The latest initiative of the Irish value retailer Primark, a member of a long list of alliances aimed at improving the well-being of garment workers and developing sustainable practices is the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (Bündnis für nachhaltige Textilien), which works towards achieving social, environmental and economic improvements throughout the textile supply chain.

Established in 2014, the multi-stakeholder initiative has international fashion retailers such as H&M and Adidas among its members, as well as trade unions. According to Paul Lister, who is responsible for Primark’s Ethical Trade Team and CSR at Associated British Foods, Primark has been working hard for the last decade to ensure that the rights of workers within our global supply chain are respected and the lives of people working within the garment industry in emerging markets markedly improve, as industrialisation brings new jobs and opportunities.

As part of this work the company have collaborated with many organisations, including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), with whom they have worked for more than five years in Bangladesh. For Primark, it is a logical next step to join the Textilbündnis and they look forward to actively participating in the working groups.