How it works

Ethical Clothing Australia provides textile, clothing and footwear businesses with practical resources to help ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations in Australia and offers a method to communicate this to consumers and buyers.

A voluntary system to help meet mandatory obligations

The Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation system is a voluntary system designed to help navigate the various mandatory legal obligations. It does this by facilitating a process that aims to build stronger relationships between the applicant, its suppliers and the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA). The TCFUA provides a compliance role to assist either a transition to, or verification of, compliance with the Award and relevant legislation.

A clear advantage

The underlying principle of Ethical Clothing Australia’s various initiatives is transparency. When businesses ensure their supply chains are transparent, they can stay informed of all of the steps involved in the production of their products and minimise any potential cases of non-compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.

The Ethical Clothing Australia accreditation system is effectively the process of ‘mapping’ the applicant’s supply chain and verifying that all workers within it are receiving their legal entitlements. It provides practical mechanisms, in the form of formal agreements, for the applicant business to stay in control and ensure that it is able to set the conditions and arrangements throughout its supply chain.

Working together

Ethical Clothing Australia’s accreditation advisors are able to help guide you through this process along with the TCFUA’s compliance officers who will inspect various worksites and verify that information you receive from suppliers is correct. On-going compliance checks will alert you to any issues in your supply chain if they arise.

The Council of Textiles and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) also has industry education staff that offer advice in implementing and staying on top of various systems to help maintain transparency.

The Ethical Clothing Australia label can say a lot about you 

Businesses that successfully complete the accreditation process are licensed to display the Ethical Clothing Australia trademark on their Australian-made products, providing consumer recognition for their commitment to local and ethical manufacturing.

As Ethical Clothing Australia increases the public profile of the Ethical Clothing Australia trademark and the brands licensed to display it, accreditation offers local Australian brands opportunities to get ahead of the pack and communicate with the growing ethical consumer base.

Ethical Clothing Australia also administers initiatives for Retailers to contribute to efforts to ensure transparency in the industry as well as a Procurement Code of Practice which various organisations and corporations can sign up to support ethical and local manufacturing.