Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images
As legislators in states like California and New York work to pass laws holding fashion brands accountable for their labor practices, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-D) sets his sights on the federal level.
On May 12, Senator Gillibrand will take the Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change Act — the FABRIC Act for short — to the Senate, the first federal bill that, as Alyssa Hardy describes in Modewill incentivize fashion companies to bring manufacturing back to the US and improve the working conditions of their facilities in the United States, and will penalize those found to be paying their workers less than the federal minimum hourly wage.
“We need to ban predatory payments through piecemeal rates, but we also need to incentivize these companies to bring manufacturing back to the US or allow them to start here from the start,” Sen. Gillibrand said. Mode.
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Senator Gillibrand worked with Ayesha Barenblat, founder and CEO of fashion advocacy group Remake, to draft the FABRIC Act, which would expand on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and bring some of the groundwork set out in California’s SB62, passed last year, in relation to wage theft nationwide. . Various industry groups have expressed their support, Mode said, including the Model Alliance, Worker’s United, Fashion Revolution, Center for the Advancement of Garment Making, Fashion Connection, Skilled Labor Brigade, Sustainable Brooklyn, Custom Collaborative, The Slow Factory, New Standard Institute, and the California College of the Arts fashion design program. .
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand with designer Carolina Herrera at New York Fashion Week in 2012.
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
“The FABRIC Act is necessary because it will advance the well-being of garment workers and their families,” said Cris Lopez, a garment worker and member of the LA Garment Worker Center. Mode. “The FABRIC Act not only offers workers protection for our wages but also provides investment in industry. It promises more jobs and better wages, ultimately supporting those most in need – our children, parents – and ensuring education, better health and housing opportunities.”
Based on ModeSenator Gillibrand will present the FABRIC Act to the public at a press conference on May 13 at Ferrera Manufacturing, located in the Garment District of New York City.
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