The Netherlands' Clean Clothes Campaign appeals to Dutch brands to sign 2018 accord

By

Shomara Roosblad

Published
Feb 23, 2018

The Netherlands’ Clean Clothes Campaign has made an appeal to Dutch clothing brands to sign its upcoming 2018 Transition Accord.

The 2018 Transition Accord will continue the work of factory inspection in Bangladesh as well as the identification of safety hazards, and ensure that they are corrected. The accord follows the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which came into effect after the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1,134 factory workers.  

At the moment, 109 international clothing companies have signed the 2018 Accord, covering 1,200 factories and more than 2 million workers. However, not all Dutch brands signed the agreement yet. This includes brands that signed the Dutch Convenant Duurzame Kleding en Textiel (Sustainable Clothing and Textile Covenant).

According to the Clean Clothes Campaign, Dutch retailers, including Hema, Hunkemöller, CoolCat, G-Star, Miss Etam, Shoeby, WE Europe, America Today and Zeeman have already signed the 2018 accord.

The organization is pursuing Dutch retailers such as Bristol and The Sting to sign the accord: “Not signing the 2018 Accord means that one-hundred days from now workers will be left in unmonitored factories. As a consequence, garment brands will fall short on their due diligence obligations to keep the workers in their supply chain safe,” says Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator, Clean Clothes Campaign.

International brands that haven’t signed the 2018 accord yet, at the time of publishing this article, include Marks and Spencer, Next, Sainsbury’s, Metro Group, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Dansk Supermarked.

The 2018 Transition Accord was signed in June of last year. The legally binding document will go into effect when the original agreement expires in May 2018, and will extend until 31 May 2021.