REDUCING THE TRUE COST OF COTTON T-SHIRTS

This study, commissioned by the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), was conducted to get better insight into the social and environmental costs of the garment industry. The garment industry has been infamous for frequent violations of human rights and environmental standards in its production chains.

We calculated the external (thus, the social and environmental) costs associated with the currently dominant value chain of cotton t-shirts sold in EU27 and the external costs associated with an alternative (EU-based) value chain. The aim of this study is to support the Greens/EFA to raise awareness, impose high environmental standards and improve labour conditions in the garment industry by shedding light on the true costs of the globalized garment industry.