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Conservation International Releases Guide for Fashion Industry: How to Build Stronger, Respectful Partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
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The Indigenous Partnership Principles were developed in partnership between Conservation International and Textile Exchange with direct input and leadership from Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The principles include 12 criteria to guide companies to better center Indigenous Peoples and local communities' rights and perspectives across their product development initiatives and supply chains.
Worldwide, there are over 370 million Indigenous Peoples across 70 countries and these communities protect an estimated 80% of the world's intact biodiversity. Yet recent research from Textile Exchange revealed that only 5% of 252 fashion companies surveyed said they were consulting Indigenous Peoples on their company's nature and biodiversity strategies.
The creation and production of fashion and textiles impacts Indigenous Peoples and local communities, affecting their culture, land and cosmology. At the same time, these communities and their traditional knowledge systems are often undervalued and excluded from industry benefits.
The guidelines aim to represent the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. To achieve that, Conservation International worked with 33 representative Indigenous Peoples and local community stakeholders from around the world whose experiences with the fashion, apparel, and textile industries spanned the value chain—from sourcing and design to manufacturing and waste.
"It's critical to recognize that Indigenous Peoples have a rich and robust fashion community, and have knowledge, practices, and designs that have been developed and passed down for millennia," said Quinn Manson Buchwald , director of the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program at Conservation International, who co-led the development of the Indigenous Partnership Principles. "Not only have these nations and communities historically been excluded from ventures that impact their lives and design heritage, but the fashion industry can be notorious for extractive methods of materials procurement that do lasting damage to the ecosystems many Indigenous Peoples and local communities call home.
"Additionally, well-intended conservation strategies are often created without input from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, which risks violating Indigenous land rights and pushing local communities off the land that defines their identity and provides their livelihoods," said Buchwald, who is himself a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and the Manitoba Métis Federation. "Such displacement often creates vulnerability and can increase exploitation."
The work of Indigenous Peoples is woven throughout industry supply chains – they play a vital role in ensuring sustainable resource use, protecting ecosystems from overuse and helping to limit the impacts of waste and pollution.
Effective partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and local communities – considered to be among nature's best stewards – can guide fashion, apparel and textile companies toward better-informed nature and biodiversity strategies that respect Indigenous and local rights, culture and intellectual property.
The dozen Principles aim to address this wide range of concerns and potential threats from the fashion industry on behalf of their Indigenous Peoples and local community partners, and contain guidance such as:
"Now that the fashion sector has begun to better understand and address its outsized impact on the environment, it's a natural next step to look ourselves in the – heavily male-led, most often white – face and think about better inclusion industry-wide," said Virginia Borcherdt , senior director of sustainable fashion at Conservation International and co-lead of the Indigenous Partnership Principles. "It's the right thing to do: establishing respect for and recognition of our stakeholders helps these companies inclusively serve consumers as well as protect people and the planet."
The Indigenous Partnership Principles, for the Fashion, Apparel and Textile Industries will be formally introduced during the panel "Pathways to Indigenous Partnership" at the 2024 Global Fashion Summit.
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Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to for more, and follow our work on , , , , and .
Textile Exchange is a global non-profit driving beneficial impact on climate and nature across the fashion, apparel and textile industry. It guides a growing community of brands, manufacturers, and farmers towards more purposeful production from the very start of the supply chain. Its goal is to help the industry to achieve a 45% reduction in the emissions that come from producing fibers and raw materials by 2030. To get there, it is keeping its focus holistic and interconnected, accelerating the adoption of practices that improve the state of our water, soil health, and biodiversity too.
For real change to happen, everyone needs a clear path to beneficial impact. That's why Textile Exchange believes that approachable, step-by-step instruction paired with collective action can change the system to make preferred materials and fibers an accessible default, mobilizing leaders through attainable strategies, proven solutions and a driven community.
At Textile Exchange, materials matter. To learn more, visit textileexchange.org.
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