Improving transparency and traceability has become a priority for the garment and footwear industry to increase its ability to manage the value chains more effectively, identify and address labour and human rights violations and environmental impacts, combat counterfeits, and handle reputational risks, while embracing more sustainable production and consumption patterns.
In fact, many companies have a limited view of the network of business partners within their value chain and do not get the full story behind their products. Most can identify and track their immediate suppliers, but information is often lost about the suppliers of their suppliers. It requires the collaboration of all industry partners, the deployment of common approaches and reliable technical solutions in widely different environments.
Our focus
UNECE and UN/CEFACT, jointly with key industry stakeholders have looked into such challenges and risks and have launched a project for an international framework initiative to enhance transparency and traceability for sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear industry.
Over the period 2019-2022 the project aims at setting up a multi-stakeholder policy platform, developing policy recommendation, traceability standards and implementation guidelines, and build capacity and conduct pilots on the project deliverables.
As part of that work, UNECE has launched "The Sustainability Pledge" inviting governments, garment and footwear manufacturers and industry stakeholders to pledge to apply our toolkit of measures and take a positive step towards improving the environmental and ethical credentials of the sector.
Jointly implemented with 
With the support of 
- Key Documents
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Policy
Recommendation n°46: Enhancing traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector (ECE/TRADE/463)
English, French, RussianCall to Action - The Sustainability Pledge
Call to Action for Traceability, Transparency, Sustainability and Circularity of Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector (submitted to the 27th UN/CEFACT Plenary, March 2021) English French Russian
Join and submit your action/s to "The Sustainability Pledge"
Standard
Business Requirements Specification on Product Circularity Data Use Case (version 1.0) (April 2024)
Textile and Leather Data Model
Product Transparency Message
Traceability Event Message
Business Process Analysis (BPA) for Sustainability and Circularity
Business Process Analysis for Sustainability and Circularity in the Leather Value Chain
Business Process Analysis for Sustainability and Circularity in Textile Value Chains
Pilot
Updated Report on the Blockchain Pilots Project for the Garment and Footwear Sector: Proof of Concept Report: Harnessing the potential of blockchain technology for due diligence and sustainability in textile and leather value chains (2023)
ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2023/19Report on the Blockchain Pilots Project for the Garment and Footwear Sector (October 2022)
Guidelines and studies
The Sustainability Pledge 3 - Year Monitoring Report (June 2024)
Reversing direction in the used clothing crisis: Global, European and Chilean perspectives - ECE/TRADE/484 (June 2024)
Executive Summary - Reversing direction in the used clothing crisis: Global, European and Chilean perspectives (November 2023)
United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business Solutions in Support of Digital Product Passports (November 2023)
Reference Guide on Code Lists and Identifiers in the Textile and Leather Value Chains
Mapping of policies, regulations and guidelines: Report, Policy developments on traceability and transparency and its Executive summary for policymakers (April 2021)
Mapping of Garment and Footwear Sector Ecosystem (April 2021)
Policy Paper on Accelerating action for a sustainable and circular garment and footwear industry
Briefing note - Sustainable Textile Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Domain for SDG12 (2019)
UNECE Study on Transparency and Traceability in Textile Value Chains (2017)
Handbook - Implementing UN/CEFACT e-business standards in Agricultural Trade (2016)
A Framework - Traceability for Sustainable Trade (2016)
Communication
The Sustainability Pledge Leaflet
- Events
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2024
17 April 2024: InfoPoint conference: Transparency and traceability in garment and footwear value chains – Part 2
19 February 2024: OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector Side Session - Fixing a Leaky System: Creating Resource Management Systems for Used Textiles
2023
23 November 2023: Third session of the Team of Specialists on ESG Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in the Circular Economy
27 March 2023: Second working meeting of the Team of Specialists on ESG Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in the Circular Economy
2022
8-12 November 2022: COP27 Contribution of "The Sustainability Pledge", Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt
6 October 2022: Team of Specialists on Environmental, Social and Governance Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in the Circular Economy - Second Session, Palais des Nations, Geneva Switzerland
22 June 2022: Tracing textiles: Advanced technologies for sustainable value chains - Unleashing the potential of blockchain for traceability, transparency and circularity in garment & footwear, Brussels Expo, Brussels, Belgium (12:05 - 12:50 CET)
24-25 May 2022: UNECE-UNIDO Regional Workshop: Accelerating action for the sustainable garment and footwear industry - Harnessing the potential of innovation for due diligence and reduced environmental impact the way forward to UNFCCC COP27
07 April 2022: 2nd UNECE-FAO RLC Latin America Regional Workshop – Accelerating action for the sustainable and circular garment and footwear industry, innovation for inclusive cotton value chains
Cairo, Egypt
Santiago Chile (9:30 - 17:30 GMT-3)25 March 2022: Joint Event: International Conference of Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan and UNECE Programme "The sustainable garment and footwear industry of the future."
Hilton Tashkent City, Tashkent Hall, Tashkent Uzbekistan (9:30 - 17:00 CET)11 March 2022: Textile Transparency Toolbox - UNECE x Manchester Fashion Institute
Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Manchester United Kingdom (9:00 - 17:00 GMT)22 February 2022: Untapping the potential of blockchain for responsible and inclusive business models in the garment and footwear sector
Paris, France (14:00 - 15:15 CET)15 February 2022: Building the traceability of sustainable value chains across the two continents with support of blockchain technology
Brussels, Belgium (14:30 - 15:15 CET)2021
06 December 2021: UNECE-FAO Latin America training Workshop - accelerating action for the sustainable and circular garment and footwear industry - innovation for inclusive cotton value chains
Santiago, Chile (10.30 am - 4.30 pm, Santiago time) (2.30 pm - 8.30 pm, Geneva time)21-23 September 2021: UNECE-SDA BOCCONI Regional Workshop - Accelerating action on sustainability and circularity in the garment and footwear sector with innovations that deliver on due diligence and informed consumer choice
12 July 2021: Making the circular transition work for a transformative and prosperous post-COVID recovery, side event during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, 13:20-15:00 (CET)
28 April 2021: Traceability for Sustainable Garment and Footwear (agri-domain), 36th UN/CEFACT Forum, 13:30-15:30 (CET) Presentation
19-20 April 2021: 27th Session - UN/CEFACT Plenary 10:00 - 18:00 (CET)
16 March 2021: Building back better: Unlocking the potential of advanced technologies for circular and sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector - Side event of the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, 12:15-13:45 (CET). Flyer Presentation.
01 February 2021: 2021 OECD Forum - Decent Work,Transparency and Traceability in the Garment Sector: Emerging Stronger from the COVID-19 Crisis
2020
23-24 November 2020: Third Multi-Stakeholder Policy Dialogue: Accelerating action for Sustainable and Circular Value Chains in Garment & Footwear (online) Report
01 October 2020: Scaling up Sustainable Trade: Strategies, Policies and Technologies for More Sustainable Production and Value Chains (online)
27-28 April 2020: "Second Multi-Stakeholder Policy Dialogue: Accelerating action for Sustainable and Circular Value Chains in Garment & Footwear". Download: Agenda Report
13 February 2020: "Garment Tech Talk", OECD Conference Center, Paris. Download: Agenda PPT
11 February 2020: "Policy Approaches for Traceability and Sustainability in Garment", OECD Conference Centre, Paris. Download: Agenda PPTs Report
2019
30-31 October 2019: 34th UN/CEFACT Forum - Workshop on “Enhancing Traceability & Transparency of Sustainable Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector” in London. Downloads: Agenda Report Day 1-PPTs Day 2-PPTs
11-12 September 2019: OECD Global Policy Blockchain Forum – “Looking Past the Hype on Blockchain: Understanding use cases for due diligence in raw material supply chains” in Paris. Download: Agenda
11 September 2019: UNECE meeting “Blockchain / distributed ledgers for traceability and due diligence in garment and footwear value chains in a circular economy” in Paris.
Downloads: Agenda Report Background note PPTs04 April 2019: 33rd UN/CEFACT Forum - Workshop on “Enhancing Traceability & Transparency of Sustainable Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector” in Geneva.
Downloads: Report PPTs13 February 2019: OECD Due Diligence Forum – “Promoting Decent Work and Improving Transparency and Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains in the Garment Sector” in Paris.
Download: Agenda18 June 2019: European Development Days 2019 – Project Lab on “Ethical clothes = decent work: Enhancing informed consumer choices” in Brussels.
Read proceedings Download: Agenda2018
17 October 2018: Hangzhou Forum - Towards a circular economy – Traceability and transparency for Sustainable Value Chains (Use Cases and Examples of Implementation) in Hangzhou. Download: Agenda
05 June 2018: EDD 2018 - Lab Debate “Do you know where your clothes come from?” (Proceedings p.69-70) in Brussels.
24 April 2018: 31st UN/CEFACT Forum. Conference on “Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains: Textile and Leather Sector.
Downloads: Agenda Report PPTs2017
03 October 2017: 30th UN/CEFACT Forum. Conference on “Ethical and informed choices for sustainable clothing …” in Rome.
Download: Agenda PPTs06 June 2017: “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
- News
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2024
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The Sustainability Pledge - Fashion, the sector produces 10% of global emissions. To become "green" we need investments of 30 billion euros a year until 2030. "LMF Lamiafinanza"
- UNECE launches Community of Practice to scale up traceability and transparency in the garment and footwear industries
- UNECE presents circular solutions for the future world of sustainable industries at World Circular Economy Forum 2024
- UNECE and UNECLAC call for sustainability on second-hand clothing trade flows
2023
- UNECE to support scaling up transparency for sustainable value chains
- UNECE calls on fashion industry to fully embrace sustainability
- UNECE blockchain pilot for cotton paves the way for more sustainable fashion
- United Nations will launch a study on global second-hand clothing trade and disposal in Chile
- Innovation, Transparency and Traceability: A Must in the Clothing Industry
2022
- COP27: How the textile and clothing industry could do its bit in the fight against climate change
- Team of Specialists on Environmental, Social and Governance traceability in the UNECE region aims to help industries move from strategy to action
- On the way to COP27, UNECE-UNIDO conference in Egypt paves the way to tackle climate change in textile and leather sectors
- We need more traceability and transparency to make better choices in the fashion industry, urges activist Lily Cole together with UNECE and FAO in Latin America
- UNECE supports Uzbekistan’s strategy towards sustainable practices in the garment and footwear industry through its “Sustainability Pledge”
- UNECE and ITC jointly acknowledge new corporate accountability proposal by the European Union to foster transparent and responsible behavior in supply chains
- UNECE and partners call for concrete action for a sustainable garment sector at EU-Africa Business Forum 2022
2021
- UNECE and FAO join forces on cotton traceability to connect sustainable rural producers in Latin America to global value chains
- UNECE launches a Team of Specialists on Environmental, Social and Governance Traceability
- Supply chain transparency could help the clothing industry significantly reduce its GHG emissions
- UNECE launches ‘The Sustainability Pledge’ for measurable and verifiable sustainability in the garment and footwear sector
- Policy shift and game-changing tech will enable sustainable and circular economy at scale
- Cleaning up the garment and footwear sector: regulation for action
2020
- With improved tracking, tracing and labelling the garment sector has an opportunity to build back more sustainably
- How Fashion could become more sustainable after Covid-19?
- Transparent value chains can help make the fashion industry’s post-COVID recovery more resilient and sustainable
- UNECE traceability initiative can accelerate fashion industry’s shift to more sustainable and circular model
2019
- Transparency in fashion – UNECE mobilizing industry and experts to develop blockchain traceability tool and policy framework under EU-funded project
- UNECE and partners accelerate action for a sustainable garment and footwear industry at OECD Due Diligence Forum
- Media Clipping issued by UNECE: Call for tanners to participate in UN survey
2018
- UN/CEFACT Conference on Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains: Textile and Leather Sector
- Do you know where your clothes come from? UNECE joins the EU and ITC to discuss transparency and traceability solutions at European Development Days
- Fashion is an environmental and social emergency, but can also drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals
- UN/CEFACT standards can enhance traceability for sustainable clothing
2017
- New study outlines directions for more transparent and sustainable textile value chains
- UN/CEFACT Conference on “Ethical and informed choices for sustainable clothing – Tracking and tracing textile supply chains”
- The European Development Days
- Towards a more sustainable clothing industry: 30th UN/CEFACT Forum to explore enhancing traceability
- UNECE and partners launch initiative for more sustainable clothing
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- Join the project
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If you wish to take part in UNECE project Enhancing transparency and traceability for sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear industry or require further information, please contact [email protected]
Call for Participation and expression of interest, ToRsSub-group 1 - Develops a Policy Recommendation on Traceability and Transparency for Sustainable Value Chains in the Garment and Footwear Industry
Sub-group 2 - Develops Standard for Electronic Information Exchange for the Textile Sector for traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains
(BRS/CCBDA/XML/EDIFACT)Sub-group 3 - Develops a Standard for Electronic Information Exchange for the Leather Sector for traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains
(BRS/CCBDA/XML/EDIFACT)Sub-group 4 - Conducts Pilots, Training and Awareness raising for traceability and transparency of sustainable value chains