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

Six Seasons, Four Summers: How to Solve Fashion's High Heat Problem

Read The Report

Cooling investments in Bangladesh’s apparel factories can be commercially viable, with an average payback period of one to four years, according to new research from Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.

a washing image
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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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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

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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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

Latest Research and Events

AI and the New Informality

GLI Fellows Sarah Krasley and Maria Mexi announce a new AI impacts project: What happens when workers remain employed, but their autonomy narrows day to day? When organizational accountability becomes blurred, professional recognition declines, and the protections that once made employment meaningful begin to thin out?
Illustrations of six data workers, working at computers in isolation from each other. Painted background includes hazy image of cubicles; digital overlay of glass fractures.
AI and the New Informality

“Mitigating Heat Stress in Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector”

GLI's Jason Judd publishes "Migrating Heat Stress in the Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector," a new policy brief from GLI and GIZ (Germany) that makes the case for new heat-stress protections for workers in Cambodia’s apparel, footwear and travel goods industries.
Image of bright sunny sky
“Mitigating Heat Stress in Garment, Footwear, and Travel Goods Sector”

The Global Fight against Forced Labor: The U.S. and the EU at the forefront

This policy brief from Visiting Fellows Samira Rafaela and Kelly Fay Rodríguez looks at the EU's Forced Labour Regulation, compares it with legislation in the US, and presents recommendations and solutions to make the FLR more effective.
Women wearing bright colored outfits carry bricks across a short rickety wooden bridge in front of a lightly colored brick wall.
The Global Fight against Forced Labor: The U.S. and the EU at the forefront

22 January 2026 Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Global Labor Institute and Thammasat Business School Bangkok Conference 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?' Recap

Please enjoy our recap of our 22 January 2026 conference in Bangkok, 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?'
People sit in a room for a conference behind wooden tables.
22 January 2026 Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Global Labor Institute and Thammasat Business School Bangkok Conference 'Hot Air: What works to combat extreme heat in apparel production in Asia?' Recap

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

Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry

In this GLI Policy Brief, we provide an analysis of the government’s wage-setting process and changes in the minimum wage’s value and purchasing power over the last 15 years.
Front page of a GLI policy brief. It says "GLI Policy Brief | December 2025 Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry, By Jason Judd, Avi Hossain and Brian Wakamo" with an image of Sri Lanka garment workers at the top of the page and the ILR Global Labor Institute and Cornell University logos at the bottom of the page.
Falling behind: Minimum wage-setting in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry

In The News

Media Mentions

Costs to cool Bangladesh garment factories can be recovered within four years, study shows

Reuters
Investments to provide cooling in Bangladesh garment factories are commercially viable and pay back within four years says a report from ILR’s Global Labor Institute; the report “gives both buyers and suppliers a context for the scale of the intervention required,” explains Jason Judd, executive director of the institute.
Costs to cool Bangladesh garment factories can be recovered within four years, study shows

Bangladesh Sourcing Report Challenges Cheap Hub Narrative

Sustainable Business Magazine
The report “Higher Ground? Report 1: Fashion’s Climate Breakdown and Its Effect for Workers,” which was co-published by ILR’s Global Labor Institute, is referenced in this article about various challenges and solutions for the Bangladesh garment industry.
Bangladesh Sourcing Report Challenges Cheap Hub Narrative

Knitting Industry

A report from the Global Labor Institute, “Higher Ground? Report 1: Fashion’s Climate Breakdown and Its Effect for Workers,” is referenced in this article, which warns that without climate adaptation efforts, Bangladesh’s apparel export earnings could be around 22% lower by 2030 and 68% lower by 2050.
Knitting Industry

Top fashion brands have a supply chain battle against extreme India heat

Economic Times
A report co-created by ILR’s Global Labor Institute, “The Heat is On: How heat stress impacts the apparel industry, jobs, and worker health,” is referenced in this article about problems and solutions related to high temperatures in the garment manufacturing workplace. [Syndicated from Bloomberg]
Top fashion brands have a supply chain battle against extreme India heat

Gap Inc. Expands Human Rights And Gender Equality Efforts

Textile Insights
A report, “The Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-based Violence and Harassment Has It Worked?”, by Sarosh Kuruvilla, ILR professor and academic director of the Global Labor Institute, is referenced in this article.
Gap Inc. Expands Human Rights And Gender Equality Efforts

How Fashion Manufacturers Are Tackling Extreme Heat

Vogue
“You could start easily just by having cheap thermometers and logging to see what your indoor air temperatures and humidity levels are throughout a day and throughout a year,” observes Sarah Krasley, visiting fellow at ILR’s Global Labor Institute, pointing out that inexpensive equipment can provide data about conditions.
How Fashion Manufacturers Are Tackling Extreme Heat