Opinion

Sustainability In the Brazilian Fashion Industry

Sustainability improvements in the world’s 10th-biggest fashion market have the potential for huge social and environmental impact – but recent political events are putting progress at risk.
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Key Takeaways
  • Brazil‘s textile and fashion industries are the fourth-largest in the world, with sizeable outputs of cotton, woven cloth, and finished garments. 
  • A new report highlights the need for more transparency from Brazil’s biggest fashion brands, but many independent companies contribute to a thriving eco-fashion scene.
  • With the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, many fear a rollback of legislation protecting Brazil’s workers and the environment.

In many ways, the launch of Fashion Revolution’s Brazilian Fashion Transparency Index couldn’t have been better timed. Thanks to the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist with a history of inflammatory statements and a mandate to reshape the country by force, the world’s fourth-largest democracy is very much in the global spotlight. 

The course that Brazil takes matters, not just because of its vast and varied population and its daunting array of social problems, but because of its …