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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

GLI Testimony on Trade and Labor for the US International Trade Commission, March 2024

Jason Judd shared findings from recent research and experiences on three under‐explored elements of apparel industry competitiveness: wage‐setting, labor outcomes for workers, and climate vulnerability and adaptation.
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GLI Testimony on Trade and Labor for the US International Trade Commission, March 2024

GLI 2024 Conference Rolls Up Sleeves to Tackle Global Apparel Production

“The progress of science begins with this sharing of knowledge, expertise and networks, and today we are guests of the Global Labor Institute conference where these three components converge,” said Samira Rafaela at the 2024 GLI Conference on Feb. 2.
Jason Judd at GLI Conference
GLI 2024 Conference Rolls Up Sleeves to Tackle Global Apparel Production

Presentation Angus Bauer, Schroders, and Jason Judd, Cornell University

Higher Ground? Climate breakdown and its impacts for global apparel production.
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Presentation Angus Bauer, Schroders, and Jason Judd, Cornell University

Presentation Sarosh Kuruvilla, ILR School, Cornell University

Groundhog Day. Or, How do we know what works to improve working conditions and advance labor rights?
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Presentation Sarosh Kuruvilla, ILR School, Cornell University

Keynote Samira Rafaela, Member of the European Parliament

What do E.U. and U.S. corporate accountability in supply chains look like?
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Keynote Samira Rafaela, Member of the European Parliament

Didier Reynders Opening Remarks at GLI Conference 2024

Opening Remarks on European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. Presentation from the Cornell Global Labor Institute's 2024 Conference: Change or Groundhog Day? What new research tells us about what works in global labor governance.
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Didier Reynders Opening Remarks at GLI Conference 2024

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?