Nordic Fashion Association

Launch of the first sectorial initiative under the UN Global Compact

With over 8,000 signatories since its launch in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is the world's largest corporate citizenship initiative.

In an innovative partnership, the UN Global Compact will use the Copenhagen Fashion Summit to launch its first sectorial initiative, a code of conduct for the entire fashion industry:

The Code of Conduct and Manual are an initiative of the Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical, and were developed in close consultation with industry representatives and other relevant stakeholders. Input was also sought from the Global Compact Office, which has welcomed this effort to align with the UN Global Compact principles.

The NICE Code of Conduct and Manual strives for alignment with international standards and universal principles. For this reason, the Code and Manual have taken their inspiration from the UN Global Compact's ten principles (www.unglobalcompact.org), but have sought to provide additional specificity from a sectoral perspective. Other sector specific content has thus been included with a view to promoting higher levels of sustainability performance on a wide range of topics relevant for the fashion and textile industry.

The NICE Code of Conduct and Manual are being released as a consultation draft with a view to obtaining further input and finalizing the documents by the end of 2012. Further information about the process after the Copenhagen Fashion Summit will be distributed at the Summit.

Read the press release

In Brief

Facing potentially devastating impacts of climate change and with attention on corporate sustainability soaring to new heights, the world needs innovators that can lead the push toward more sustainable solutions. The fashion industry has the potential to be one such innovator, working proactively to address critical environmental, social, and ethical challenges on a global scale. To accomplish this, the UN and NICE have agreed on the development of the first sector-specific initiative under the Global Compact

Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact

"As an industry facing serious and widely publicized social and environmental challenges, the fashion and textile industry is uniquely positioned to launch a sectoral initiative under the umbrella of the UN Global Compact - We are very excited about this effort and look forward to collaborating with NICE and its partners"