Launch of the Clean Clothes Campaign position paper on heat

You are invited to the launch of the Clean Clothes Campaign position paper on heat on 15th October from 3pm to 4pm CET on 15th October 2025. Register here! https://eu01web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6GcZDT1lRSKa79EYlPl8NQ 

As temperatures rise, so do risks of illness, harassment and income loss faced by fashion’s 72 million workers – many of them women, migrants and homeworkers. Communities are also feeling the strain from heat, with livelihoods threatened and long-term employment in the garment industry at risk. Heat is no longer an isolated hazard but a systemic threat, deepening labour rights abuses and creating new ones for those who have contributed least to the climate crisis.

“They don't let you call an ambulance, they call a taxi. I once called the ambulance when some woman from ironing fell (she fainted). It's 40 degrees outside, 50 degrees inside, but they set the thermometer so that it reads 27 degrees. And the woman is ironing, ironing, and in one moment she just falls. We take her out, I call the ambulance, and her daughter, who works in the factory administration, is screaming at me for calling the ambulance and she takes the woman home.” Serbian garment worker*. 

The solutions are known. Governments, suppliers and brands must act to protect workers’ health and safety, uphold their rights, pay living wages and invest in social protection. They must also support worker-led adaptation plans, engage in social dialogue and reduce the industry’s role in driving climate and environmental breakdown.

Join them to discuss worker-focused strategies for tackling rising heat in the garment industry.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to others. 

We hope to see you there, 

In solidarity,

Clean Clothes Campaign Just Transition Working Group

*Quote taken from CPE’s 2025 country profile on the Serbian textile industry, available at https://cpe.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CCC-CountryProfileSerbia-CPE-2024.pdf