Author: Editorial Team

  • Shahi endorses ILO’s COVID-19 global Call to Action in the garment industry

    Shahi endorses ILO’s COVID-19 global Call to Action in the garment industry

    We recognize that to fulfill our commitment to protect workers’ wellbeing, all stakeholders in the industry need to work together. This is why we have endorsed ILO’s Call to Action on “COVID-19: Action in the Global Garment Industry” which aims to generate actions from across the global garment industry to protect workers’ income, health and employment, and support manufacturers to survive during the COVID-19 crisis. The global action also calls for working together to establish sustainable systems of social protection for a more just and resilient garment industry. (more…)
  • Insights from speaking engagements: 2020

    Insights from speaking engagements: 2020

    We love to connect with our industry peers and all other important stakeholders to share our experiences and exchange ideas. In this ongoing post, discover all the conferences and events we have spoken at in 2020. 

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  • COVID-19 outbreak: Repurposing our factories to produce PPE for frontline healthcare professionals

    COVID-19 outbreak: Repurposing our factories to produce PPE for frontline healthcare professionals

    To cater to the rising demand of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, we have produced over 500,000 PPE suits for frontline healthcare professionals, while ensuring social distancing and other preventive measures during the production. We are grateful to our employees who have contributed to the production of these suits. (more…)
  • Collaboration insights-I: Business and Academia

    Collaboration insights-I: Business and Academia

    Collaborations and partnerships between stakeholders are critical to solve the world’s most pressing challenges across people, planet and profit. This blog series ‘Collaboration insights’ reflects on our partnerships with various stakeholders, starting with business and academia.
    By Gauri Sharma and Divya Jyoti 

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  • Awarded “Best Performer Employer” by Ministry of Rural Development, GoI for three consecutive years

    Awarded “Best Performer Employer” by Ministry of Rural Development, GoI for three consecutive years

    It was an honor to receive the “Best Performer Employer – Rank -1” National Award 2019 under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU GKY) by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India (GoI).

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  • Speaking at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

    Speaking at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights

    It was an honor to share our experiences on incorporating gender equality principles in business operations at the panel on ‘Gender Guidance for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: From Paper to Practice’ at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, the world’s largest global gathering on business and human rights, held annually. (more…)
  • Insights from speaking engagements: 2019

    Insights from speaking engagements: 2019

    We love sharing our work and learnings with industry and other important stakeholders. This post is an ongoing compilation of conferences and events we’ve spoken at in 2019. (more…)
  • Closing the skill gap: How Shahi’s skilling efforts enable more women to enter the workforce

    Closing the skill gap: How Shahi’s skilling efforts enable more women to enter the workforce

    India’s Female Labor Force Participation has fallen from 36.7% in 2005 to 26% in 2018. The apparel industry, as a majority female employer, holds the power to break some of the barriers women face to enter the formal workforce. Read our blog post to understand how Shahi’s skilling efforts are enabling more women to join the formal workforce.
    By Gauri Sharma and Sakshi Katyal

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  • Committing to women’s reproductive health at Women Deliver 2019

    Committing to women’s reproductive health at Women Deliver 2019

    Women Deliver is the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and well-being of girls and women. It’s in some ways an unlikely event for an apparel business to attend, let alone be invited to speak. However, in a country where the number of women in the workforce is dropping rapidly (from 34% to 24% in the last decade), our industry is a crucial source of economic empowerment for low-skilled women as well as an advocate for advancing women’s participation in work outside the home.

    The triennial conference was held in Vancouver this June, with an attendance of over 8,000 delegates. Shahi’s head of Organizational Development, Anant Ahuja, was invited to speak on several panels to discuss the role of the private sector in supporting women’s empowerment and to announce some of our specific commitments. These include our commitment to extend P.A.C.E. training to 58,000* employees at Shahi as well as new commitment to provide reproductive health services as part of the Private Sector Action for Women’s Health & Empowerment led by the UN Foundation and others.

    Shahi has always understood that women’s ability to care for their reproductive health and plan their family’s future is directly related to their personal and professional development – as well as their ability to contribute fully to the business and to society. In 2019*, we committed to partner with the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) to reach 9,000 workers in six of our factories, along with more than 10,000 community members, totaling 19,000 people, with women’s health information and services, including sexual and reproductive health that includes family planning, STI testing and treatment, and maternal and child health by 2020. Due to the challenges posed by COVID-19, we have extended the timeline of implementation of this commitment to July 2021. Learnings from this pilot initiative will lead to a wide-scale rollout of such services across more of Shahi’s factories.

    Good Business Lab will undertake rigorous research to understand the outcomes of the pilot and are testing a range of implementation methodologies to increase effectiveness ahead of an expanded roll out across the business in the coming years. Watch this space for more updates on the launch and the research outcomes.

    *Editorial Note: This post was originally published on June 26, 2019, and was updated on September 30, 2020.

  • Launching Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) in India

    Launching Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) in India

    As India’s largest apparel manufacturer with over 60 factories, we are proud to be a signatory to and welcome to India – Social Labor & Convergence Program (SLCP) – a first-of-its-kind, disruptive and widely accepted framework to measure social and labour standards.

    SLCP embodies the benefits of collaboration across brands, manufacturers, non-profits, certification bodies and others. By creating a Converged Assessment Framework (CAF), SLCP will reduce the need for multiple, often duplicate audits, and enable us to continue investing in the well-being of our 100,000+ strong workforce. These are the type of disruptive ideas that can truly transform the supply chain.

    On May 30, 2019, Shahi hosted the India launch of SLCP – bringing together all stakeholders for a day-long event to discuss SLCP’s operations, brands’ adoption plans and manufacturers’ experience running pilots. Through group discussions, participants explored possible barriers and opportunities to implementing SLCP in their supply chain and facilities.

    A full coverage of the event can be accessed view more.