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Glossary of terms

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Here is a list of definitions which you may find useful throughout this course. You may want to
refer back to these later on.

Auditing - is the process of reviewing a company’s finances, working conditions, and

environmental practices. It uncovers risks to workers’ safety and opportunities to improve working
conditions. [1]

Biodiversity – is the variety of life on earth. It comprises variability within species, among
species, and of ecosystems. It also refers to the complex relationships among living things, and
between living things and their environment. [2]

Child labour - is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential
and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. [3]

Child Slavery - is the enforced exploitation of a child for someone else’s gain, meaning the child
will have no way to leave the situation or person exploiting them. [4]

Circular Economy (Circularity) - is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use,

dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value
from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of their use.
[5]

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Collective bargaining - a process where employers and unions negotiate to determine fair wages
and working conditions. [6]

Decent Work - involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income,
security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal
development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and
participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all
women and men. [7]

Due diligence - a process through which companies assess their impacts on human rights and the
environment and then take actions to reduce any negative impacts. [8]

Debt bondage/bonded labour - The world’s most widespread form of slavery. People trapped in
poverty borrow money and are forced to work to pay off the debt, losing control over both their
employment conditions and the debt. [20]

Environmental impacts - refers to the direct effect of socio-economic activities on the

environment. [9]

Equal pay - means that men and women in the same employment performing equal work must
receive equal remuneration. This applies not only to salary but to all contractual terms and
conditions of employment, such as holiday entitlement, bonuses, pay and reward schemes, pension
payments and other benefits. [10]

Freedom of Association - the right of individuals and workers to form and join groups of their
own choosing in order to take collective action to pursue the interest of the members of the group.
[11]

Forced labour - refers to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of
violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as accumulated debt, retention of identity
papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities. [12]

Gender-based violence - violence directed against a person because of their gender. Both women
and men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls.
Gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,
whether occurring in public or in private life. [13]

Gender equality - refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men
and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that
women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are
born male or female. [14]

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Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – the release of greenhouse gases (GHG), into the atmosphere
over a specified period of time. GHGs, such as CO2 and Methane, are any gases which absorb and
re-emit heat and therefore keeps the planet’s atmosphere warmer than it otherwise would be. [15]

Hazardous Chemicals - are any chemical which can cause a physical or a health hazard. [16]

Homeworkers - work in their own homes (or small workshops) as opposed to factories.
Homeworkers in global supply chains are likely to work to order on a piece-rate basis. [17]

Human trafficking - The use of violence, threats or coercion to transport, recruit or harbour
people in order to exploit them for purposes such as forced prostitution, labour, criminality,
marriage or organ removal. [20]

Living wage - a wage a worker earns in a standard working week that is enough to provide for
them and their family’s basic needs - including food, housing, clothing, education and healthcare.
[18]

Microplastics - are plastic pieces that are less than 5 mm in length. There are two sources;
primary and secondary. Primary sources are microplastics that have been made to be that size (for
example, microbeads in cosmetics or plastic glitter). Secondary microplastic comes from larger
items of plastic that have fragmented (for example, plastic pieces fragmented from a polyethylene
carrier bag). [19]

Poverty - Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure
sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to
education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, as well as the lack of
participation in decision-making. [21]

Pre-consumer waste - is generated by textile and clothing manufacturers during any stage of the
production clothing. Pre-consumer wastes include textile scraps after the cutting of garment
pieces, leftover textile samples, selvedges, end-of-roll wastes, damaged materials, part-finished or
finished clothing samples from the design and production department. [22]

Purchasing practices - refers to a company’s process of buying goods and services. This might
include activities such as planning and forecasting, design and development, cost negotiation,
sourcing and placing orders, production management and payment and terms. [23]

Sub-contracting - refers to manufacturers out-sourcing certain production processes to other

factories and workplaces, often without informing the buyer. In this way, even complete orders
may be shifted by the contractual supplier to unknown suppliers. The subcontracted factories and

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workplaces are not formally part of the buyer’s supply chain so the brands’ corporate social
compliance audits do not take place there. [24]

Supply chain/value chain - refers to all the steps it takes to produce and sell a product, from farm
to closet and then disposal. [25]

Sustainable Development - is development that meets the needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. [26]

Synthetic Fibres - such as nylon and polyester, are produced entirely from chemicals and
sometimes fossil fuels such as oil. [27]

Transparency - means credible, comprehensive and comparable public disclosure of data and
information about fashion’s supply chains, business practices and the impacts of these practices on
workers, communities and the environment. [28]

Wet processing facilities - are involved in the production of clothing whose activities typically
involving chemicals and large quantities of water such as rinsing, bleaching, dyeing, printing,
treating or coating fabric and laundering. [29]

Zero Deforestation - means no forest areas are cleared or converted, while zero net deforestation
allows for the clearance or conversion of forests in one area as long as an equal area is replanted
elsewhere. [30]

References

1. Walk Free Foundation. Tackling Modern Slavery in Supply Chains. 2014. Available from:
https://www.cips.org/Documents/Knowledge/Procurement-Topics-and-Skills/4-
Sustainability-CSR-Ethics/Sustainable-and-Ethical-Procurement/tackling-modern-slavery-
in-modern-supply-chains.pdf
2. CBD. BUSINESS AND THE 2010 BIODIVERSITY CHALLENGE: INTRODUCTION
TO THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY. In: A background paper for the
Business and the 2010 Biodiversity Challenge Meeting. London; 2005. Available from:
https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/biodiv/b2010-01/information/b2010-01-inf-02-en.doc
3. ILO. What is child labour? [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts
/lang--en/index.html
4. Anti-Slavery International. What is child slavery? 2020. Available from:
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/child-slavery/
5. WRAP. WRAP and the circular economy [Internet]. 2019. Available from:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy
6. ILO. 8.Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining [Internet]. 2019. Available from:
https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/dw4sd/themes/freedom-of-association/lang--ru/index.htm
7. ILO. ILO’s Decent Work Agenda [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://www.ilo.org

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/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm
8. UN Global Compact. The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact - Principle One:
Human Rights. 2020 https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles
/principle-1
9. OECD. Environmental Impact [Internet]. Glossary of Statistical Terms. 2001. Available
from: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=827
10. Commission E and HR. What is equal pay? [Internet]. 2019. Available from:
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/what-equal-pay
11. ILO. Freedom of Association [Internet]. 2019. Available from: http://ilo.org/global/topics
/freedom-of-association-and-the-right-to-collective-bargaining/lang--en/index.htm
12. ILO. The meanings of Forced Labour [Internet]. 2014 [cited 2019 May 1]. Available from:
https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/news/WCMS_237569/lang--en/index.html
13. Krug E, Dahlberg L, Mecry J, Zwi A, Lozano R. World report on violence and health.
Geneva; 2002. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42495
/9241545615_eng.pdf;jsessionid=4174C94FF370A8E2E83C181905314A48?sequence=1
14. UN Women. Concepts and definitions. 2001. Available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch
/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm
15. OECD. Greenhouse gas emissions [Internet]. Glossary of Statistical Terms. 2001 [cited
2019 May 1]. Available from: https://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1152
16. US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Clarification of
the definition of a hazardous chemical and the requirements for Material Safety Data Sheets.
1997. Available from: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations
/1997-05-15-1
17. Labour Behind the Label. Homeworkers. 2020. Available from:
https://labourbehindthelabel.org/our-work/homeworkers
18. Clean Clothes Campaign. Living Wages [Internet]. 2019. Available from:
https://cleanclothes.org/living-wages
19. Boucher J, Friot D. Primary microplastics in the oceans: A global evaluation of sources.
Primary microplastics in the oceans: A global evaluation of sources. 2017. Available from:
https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/2017-002-En.pdf
20. Anti-Slavery International. What is modern slavery? 2020. Available from:
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/
21. United Nations. Ending Poverty. 2020. Available from:https://www.un.org/en/sections
/issues-depth/poverty/
22. Dobilaite et al. Investigation of current state of pre-consumer textile waste generated at
Lithuanian enterprises. 2017. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile
/Milda_Juciene/publication/318127190_Investigation_of_current_state_of_pre-
consumer_textile_waste_generated_at_Lithuanian_enterprises/links
/5de79b7f92851c8364601344/Investigation-of-current-state-of-pre-consumer-textile-waste-
generated-at-Lithuanian-enterprises.pdf
23. Better Buying. About Purchasing Practices. 2020. Available from: https://betterbuying.org
/about-purchasing-practices/
24. SOMO. Hidden subcontracting in the garment industry. 2012. Available from:
https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Hidden-subcontracting.pdf
25. OECD. Global Value Chains (GVCs) [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2019 May 1]. Available from:
http://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/global-value-chains.htm
26. United Nations. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. Our
Common Future. 1987. Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content
/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf

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27. Common Objective. Synthetics & Sustainable Synthetics: Global Production. 2018.
Available from: https://www.commonobjective.co/article/synthetics-sustainable-synthetics-
global-production
28. Fashion Revolution. Fashion Transparency Index 2020. 2020. Available at
https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/
29. Garments Merchandising. Flow Chart of Wet Process in Garments Washing. 2015.
Available from: https://garmentsmerchandising.com/flow-chart-of-wet-process-in-garments-
washing/
30. FAO. Zero deforestation initiatives and their impacts on commodity supply chains. 2016.
Available from: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6857e.pdf

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