Skip to main content
Cornell University mobile logo
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.
Read more

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
Read more

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

'Stopping Forced Labor' eCornell Webinar: Jason Judd, Samira Rafaela and Kelly Fay Rodríguez on Global Forced Labor Regulations

Join Executive Director Jason Judd, GLI Visiting Fellow Samira Rafaela and Former Special Representative for International Labor Affairs Kelly Fay Rodríguez on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 1pm EDT for a keynote presentation on forced labor regulations around the world.
Women working in a field
'Stopping Forced Labor' eCornell Webinar: Jason Judd, Samira Rafaela and Kelly Fay Rodríguez on Global Forced Labor Regulations

Sourcing Journal: 'The EU Omnibus is Here. Where Does It Leave Supply Chain Due Diligence?'

Visiting Fellow Samira Rafaela, quoted in the article: "I hope the European Parliament rejects the omnibus proposal and stands firm in defending the original CSDDD and CSRD. The omnibus proposal has not only weakened the results of democratic negotiations but also undermined the credibility of EU decision-making."
Sourcing Journal Logo
Sourcing Journal: 'The EU Omnibus is Here. Where Does It Leave Supply Chain Due Diligence?'

New EU Law Should Catalyze Business Efforts to Tackle Forced Labor

In collaboration with Cornell GLI and Human Rights Watch, this article highlights why companies should embrace the EU Force Labor Regulation and why taking action now is a strategic advantage.
The European Union flag flies in front of a blue sky. The flag is a deep blue, with gold stars representing each of the member nations of the European Union. It is attached to a flag pole.
New EU Law Should Catalyze Business Efforts to Tackle Forced Labor

Waiting Game: Minimum wage-setting in Bangladesh's apparel industry

This policy brief aimed at policymakers, unions, brands and employers discusses Bangladesh's minimum wage setting system, looking at its impact on workers and Bangladesh's global competitiveness.
Bangladesh Garment Workers
Waiting Game: Minimum wage-setting in Bangladesh's apparel industry

ILR Review: 'Between Legitimacy and Cost: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Rights in Global Supply Chains'

In 'Between Legitimacy and Cost,' Sarosh Kuruvilla, Chunyun Li and Jinsun Bae identify the ways supplier factories strategically comply with freedom of association and collective bargaining requirements by analyzing data from factories in the ILO’s Better Work program between 2015-2021.
The cover of the ILR Review
ILR Review: 'Between Legitimacy and Cost: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining Rights in Global Supply Chains'

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

This report looks at 23 global apparel production centers and analyzes how heat and flooding have already changed and gotten worse over the past two decades, and recommends changes and adaptations for the already-supercharged climate.
Birds' eye view of people crossing in a crosswalk.
Hot Air: How will fashion adapt to accelerating climate change?

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?