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

Cooling Before It Got Cool: Case Studies in Heat Adaptation in Southeast Asian Factories

Heat Adaptation in Apparel Factories

A new examination of how apparel factories are adapting to extreme heat while investing in cooling, automation, and climate resilience strategies.

A thermal image of a worker at a station in a garment factory, showing the high heat levels through brighter orange colors at their workstation.
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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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Global Labor Institute's Climate-Labor Work

GLI Climate-Labor Research

See all of our analyses on the intersection of labor rights and climate change.

GLI climate workers webinar
Read GLI's Climate-Labor Work

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

Live Debate: Repeat, Regain or Re-negotiate? The post-COVID future of global apparel

Cornell NCP hosts a live virtual debate on Tuesday, October 12 on NCP's new paper on the future of the apparel industry: 'Repeat, Regain or Re-negotiate?' The analyses track apparel industry concentration, climate crisis impacts, automation, shifting sourcing patterns and public-vs-private regulation for three post-pandemic scenarios.
Women in India
Live Debate: Repeat, Regain or Re-negotiate? The post-COVID future of global apparel

Social Dialogue in the 21st Century Project Reports

The Social Dialogue in the 21st Century Project published ten country reports - plus the NCP Synthesis Report - on obstacles to social dialogue in the global garment supply chain.
World map with Mexico, Honduras, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia highlighted in red.
Social Dialogue in the 21st Century Project Reports

NCP Workshops and Training Programs

NCP launches live workshops and training programs for various stakeholders in the sustainability eco-system regarding labor standards in global supply chains. These workshops and courses are relevant to global corporations, auditing firms, NGOs, consulting companies, labor unions, and others.
Bolts of colorful fabric rolled and piled together
NCP Workshops and Training Programs

Research on “Better Work” Cambodia

The Better Work program offers an innovative alternative to improving working conditions in developing country apparel factories
Missing alt
Research on “Better Work” Cambodia

Draft Working Paper (ILO/GLI) "Beneath the surface: Review of literature and initiatives for identification of forced labour in fishing" (2020)

This Working Paper drafted with support from ILO Fundamentals identifies and brings together what is already known about obstacles to identifying fishers in forced labour and key knowledge gaps in this regard.
Philippine fisherman surrounded by buoys
Draft Working Paper (ILO/GLI) "Beneath the surface: Review of literature and initiatives for identification of forced labour in fishing" (2020)

Social Sustainability in Global Supply Chains: An Empirical Investigation of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

In this article, we seek empirical answers to two research questions: a) What are the typical violations of FOA and CB rights in global supply chains that must be corrected for workers to exercise their voice?
Dignity factory workers producing shirts for overseas clients, in Accra, Ghana
Social Sustainability in Global Supply Chains: An Empirical Investigation of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

In The News

Media Mentions

How Climate Change Will Shape Fashion Supply Chains in 2026

Vogue
“The technology to cool workers is not complicated, and the costs are manageable in most countries,” said Jason Judd, executive director of ILR’s Global Labor Institute, sharing his expertise about how the garment industry is addressing climate change and heat stress in factories.
How Climate Change Will Shape Fashion Supply Chains in 2026

Justice for Jeyasre: how a brutal murder led to a better deal for garment workers in India

The Guardian
Sarosh Kuruvilla, academic director of the Global Labor Institute, provides an analysis of the Dindigul labor agreement and comments on why Natchi Apparels may be having difficulty finding new clients.
Justice for Jeyasre: how a brutal murder led to a better deal for garment workers in India

Can the fashion industry adapt to a warming world?

Context
“Workers toiling in 35 or 40 degrees Celsius and high humidity is the return of the literal sweatshop,” says this article about the garment industry and climate change, co-written by Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute. The article cites the institute’s “Higher Ground?” report and offers solutions.
Can the fashion industry adapt to a warming world?

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

Sourcing Journal
“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?