Did you know that somewhere in the world, a river changes color with every new fashion trend? So begins the report “The Drip: Voices on Water, Labor and Sustainability in the Fashion Industry,” produced by international NGO Drip by Drip, which takes a critical look at the apparel and textile industry’s relationship with the planet’s most precious resource.
The report calls for a fundamental shift in how the fashion industry approaches water and sustainability. It advocates for treating water as a shared resource rather than a production input, promoting long-term partnerships across the supply chain and aligning pricing models with the true cost of responsible production.
“Instead of practicing water stewardship, many brands focus on carbon emissions and water-efficiency metrics,” said Céline van de Loo, project manager for thought leadership at Drip for Drip. “These approaches often fail to connect the climate crisis to its profound impacts on water. As a result, the realities of communities and ecosystems affected by a polluting, water-intensive industry are ignored far too frequently.”
Despite these realities, the European Parliament backed the Omnibus proposal to simplify ESG reporting, weakening due diligence and accountability under pressure from corporate and fossil fuel interests. These decisions reflect broader governance failures across both the Global North and South, and fragmented supply chains make the problem worse—leaving factories in developing countries without the resources or power to fix it without brand support.
Interconnected Environmental and Social Crises
The report spotlights how various environmental and social crises have collided in South Asia to create a perfect storm. In eight articles written by union and NGO representatives, former sustainability auditors and technical experts, the series gives voice to garment workers and their communities, small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), sustainability experts, environmental scientists and regional advocacy networks. The scope spans cotton farming to garment manufacturing in China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Turkey.
One throughline is that those closest to the problem are best positioned to design solutions, and leaders must involve local communities to create and oversee efforts to reduce environmental risks.
Such “meaningful stakeholder engagement” is key in corporate responsibility discussions, argues environmental scientist and ESDO founder Dr. Shahriar Hossain in “Bridging Data and Dignity: Community-Based Monitoring in Bangladesh.” Even so, channeling community suffering into a viable political voice often hits hurdles, namely limited political will or frameworks that can hold industries fully accountable.
The Drip looks at the industry’s water crisis from a variety of angles to illustrate the interconnected concerns—from worker’s rights and health and safety to environmental pollution and certifications.
In “On The Drip: Reflections on Water and Sustainability in Fashion and Textile
Manufacturing,” Bangladeshi researcher Adiba Afros, explores an undeniable contradiction: that while the apparel and textile industries have created jobs for millions around the world, they have been harmful to water resources. And yet global textile consumption continues to rise.
“The Problem With Averages: Why LCAs Misrepresent Cotton’s Water Story” by Ani Wells, content and education lead at Cotton Diaries, dispels a common myth that cotton is less eco-friendly than “water-efficient” polyester, which leaches microplastics into the environment. Cotton’s water use varies widely across the globe, whether using rainwater, irrigation or various farming practices, and averaging out data ignores important local nuances.
In “Suppressing Thirst: Water, Heat and Exploitation In Tamil Nadu’s Garment Factories,” Oorja Engineer and Thivya Rakini of the Tamil Nadu Textile & Common Labour Union (TTCU) tackle the issue of heat stress on female garment workers, particularly pregnant women. The findings show that women in such situations don’t drink enough water because there isn’t enough of it, or they fear being scolded by a line supervisor for taking a bathroom break.
“Beyond the Audit Report: A Humble Brand Perspective on Water Justice, Failed Promises and Accountability,” by Lavinia Muth, a former brand sustainability manager and auditor, analyzes the industry’s overreliance on environmental audits and certification schemes, and how such initiatives fail to address root causes or systemic design flaws. Noted a Bangladeshi supplier: “Auditors come, we show them the ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant), they check the paperwork. But running the ETP full-time? That costs more than the brand pays per garment. So we turn it off when they leave.“
In “The Business Case for Sustainability: How Much Is Fact; How Much Is Fallacy?” Mohammed Monower Hossain, the Head of Sustainability at TEAM Group, highlights Bangladesh’s “critical disconnect between sustainability and price,” and the fact that while SMEs comprise nearly 70% of the country’s garment and textile manufacturers, they lack access to options for green financing. This is much to blame for the fact that there are only 2,000 factories in Bangladesh today, down 67% from 6,000 in 2013.
Such issues are hardly unique to Bangladesh. In “Evidence from Faisalabad: Assessing Environmental and Social Inequities in Pakistan’s Textile Sector,” Humnah Fayyaz and Tabeer Riaz, co-founders of South Asia Young Women in Water (SAYWiW), call for “a more equitable development trajectory” grounded in the principles of environmental justice. Textiles represent 60% of Pakistan’s exports and employ a large percentage of women, yet women don’t have a voice in factory health and hygiene issues.
“The Water Bargain: India, Bangladesh and China,” by Shivam Gusain, a sustainability strategist specializing in textiles, compares and contrasts wastewater management policies and practices in the textile sectors of Bangladesh, China and India. He gives both positive and negative use cases, from China’s top-down water pollution control policies to community-led litigation in Tiruppur, India.
photo credit: Pexels // Yogendras31
