Industry News
2025 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector
by Yvonne Heinen-Foudeh, Senior International Correspondent (Note: The following article may require additional time for you and your team to fully leverage all it has to offer.)
Quod volumus, possumus*
Whether the insight “I can because I want to” goes back to the ancient Roman poet Virgil or to his fellow countryman, the philosopher Seneca, is not certain. The fact is, we humans are capable of great things. The OECD proves that the challenges facing the clothing sector can well be solved with its development and coordination work, which encompasses the entire complexity: *We can, because we want to.
A total of 2,400 delegates participated in the annual Forum, on 11-12 February at the OECD headquarters at Château de la Muette in Paris and set the focus on the implementation of mandatory due diligence within the sector. 600 representatives from governments, businesses, trade unions, civil society, academia, and international organizations presented and discussed on-site at the French capital what to date is at stake for due diligence practice in the sector. Some 1,300 attended online at this year’s Forum Focusing overall on emerging expectations and regulations, and the key opportunities and challenges businesses, stakeholders, and policymakers can address together.
On Day 1 influential voices from key corporate and industry bodies including IndustriALL Global Union, Sapphire Textile Mills, World Benchmarking Alliance, the EU Commission, and the Government of Bangladesh took part in panel discussions on purchasing practices, responsible disengagement, and effective monitoring and validation of due diligence.
On Day 2 discussions were dedicated to stakeholder engagement, the role of sustainability initiatives, measuring due diligence and its impacts, working with new supply chain partners as companies adopt more circular practices and more. Speakers included representatives from H&M, BESTSELLER, SanMar, Scavi Group, and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union.
A veritable cornucopia of facts, insights, and options on effective monitoring, partly already proven ESG-compliant purchasing practices, and the validation of due diligence around all relevant topics and aspects for due diligence in the garment, as well as the footwear sector, was provided, analyzed, and discussed over the two forum days.
Stay informed and inspired.For an overview of everything addressed by the OECD and all stakeholders on board so far and into the future select: The Agenda / The Speakers.
- Furthermore, we recommend that interested subscribers of The Needle’s Eye can leverage recent work results on how to monitor and evaluate the framework for the garment and footwear sector – for download & evaluation on: Measuring the Uptake and Impact of Due Diligence for Responsible Supply Chains. A report, prepared by Nicholas Robin, OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct, and a team of international contributors provided essential insights to manufacturers, brands, wholesalers, and vertical retail on how to implement ESG-compliant purchasing practices – also per explicit legal regulations becoming pre-requisite to export into relevant markets. Just adopted: Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) for public procurement as just one example.
- Thought-provoking and informative availability is the typology framework elaborated by ITC (International Trade Center) and IAF (International Apparel Federation, previously published in October 2024 under the headline Understanding Sustainability Initiatives.
- A separate OECD meeting was held on the IAF Report setting a contemporary benchmark for the association's global work: Under the Banyan Tree: Buyers and Suppliers in Fashion by General Secretary Matthijs Crietee along with contributor and partner Brad Ballentine CEO of US MAS ACME, the delivery solutions hub by North American major player MAS Holding, with its deeply holistic. (The Needle’s Eye November 2024, for your full update click here.)
Predicate Highly-valuable: The Side SessionsThe Forum as such also played a role in supporting alignment across all kinds of various stakeholders plus offered a huge variety of virtual side sessions on February 10, 13, and 14.
With the 2025 Forum on Due Diligence and everything the annual summit sets in motion once again, the OECD demonstrates the power of collaboration and alliances to bridge regional barriers in apparel and textiles to unite voices and values. More important than ever in times of increasing geopolitical-driven protectionism - to assure a profitable, value-compliant responsible future for the sector. Buzz word “shaping the future”: Don’t miss impressions from the side session by University of Delaware, held in innovative format with the article in this same issue.
With the 2025 Forum on Due Diligence and everything the annual summit sets in motion once again, the OECD demonstrates the power of collaboration and alliances to bridge regional barriers in apparel and textiles to unite voices and values. More important than ever in times of increasing geopolitical-driven protectionism - to assure a profitable, value-compliant responsible future for the sector. Buzz word “shaping the future”: Don’t miss impressions from the side session by University of Delaware, held in innovative format with the article in this same issue.
Yoshiki Takeuchi, OECD Deputy Secretary-General, opening the 2025 Forum. Before his appointment to the organization in 2021 he served nearly four decades at the Japanese Ministry of Finance. Over his distinguished career Takeuchi held several senior positions including as Deputy Minister in many international fora such as G7, G20, IDA, and International Monetary and Finance Committee.
About OECDThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development today counts 38 member countries while collaborating with 100 nations. The United States was one of the 20 founding member countries that signed the Convention of the OECD in 1960.
The aim: to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. Best practices are getting identified through continuous comparative analyses and studies. The results and findings then getting incorporated into national policy making.
All of the above characterizes the intergovernmental organization as a unique discourse system: Corresponding feedback flows from the international to the national level and vice versa – qualifies the OECD as a suitable arena for introducing regulations, topics, and discussions from the national level into the international debate and conversely, for underpinning them scientifically and thus giving national policy, particularly economic national policy a forward drive.
The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector was adopted back in 2017. Since then all kind of stakeholders are generating increasing amounts of data showing how implementation of due diligence is evolving and maturing. yh-f
Six-steps structure to initiate the due diligence process and supporting measures, embedding e.g. Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) into policies and management systems. Source: OECD
Lively participation over a total of five days of more than 2,400 delegates from all over the world and all sectors at this year's OECD Forum - a promising signal on readiness to make responsible business conducts reality with a broad approach.
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