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Industry Sustainability Roundtables
Industry Sustainability Roundtables
The product road mapping concept provides a common ground for participants along a supply chain to engage in meaningful dialogue about broader social and environmental issues that are typically harder to address in their entirety.
National Garment Industry Sustainability Roundtable
On Friday 29 January 2010 in Melbourne, the Centre, with the support of the Council of Textile & Fashion Industries of Australia Limited and the Brotherhood of St Laurence convened a sustainability roundtable for the garment industry.
32 stakeholders across the garment industry representing business, industry, government and NGOs gathered to discuss the findings and recommendations stemming from the "Travelling textiles: a sustainability roadmap of natural fibre garments" report and garment product roadmap produced by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the broader sustainability impacts in this industry.
"This was a very impressive display of the commitment of both government and business to improving the sustainability of the garment industry in Australia. It was an example of the way in which product road maps can bring together all the partners in the supply chain to address weaknesses in areas such labour rights or environmental pollution.”
Peter Davies, Vice Chair, UK Sustainable Development Commission

Participants at the National Garment Industry Sustainability Roundtable held in Melbourne
The event brought together key stakeholders such as Myer, Target, Woolworths, Country Road, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, CSIRO, Ethical Clothing Australia, Oxfam Australia, RMIT, Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia and industry bodies to discuss sustainability issues that affect the garment sector.
The roundtable addressed matters such as local and global procurement, regulation and certification, support for small business, waste and transport and the role of government whilst recognising the complexity present when manufacturing products that can potentially travel the globe many times over before reaching our shelves.
Resources
Download the National Garment Industry Sustainability Roundtable Report
This report is a record of the dialogue from the first sustainability roundtable held in Melbourne on 29 January 2010.
Building Consumer Confidence in Textiles & Fashion Report
This report records the outcomes of the “Building Consumer Confidence in Australian Textile & Fashion Sustainability–through systems, accreditation, certification and labelling” Forum, which was held in Melbourne on 22 April 2010. This event was hosted by the Council of Textile & Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) and the National Retailers Association (NRA).
Roundtable media releases
Download the SJEC media release
Download the RMIT media release
Report and roadmap
Download the "Travelling textiles: a sustainability roadmap of natural fibre garments" report