It has been a while since New York’s proposed Fashion Act
has generated red carpet-worthy buzz. Although no longer in the
press, it seems premature to place it in the overflowing bargain
bin of proposed corporate social responsibility legislation.

A draft amended version of the Fashion Sustainability and Social
Accountability Act (its full name) has been circulated among
industry groups and other stakeholders, but not yet formally
introduced. With a growing number of co-sponsors and supporters,
the Act is expected to gain more traction when an amended bill is
introduced in the NY Legislature. According to sources, this may be
as soon as January 2024.

As discussed in our prior Alert describing the proposed Act
(available here), if adopted, the Act would, among other
things, require many “fashion sellers” to map portions of
their supply chains, substantially enhance their environmental and
supply chain disclosures, establish a quantitative baseline and
reduction targets for Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and
obtain third-party assurance of selected reported information.

These core provisions are expected to largely remain intact in
an amended bill, although the bill has continued to evolve. A
notable addition in the draft that is circulating is that tier one
suppliers’ employees, or their representative labor
organization, would be able to sue fashion sellers if they do not
receive wages and other monetary benefits due to them.

As proposed, “wages” would be inclusive of all monies
owed, including wages, overtime, paid leave, incentives, bonuses
and severance. “Employees” would include all workers,
whether full-time or part-time, permanent or fixed-term, directly
contracted or hired indirectly through an agency or other
intermediary.

Beyond New York, there is speculation that similar legislation
may be introduced in other states.

We will continue to closely watch this space in 2024.

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