This report aims to highlight better practices within the shoe and leather industry in relation to both environmental and labour issues. It is designed primarily to share good practice learnings, case studies and results for others to follow and to share with all stakeholders’ examples of sustainable alternatives within the shoe industry. It is not designed to be used as a shopping guide nor does it attempt to rank or rate brands. The brands and cases included represent a snapshot of better practices, and it is not a ranking of the brands. Included cases represent partially a model of the holistic or integrated approach to produce more sustainable footwear. It aims to encourage producers and brands to do better within their own supply chains and to encourage national governments and the EU to strive for improved regulatory standards. At the same time, we hope that this report will also empower workers and trade unions by providing them with better practice examples to use in their own factories, regions, and supply chains.

The Change Your Shoes campaign hopes the cases and recommendations in this report will encourage companies and others to learn from the work being done by others, and that this information will allow greater cooperation between organised worker efforts and brands in moving forward on human rights due diligence.

(Anton Pieper u.a., 40 Pages)

Diese Studie untersucht im Rahmen der Kampagne „Change Your Shoes“ die Situation der ArbeiterInnen in der türkischen Schuh- und Lederindustrie. In der gegenwärtigen Situation einen Bericht über einen wichtigen Industriezweig der Türkei sowie zur Situation der Beschäftigten zu verfassen, ist in vielerlei Hinsicht eine wahre Herausforderung. Das Land ist mehr denn je durchverschiedene Konflikte zerrissen: den andauernden Bürger krieg im Nachbarland Syrien, die Migrationswelle von Kriegsflüchtlingen, die Auseinandersetzungen mit seiner kurdischen Bevölkerung im Südosten des Landes und eine innenpolitische Transformation, Terroranschläge sowie der Putschversuch. Außerdem besteht ein konflikthaftes Verhältnis zu den politischen und wirtschaftlichen Partnern in der Europäischen Union. In der Türkeisehen sich Medien, Gewerkschaften und die Zivilgesellschaft zunehmend staatlichem Druck und Sanktionen ausgesetzt, die Meinungs- und Koalitionsfreiheit wird den Ansprüchen der öffentlichen Sicherheit und Terrorabwehruntergeordnet. Dieser Bericht wird und kann auf diese diversen Prozesse nicht näher eingehen und konzentriert sich auf die türkische Schuh- und Lederindustrie und die Fakten der Vor-Ort-Recherche sowie strukturell bedingte Ursachen für die eruierten Probleme. Aktuelle Entwicklungen werden daher nur zum Teil mit berücksichtigt.

(32 Seiten)

This report is an investigation into the supply chains of three major shoe brands: Tod's, Prada and Geox. The purpose is twofold: on one hand it aims to analyse their production strategies, while at the same time it aims to provide a snapshot of the working conditions existing in various points along global supply chains. From this point of view, the report can be considered as the continuation of the investigation conducted in 2015 by Change Your Shoes, which asked 23 major shoes brands, among the most influential in Europe, how they ensure the respect of workers' rights in their supply chains. The responses, analysed according to the authoritative framework provided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, were published in the report entitled Trampling workers rights underfoot, in which Italian companies were positioned in the lower section of the ranking: Tod’s and Ferragamo did not even respond to the questionnaire, while Prada and Geox provided only minimal evidence to demonstrate that they apply serious policies to ensure compliance with human rights. There was therefore a need to understand why some brands did not respond and a  more in-depth exploration of the information provided to verify the substance of that information.

(64 Pages)

Shoes play a significant role in the Indonesian economy. The availability of cheap labour in particular makes Indonesia an attractive country for manufacturing footwear, which has led to a boom in the sector in recent years.

(Anton Pieper and others, 4 Pages)