
Impact Report 2020/21

Find our what Labour Behind the Label have been up to in our bi-annual Action Update.
In this issue you will find information on Bangladeshi garment workers’ ongoing struggle for fair pay in the face of violent government repression, as well as an update on the future of the Accord and our concerns over worker safety. We share our findings on the dismal state of pay in the global garment industry with the launch of our new report: Tailored Wages UK 2019, and update you on our campaign for H&M to keep its promise and pay garment workers a living wage. This issue also takes a look at fast fashion and the environmental crisis, and contains information on how you can get involved with our campaigns and join our activist army.
Read it here: Action Update: Number 28
Every one of us wears shoes every day. But do we ever ask ourselves where the leather comes from to make our shoes? How is the skin of an animal turned into a shoe? Who does this work and under what conditions? This report takes us on a journey to the beginning of a leather shoe. The report looks at the leather industry in India and reveals the social and environmental impacts of tanneries. It provides a glimpse at the adverse conditions at tanneries in India, where people work with minimal or no protective gear, for payment below the minimum wage and no social security benefit. The workers themselves suffer from occupational diseases and the communities around the tanneries have to deal with polluted rivers and drinking water and the dumping of solid waste without regard to environmental standards and rules.
Read the main report: Watch Your Step Report
Read the factsheet: Watch Your Step Factsheet
Published in 2017.
The aim of this investigation is to uncover and analyse financial relationships between European financial service providers and the European shoe industry and, in the process, address the following questions: Which loans and investments are being issued by which financial institutions, under what conditions, to which companies
in the footwear sector? Do the financial service providers specify mandatory ecological and social guidelines or criteria for their business clients? Do financial service providers require responsible business management from their business clients, in particular with regard
to the handling of social and ecological problems in supply chains?
The findings of this investigation trace back to research and analysis carried out by the German NGO Facing Finance on behalf of the Change Your Shoes campaign.
A total of 23 European footwear companies and their financial relationships with 23 different financial service providers were analysed over the period from June 2012 to June 2016. The financial service providers were also invited to complete a survey explaining whether and how social and ecological norms and standards played a role in their loan and equity decisions.
Download the report: Something is a Foot
Published in 2017