Massachusetts Proposal for a Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act
Governmental Agency: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts, USA
Ref no: Bill H.420 (193rd)
Status: IN REVIEW
In 2023, a bill for an act to establish fashion sustainability and social accountability in Massachusetts was introduced, inspired by the New York Fashion Act. It would require all those designated as fashion sellers or manufacturers to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence for their apparel and footwear products. Requirements would include:
- Supply chain mapping through tiers 1-4 of production i.e. all raw materials suppliers (including subcontractors), raw material processors (i.e. fibre, yarn manufacturing) & chemical suppliers, material processors (e.g. fabric manufacturing, dyeing, finishing etc) and component manufacturers (buttons, zippers etc), and finished product manufacturers. Specific targets are set for by when the different tiers of suppliers need to be mapped by, and what proportion.
- Disclosure of all suppliers across the four tiers.
- The creation and submission of a due diligence report to the attorney general within 24 months of the effective date.
- The creation of a Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Fund.
-
The bill is still in draft, therefore the exact entities impacted is not yet certain. However, the bill currently proposes obligated entities will be:
- Fashion manufacturers: entities that list manufacturing (of apparel and footwear) as its principal activity
- Fashion sellers: entities that sell apparel, footwear or fashion bags that together exceed $100,000,000 in annual gross receipts. It excludes those selling used textiles. It also excludes multibrand retailers, except where the private label(s) of a multbrand retail together exceed $100,000,000 in global revenue.
For those obligated businesses, the implementation and operation of all necessary systems to monitor, address & report on corporate responsibility are likely to result in increased costs. Obligated entities will be subject to verification and enforcement protocols. Those that do not comply with the legislative requirements may result in penalties such as requirements to cease relationships with non-compliant suppliers, penalty fees etc. For those who, through these measures, are found to have issues with regard to their corporate social responsibility, there may be additional reputational issues.
There will also be knock-on impacts for those smaller businesses that work with obligated entities, who will be required to meet the obligated businesses due diligence requirements.
-
The bill is currently under consideration by the House of Representative's and Senate's respective committees. A hearing was scheduled for October 19, 2023, but there has not been an update since then.
