Business

Digital Knowledge Platform Asia Garment Hub Launched

The Asia Garment Hub, a one-stop digital knowledge platform, has been launched to help industry stakeholders understand, promote and operationalise decent work and sustainable business practices across the supply chain. A collaboration between German government's GIZ FABRIC and ILO's Decent Work in the Garment Sector Supply Chains in Asia project, the platform will elevate best practices, foster partnerships, facilitate learning and exchange, and inspire action to address critical challenges in the industry, the Asia Garment Hub said in statement. The Asia Garment Hub is aimed at manufacturers, brands, trade unions, employer organisations and development partners, as well as at journalists, civil society, policymakers and individuals interested in a more sustainable future for the industry, according to the statement. "Ensuring decent work for all in Asia's garment sector will only become a reality if stakeholders at every level are actively engaged," said David Williams, manager of the ILO's Decent Work in Garment Supply Chains in Asia project. Access to the Hub is free of charge while to bridge language barriers, its navigation and content is offered in English and 10 other languages including Amharic, Bahasa, Bengali, Burmese, Chinese, Hindi, Khmer, Sinhalese, Urdu, & Vietnamese. In 2019, the garment sector employed an estimated 65 million workers in Asia and the Pacific -or 75% of all garment sector workers worldwide. More than half of these - some 35 million in Asia and the Pacific - are women, and the sector employs 5.2% of all working women in the region.