Learning and Implementation Community

Running for two years (2022-2024), the Learning and Implementation Community (LIC) was an initiative led by a group of organisations working together on RPP. The LIC, comprising 35 clothing retailers and brands, operated as a peer-learning community.

Latest news: Watch our public meeting 'Implementing Responsible Purchasing Practices: Sharing Progress and Lessons Learnt'

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Latest news: Watch our public meeting 'Implementing Responsible Purchasing Practices: Sharing Progress and Lessons Learnt' -

Through online workshops, LIC members engaged in discussions and collaborative problem-solving with suppliers, working towards fairer relationships and dialogues. The community actively contributed to developing guidelines, case studies, tools, and video resources, sharing valuable insights to benefit the broader industry.

The collaborating organisations (listed below) worked closely with the Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative to ensure that suppliers were part of discussions, which remains essential as steps are taken towards a fairer relationship and dialogue between suppliers and buyers. By supporting practical actions that improve purchasing practices, LIC has played a crucial role in shaping a more sustainable and responsible future for the textile industry. The initiative has been part of the group's ongoing commitment to collaborative learning and implementation, to drive positive change in the global textile market.

The group of organisations leading the LIC were the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Ethical Trade Norway, Fair Wear, Partnership for Sustainable Textiles and Solidaridad. The LIC was funded by the Initiative for Global Solidarity (IGS) implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperationand Development) and the Sustainable Textile Initiative: Together for Change (STITCH) (supported by the Dutch Government).

Implementing Responsible Purchasing Practices: Sharing Progress and Lessons Learnt

At the closing of the community's 2 year journey, the LIC hosted a public meeting to share progress and learnings at the end of 2024. Publicly available tools developed by the LIC were shared, including exercises designed to establish a shared understanding of current purchasing practices and their impacts and to prioritise actions. Various participating brands shared case studies of their actions, as well as hearing from manufacturers who've been involved, sharing what they felt the benefits have been. You can watch the video and read a press release here.

Implementing Responsible Purchasing Practices: Sharing Progress and Lessons Learnt

Halfway through the community's journey, the LIC hosted a public meeting to share progress and learnings. Publicly available tools developed by the LIC were shared, including learnings on working with supply chain partners on improvements and exercises designed to establish a shared understanding of current purchasing practices and their impacts and to prioritise actions. Speakers included commercial team leadership from the participating brands, a Pakistan-based manufacturer, and representatives of the organising MSIs.