The Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) was founded in 2007 as an Asian labor-led global labour and social alliance across garment-producing countries (such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) and consumer regions (USA and Europe) for addressing poverty-level wages, gender discrimination, and freedom of association in global garment production networks.

Garment workers in Asia, who are mostly women, produce most of the clothing in the global fast fashion industry. Global fashion brands are the primary drivers of this global market and supply chain ; their primary interest is to maximise profits through manufacturing fashion clothing in production countries with cheap labour and selling that clothing in high-price consumer regions like Europe and USA. Brands’ continual focus on lowering production costs leads to a race to the bottom for workers’ wages and a decent and dignified life.

Garment unions in Asia realize the limitations of country-based struggles for improving workers’ lives in a global supply chain economy driven by global brands in Europe and United States. AFWA builds regional unity in Asia’s production countries and strong collaboration with solidarity networks in Europe and USA, to hold brands globally accountable.