Hugo Boss to rejoin Pakistan Accord from January 2027

Hugo Boss will rejoin the Pakistan Accord from January 2027, reversing its earlier decision not to renew its commitment to the legally binding factory safety agreement, according to Minute Mirror. The German fashion group had declined to recommit earlier this year. WWD also reported the renewal.

A spokesperson for the company said the decision followed "a comprehensive review and extensive dialogue" with the Accord, industry peers and suppliers. The company said it aimed to support the agreement's development and to strengthen worker safety and responsible sourcing.

The Pakistan Accord is a legally binding agreement among global fashion labels, retailers and trade unions. It grew out of the wider International Accord for Health and Safety in the Garment and Textile Industry, which itself followed Bangladesh's Accord on Fire and Building Safety, set up after the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in which more than 1,130 garment workers died. Pakistan had suffered its own factory disaster months before Rana Plaza: a fire at the Ali Enterprises plant in Karachi killed 260 workers.

The Pakistan agreement received a one-year extension on January 1 and then renews automatically for a three-year term running to the end of 2029.

Hugo Boss was an original signatory when the Accord was launched in 2023 but declined to sign up again. At the time, the company said it remained "firmly committed" to human rights and safe working conditions and would keep applying due diligence in Pakistan. Labour groups reacted angrily: IndustriALL Global Union called the failure to recommit "completely unacceptable" and the Clean Clothes Campaign described the company's statement as "wishy washy".

The Clean Clothes Campaign cited inspection reports showing that repairs at eight factories linked to Hugo Boss were only at the "beginning stage", with serious hazards, among them locked gates and blocked exits, still unresolved. It argued that the brand had to ensure its suppliers could afford the repairs. Nasir Mansoor, a deputy general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation in Pakistan, said brands that fail to renew are "knowingly refusing to participate" in the work needed to make conditions safe.

Attention had also focused on a June incident at Arctic Textile Mills in Faisalabad, where a worker lost an arm while freeing jammed machinery and where staff noticed the brand's labels on fabric rolls made at the mill. The mill has no direct tie to Hugo Boss; it supplies yarn and fabric to other firms in the chain, and the fashion group rejected the link.

Campaigners welcomed the decision. The Clean Clothes Campaign counted the return as a victory and IndustriALL welcomed the company back.

Pakistan's textile exports depend on buyers that trust factory safety. For now, the return gives workers a stronger safety net from January, and unions say they will watch whether the repair work speeds up.