As the largest importer of clothes in the world2 and one thebiggest fashion consumer markets – with over 260 billion euro in sales expected in 20223 –the EU must address this unfair and exploitative model.
Kirsten Kossen, Senior Advisor Human Rights at ASN Bank – who initiated the ECI – andmember of the ECI’s Citizens’ Committee, says: “For too long, brands have promised to do
the right thing. They mostly haven’t. We cannot wait any longer for voluntary measures. As
EU citizens, we have the power to change this and give garment workers a decent pay for
their hard day’s work. For real, industry-wide change, fashion companies need to be heldaccountable.”
Poverty wages affect workers everywhere
Most of the people who make our clothes do not earn a living wage. Garment workers,
mostly women, earn on average 45% less than they need to provide for themselves and theirfamilies4. Despite working gruelling hours, most struggle to put healthy food on the table,
live in adequate housing, access healthcare, or even to send their children to school. Current
legal minimum wages in the industry, set by governments in garment producing countries,
are simply not enough to live on. Poverty wages are endemic to the global garment industry.
They affect garment workers everywhere. The fashion industry employs tens of millions ofpeople globally and 1.5 million in the EU5 – most of whom are not paid living wages.
The situation has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. Hundreds of thousands ofworkers were left unpaid for their work when major brands cancelled orders for goods

1

Source: Clean Clothes Campaign. On a t-shirt sold in the high street, a brand makes a 12% profit; the worker
who made it gets paid 0,6%.
2Source: WTO, World Statistical Review 2021
3Source: Statista
4Source: The Industry We Want and the WageIndicator Foundation 2022
5Source: International Labour Organization, ec.europa.eu

already produced. This has led to a severe humanitarian crisis with workers left without asocial safety net, struggling to pay for food, healthcare and accommodation.
###For more information and to sign the ECI, please visit www.goodclothesfairpay.eu.
ImagesThis link contains 3 images of garment workers you can use. Please credit these images toFair Wear Foundation - https://www.fairwear.org/.
Press contacts
Press contact Fashion Revolution:
Maeve Galvinmaeve@fashionrevolution.org+353 8519 14411
Press contact ASN Bank:
Britt Enthoven
britt.enthoven@asnbank.nl+31 6206 13617