Learn from and with your peers: Fair Wear’s learning pilot on gender-responsive HRDD
By Gemma Giammattei, Learning Coordinator and Human Rights and Business Advisor at Fair Wear
Embedding gender responsiveness into HRDD is a priority for many brands, but knowing where to start is often the challenge.Fair Wear has heard this clearly from its members — our 2025 survey highlighted gender as a key priority. At the same time, retailers are increasingly looking to partner with brands that demonstrate strong commitments to gender equality in their supply chains.
This new Fair Wear pilot brings brands together to tackle these challenges collaboratively. Through a combination of structured learning, peer exchange and hands-on assignments, brands will learn directly from and with each other while building practical approaches they can apply within their own operations and supply chains.
How the programme is structured
The pilot is designed as a guided learning journey, running over a longer period (around two years), allowing brands to learn and apply insights step by step. Nineteen brands are currently taking part, following a learning path with agreed milestones and timelines, co-designed to fit with their business realities and commitments.
Self-paced e-modules. Participants build their foundational understanding of gender-responsive HRDD through Fair Wear's existing Gender Responsiveness HRDD modules.
Group sessions. Regular sessions bring all participants together to exchange experiences, discuss challenges, and work through practical exercises. Guided by an expert, these sessions are where peer learning really takes shape: brands hear how others are approaching similar issues and explore solutions together. Participants also have the opportunity to reach out to the expert for one-to-one support, helping them address specific questions and challenges in their own context.
Hands-on assignments. After each session, brands leave with a clear next step — a practical assignment directly linked to their work. These assignments are designed to be actionable, and contribute to progress in the Brand Performance Check and be implemented via the Member Hub — Fair Wear’s online platform where brands implement their HRDD approach, including risk scoping and assessment, managing supplier information, developing and tracking action plans, collaborating with suppliers on corrective actions, handling grievances received via the Fair Wear hotline, and accessing practical tools and resources.
Buddy groups. To strengthen collaboration between sessions, brands are organised into small peer groups. Within these groups, they work together on assignments, exchange feedback, and support each other before bringing their insights back to the group sessions
Why this model works
The structure reflects a simple but important principle: learning about HRDD is most effective when it is grounded in real challenges and shared with others facing the same ones. The combination of individual and guided learning, group exchange, and peer-to-peer format creates a learning environment where progress is more likely to stick.
This mirrors what worked well in the De Bijenkorf pilot — where a blended approach of self-learning, peer sessions, and one-to-one coaching helped brands move from understanding the 6 steps of HRDD to taking concrete action. The gender-responsive HRDD pilot applies the same logic, with an added layer of peer accountability through the buddy group structure.
What comes next
The pilot is currently underway, and more lessons learned will be shared at the end of the year. For now, it is open to Fair Wear members only, but the ambition is to expand.
Looking ahead, this kind of in-depth, topic-focused peer learning will become part of the HRDD Academy, covering a more HRDD topics (e.g., how to work towards living wages in brands’ supply chains) and reaching brands beyond the Fair Wear membership.
If your brand wants to address gender risks in the supply chain, join the working group starting in 2027. Participation will run via the HRDD Academy platform, providing access to the gender e-learning modules & resources.
