Collaboration between Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) and ILO Better Work, signed on May 18, will come into effect from June 1 to offer the garment companies they work with new benefits and to ultimately enhance their ability to improve labour conditions. The collaboration will officially begin with an 18-month pilot.
The first trial project will start in Vietnam and Bangladesh in factories from which FWF members and Better Work business partners source.
FWF and Better Work – a flagship programme of the UN’s International Labour Organisation – will join forces to fulfil three primary objectives:
1. Coordinating factory assessments to reduce the duplication of audits,
2. Streamlining improvement processes so more brands can collaborate on remediation and
3. Making a wider range of training opportunities available to tackle priority workplace issues such as sexual harassment, health and safety.
“Together we are capable of better facilitating cooperation between garment brands on improved working conditions’, said FWF Associate Director Margreet Vrieling in a statement issued, adding, “Collaborating with Better Work provides a great opportunity to learn from one other. After all, we have the same objectives, just different approaches.”
The collaboration will also enable both parties to expand their work in strategic new areas. Engaging new European brands and smaller garment companies will bring benefits for Better Work, while Fair Wear Foundation will gain access to data gathered as part of Better Work’s research agenda, for example.
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In an industry with more than 60 million workers and much still to be done to improve adherence to international and national labour standards, we welcome this partnership as a step towards creating decent work for all, he said.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
