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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

Recent Publication by Sarosh Kuruvilla: Shifting Modes of Labor Regulation in Global Supply Chains

This essay outlines changing modes of regulation of labor conditions in global apparel supply chains, which are concentrated in Asia; assesses the effectiveness of 25 years of private voluntary regulation by global firms; and examines critically the implications of new European regulation now mandating what was previously a voluntary corporate activity.
Sarosh
Recent Publication by Sarosh Kuruvilla: Shifting Modes of Labor Regulation in Global Supply Chains

Event: Higher Ground? Fashion's Climate Breakdown and its Effect for Workers by the Global Labor Institute and Schroders - Organized by Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Please join us at Columbia Threadneedle Investments in London for a presentation on the Higher Ground? reports by the Global Labor Institute and Schroders. Angus Bauer (Schroders) will be joined by Jason Judd (Global Labor Institute) to present the paper, followed by a panel discussion with expert reactions.
Five people crossing polluted stream over narrow bridge.
Event: Higher Ground? Fashion's Climate Breakdown and its Effect for Workers by the Global Labor Institute and Schroders - Organized by Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Global Labor Institute Conference 2024

Will global labor’s spring arrive early, or are we destined for more of the same? The Global Labor Insitute’s 2024 Conference takes place Feb. 2, 2024 - Groundhog Day - in New York City. 
570 Lexington Avenue
Global Labor Institute Conference 2024

"Higher Ground?" In the News

See highlights of coverage for the Higher Ground? reports authored by the Global Labor Institute and Schroders.
Flooded Street
"Higher Ground?" In the News

Webinar: Higher Ground? Fashion's Climate Breakdown and its Effect for Workers

A multi-stakeholder panel discussion about the Global Labor Institute and Schroders' Higher Ground report, which looks at the impact of climate breakdown on apparel producing countries and workers.
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Webinar: Higher Ground? Fashion's Climate Breakdown and its Effect for Workers

Higher Ground? Fashion’s Climate Breakdown

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. Our second report examines company-level climate risk, cost, and financing for adaption and just resilience.
Textile workers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Higher Ground? Fashion’s Climate Breakdown

In The News

Media Mentions

Resilient Threads: Weaving A Climate-Ready, Regenerative Future for Cotton in India

Observer Research Foundation
A study by ILR’s Global Labor Institute is cited in a discussion about climate change causing problems for the cotton supply chain used by Asia’s fashion sector.
Resilient Threads: Weaving A Climate-Ready, Regenerative Future for Cotton in India

Jason Judd wants the apparel industry to take heat stress very seriously

Big Closets Small Planet Podcast
The garment industry can mitigate health problems and production slowdowns caused by heat stress, but will it? In this podcast episode, Jason Judd, executive director of the ILR Global Labor Institute, shares a nuanced look at climate change adaptation in the garment industry.
Jason Judd wants the apparel industry to take heat stress very seriously

Commentary: How Chinese imports are skirting Trump’s tariffs

Yahoo News
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, explains that Chinese companies are avoiding Trump tariffs because they are increasingly building their own production facilities outside of China.
Commentary: How Chinese imports are skirting Trump’s tariffs

This week in Trumponomics: The looming import shortage

Yahoo News
Once current inventories are gone, the rest of 2025 could be rocky. “Our perspective in terms of how this will affect manufacturers and workers is that we’ll see a replay of the initial COVID shock,” said Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute.
This week in Trumponomics: The looming import shortage

Nike Repeatedly Raised Concerns About Repression in Cambodia. It Expanded Its Factory Workforce There Anyway.

Pro Publica
Brands increasing their orders from Cambodia while raising concerns about labor rights are “obviously mixed messages,” Jason Judd said. “And one message, the purchase order, has a lot more weight than the other. Until those are credibly threatened, the government has no reason to act.”
Nike Repeatedly Raised Concerns About Repression in Cambodia. It Expanded Its Factory Workforce There Anyway.

How Trump’s tariffs could affect Nike and its factory workers

Pro Publica
Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute, discusses the impact of tariffs on Nike's workers.
How Trump’s tariffs could affect Nike and its factory workers