To kick-off Fall 2023 New York Fashion Week, CFDA designer Mara Hoffman partnered with our favorite sustainable fashion advocacy group Remake to party with a purpose by celebrating the re-introduction of the FABRIC Act (Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change Act).
The FABRIC Act:
- Enforces minimum wage standards, ending wage theft
- Combats factory violations with workplace protections
- Increases transparency of brand practices
- Revitalizes domestic manufacturing with a multimillion dollar grant program
Take ACTION! Sign the Petition to support The FABRIC Act
Sustainable activists, designers and advocate gathered at the Mara Hoffman store in SoHo to learn more about the FABRIC Act, in spite of the sweltering heat. In true Remake fashion, the event was accompanied by sustainable spritzes, custom poems, and highlighted Worn Out, a book by fashion journalist Alyssa Hardy which reveals the truth about garment workers and the fashion industry.
There wouldn’t be anything to celebrate though without the help of garment workers, who cut, sew, and assemble the clothes that we wear. The Garment Worker Center Executive Director, Melissa Nuncio, and member Delia came all the way out from Los Angeles to share more information about the FABRIC Act, the nationwide legislation based on California’s SB62 bill that passed last January.
The Garment Worker Center played a vital role in passing SB62
This changed the landscape of the garment industry in California. In addition to enforcing accountability for manufacturers and brands, the bill made California the first state to establish a minimum wage for garment workers. Although this was a landmark win for the fashion industry, it only applies to California.
—here enters the FABRIC Act, the bill that can change the garment industry nationwide.
If passed, the FABRIC Act would help cement the US as an epicenter of responsible production and influence policy globally. Currently, the bill has the support of over 280 brands, manufacturers, labor rights groups, educational institutions, and civil society from across the United States, including Reformation, thredUP, Mara Hoffman, Another Tomorrow, Made in NYC, Saitex, AFL-CIO, Workers United, Garment Worker Center, Ferrara Manufacturing, Remake, Custom Collaborative, Slow Factory, California College of the Arts Fashion Design, Pratt Institute Fashion Design, and many others.
As of today, the bill has 5 cosponsors: Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), Senator, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). More are expected to sign on in the next few days.
“We have the opportunity to harness our power collectively and stand united for the protection of garment workers, for the empowerment of women in manufacturing’s future, and to demand that living wage is the only wage. We need to end the mistreatment and exploitation of garment workers, those who sit at the heart of this industry. We cannot treat the heart badly and expect the body to remain healthy. The FABRIC ACT enforces accountability for the industry’s past, responsibility for its present, and offers proactive measures for its future.” –Mara Hoffman, designer and founder of Mara Hoffman
Take ACTION! Sign the Petition to support The FABRIC Act
–Christina Hara
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