Cambodia

As global supply chains undergo legal and environmental scrutiny, Cambodia’s garment sector stands at a crossroads. Persistent labour challenges, climate shocks, and governance weaknesses threaten its export competitiveness. In this candid interview, Andrew Crawford, Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, explains why swift structural reform is essential for survival.

Inditex and Next have come under fire for rejecting a global agreement to improve wages and conditions for Cambodian garment workers. Developed over years with unions and brands, the Cambodia Agreements offer the first collective bargaining template in the industry. Critics say the refusal exposes a gap between public commitments and real action on workers’ rights.

Socially disadvantaged people are disproportionately affected by temperature extremes. A recent study explored this point in Cambodia: one of the world's hottest and most humid countries. It evidenced the extent of the heat exposure faced by workers in Cambodia and the way occupational, environmental and geographical dynamics combine to shape it. The study’s lead author, Dr Laurie Parsons of Royal Holloway, University of London, contextualises this for the country’s garment workers.

The Nike case should not be treated as an isolated scandal but as a structural failing that demands structural reform. Without enforceable standards, empowered worker representation, and legal accountability, the cycle of exploitation will persist—repackaged each time with a new corporate excuse.

The lesson of the current US tariffs crisis roiling the trade world is this: you cannot keep relying on one country as your export destination. From now on it has to be ‘US Plus One’.

A UNEP-led integrated programme (IP) has been launched to promote sustainable supply chains in the fashion industry in a bid to address the impact of the sector on biodiversity loss, chemicals and waste, climate change, international waters, and land degradation.

A report by the Global Labor Institute warns that if 4 key hubs of garment production fail to make climate adaptation investments, nearly one million new apparel and footwear jobs will be foregone by 2030.

The much-awaited report of the US International Trade Commission which looked at the export competitiveness of five Asian apparel-manufacturing countries has been released.

Workers across the fashion supply chain are being shortchanged by an absence of proper structures for collective bargaining, allowing perpetuation of a business model that relies on tight margins for suppliers and low worker wages, claims a new report.

The ongoing Copenhagen Global Fashion Summit will today see the launch of a new approach to supply chain industrial relations following the first-ever brand-supported collective bargaining agreement in the apparel and footwear sector in Cambodia which will support wage improvements, better working conditions and a future-proof industry.