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Dignity factory workers producing shirts for overseas clients, in Accra, Ghana

Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?

Join us in Bangkok, Thailand at Thammasat Business School as we present new analyses and responses to heat’s impacts for workers, manufacturers, apparel brands and governments in South and Southeast Asia.
Workers walking across a precarious bridge over scant water
Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?

The Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-based Violence and Harassment

Has It Worked?

This is GLI’s official final assessment of the Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-Based Violence and Harassment at a South Indian apparel factory that could be a model for other factories around the world. 

Large room of garment factory workers
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Warming to the Idea? Labor Governance and Extreme Heat in Apparel Production

Impacts of Climate Change on Global Apparel Production

How have weather conditions already started to affect the apparel industry and how should the industry adapt? This policy brief builds upon past GLI research and our report co-produced with the IFC and the ILO's Better Work program to present new findings on the impacts of extreme heat and the adaptation responses from employers, workers, their governments and buyers in the global apparel and footwear industry. See our new research here.

Cambodian workers are seen in a local footwear manufacturing plant, with containers of materials in multiple colors sitting in front of workers wearing bandanas and many wearing masks as well.
Read the full report

Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Labor Outcomes Metrics

Read about the Global Labor Institute's new quantitative metrics that measure labor outcomes—actual impacts for workers.

Workers in Bangladesh
Read more about Measuring Supply Chain Due Diligence

Latest Research and Events

EU Forced Labour Regulation to the rescue: Can the EU’s Forced Labor Regulation confront the gendered face of forced labor?

As the EU is set to implement their Forced Labour Regulation in 2027, questions remain about how exactly it will tackle forced and child labour. Visiting Fellow Samira Rafaela interrogates that question by looking at the case of forced labor in the Indian sugar industry in this policy brief.
Sugar cane stands in a field in India
EU Forced Labour Regulation to the rescue: Can the EU’s Forced Labor Regulation confront the gendered face of forced labor?

Brand Purchasing Practices and Labor Outcomes in Apparel and Footwear Supply Chains: The Case of Multi-Buyer Suppliers

This report looks at the purchasing practices of global companies by looking at the purchasing data of two major global suppliers to see how that effects the labor conditions at these two suppliers.
flat digital image of the world showing the concept of connection points across continents
Brand Purchasing Practices and Labor Outcomes in Apparel and Footwear Supply Chains: The Case of Multi-Buyer Suppliers

W(h)ither Trade and Labor? What’s Next in the World of Transnational Labour Governance?

Join us in Geneva alongside the ILO annual meeting for a public debate (and a drink!) co-hosted by the Graduate Institute’s TASC Platform and Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute. It’s Friday, 6 June 2025, 18:30 – 21:30 CEST, at the InterContinental Hotel, Geneva, just down the street from the ILO.
The Geneva Graduate Institute and GLI logos are stacked on top of each other
W(h)ither Trade and Labor? What’s Next in the World of Transnational Labour Governance?

GLI and Human Rights Watch Q&A: European Union Forced Labor Regulation

The EU’s new Forced Labor Regulation will require companies to identify and eliminate forced labor in their operations and supply chains, Human Rights Watch and GLI say in a question-and-answer document about the new law.
Three European Union flags fly from flagpoles
GLI and Human Rights Watch Q&A: European Union Forced Labor Regulation

Schroders and GLI publish stewardship framework on climate risk resilience and adaptation: 'Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit'

From Schroders (and GLI) comes the first ever climate adaptation guidance for investor engagement with firms: "Schroders has begun applying the toolkit for its engagement with apparel brands and plans to expand its application to other exposed sectors, including food and construction."
A person stands holding a red umbrella in floodwaters. In white text, it says "Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit | April 2025."
Schroders and GLI publish stewardship framework on climate risk resilience and adaptation: 'Engaging with companies on Just Resilience: An Investor Toolkit'

Q&A: Tariff Impacts on Apparel Workers and Fashion Industry

Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, addressed questions about the potential impacts of U.S. tariffs on workers in apparel-producing countries and on the fashion industry.
Photograph of garment workers in Bangladesh at sewing machines.
Q&A: Tariff Impacts on Apparel Workers and Fashion Industry

In The News

Media Mentions

2030 is Nearly Here. Can Fashion Still Make Good on Its Climate Promises?

Yahoo News
“This is not a technical problem but a political one” said Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, about the fashion industry’s progress with adapting to climate change.
2030 is Nearly Here. Can Fashion Still Make Good on Its Climate Promises?

The COP30 Deal Won’t Solve Fashion’s Climate Problems

The Business of Fashion News
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, recommends that the fashion industry should “get their act together” with regard to heat and climate change, “because workers are suffering from heat stress and, in turn, so are margins.”
The COP30 Deal Won’t Solve Fashion’s Climate Problems

Do the Labor Provisions in Trump’s Southeast Asian Trade Deals Have a Point?

Sourcing Journal
Kelly Fay Rodriguez, visiting lecturer at ILR’s Global Labor Institute and former special representative for international affairs at the Department of State, analyzes the importance of labor provisions in trade agreements and discusses how these provisions can best be enforced.
Do the Labor Provisions in Trump’s Southeast Asian Trade Deals Have a Point?

Hot Air: How will fashion adapt to accelerating climate change?

Impacts of Climate Change on Global Apparel Production

How have weather conditions already changed in major apparel production centers? In this follow-up to our Higher Ground? reports, we looked at the past twenty years of weather data in our 23 focus cities to try and find that out, as well as ask how workers, brands and retailers, manufacturers and their governments should react and adapt to our warming future in a world of corporate due diligence. Read our findings here.

A flooded area near to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
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Higher Ground? Fashion’s Climate Breakdown

Impacts of climate change on global apparel production

In partnership with Schroders, we report the impacts of climate change on global apparel production. In our first report, we track climate change impacts at the global, national, and factory levels. We map fashion's climate vulnerabilities across production centers, and estimate future economic damages from extreme heat and flooding. Our second report examines company-level climate risk, cost, and financing for adaption and just resilience.

Textile workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Read the reports

Change or Groundhog Day? What new research tells us about what works in global labor governance

2024 GLI Conference Highlights

Samira Rafaela
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