By: Camila Rua/ Translated by: Nissi Rincón
In Colombia the fashion industry represents 9,4% of industrial GDP and generates around 600.000 jobs in the country according to Procolombia. Nevertheless, it is also true that working conditions in the global fashion industry are not the best, and Colombia is no exception. For this reason the labor reform enacted this June aims to change current employment dynamics in the Colombian fashion industry by promoting more dignified labor practices.
The new labor reform, sanctioned on June 25, 2025 through Law 2466, presents changes that regulate different aspects, such as telework, working hours, hiring modalities and overtime. One of the most impactful changes for the Colombian fashion system would be the new legislation regarding hiring contracts. In these, indefinite-term contracts are preferred, while fixed-term contracts may not exceed three renewals or four years in total, and task based contracts must be in writing, and their duration shall not surpass the time described therein.
According to the 2023 Annual Manufacturing Survey, in which DANE surveyed approximately one thousand companies of the textile, apparel, footwear and tannery industrial groupings, close to 38% of the employed personnel is temporary paid personnel with fixed-term contracts, or contracts for work or labor, while 47% corresponds to permanent paid personnel that were on indefinite-term contracts, this means, that more than half of the workers in this industry do not have indefinite-term contracts; therefore, as a result of these legislative changes, textile companies will have to reorganize their work and employment dynamics.
This also applies to the length of the working day and the amount of overtime allowed. The reform establishes a maximum working day of 8 hours, and a 42-hour working week. Likewise, Article 13 of Law 2466 of 2025 states that: "In no case may overtime work, day or night, exceed two (2) hours per day and twelve (12) hours per week."
Although there is currently no official data on the number of hours worked in the textile industry, independent research such as Las confesiones de las confecciones: condiciones laborales y de vida de las confeccionistas de Medellín, by Karina Camacho, does record the working conditions and the number of hours worked in the industry. The aforementioned is reflected in the following quote: «The interviews conducted show that they can double the legal working day, that is, up to sixteen hours a day, in the case of the operators».
Even in a later work by the same author entitled Economic, Labor, and Gender Domination in the Garment Maquila of Three Large Companies in Medellín she states that: "First, the long working hours to which the workers in the maquiladora workshops are exposed are interpreted as a form of forced labor, to the extent that they are not carried out voluntarily or with the economic compensation that in a labor relationship would involve the payment of overtime, but are imposed by the pressures of product delivery schedules.".
Taking into account the above research, the textile and apparel industry has largely failed to comply with both the previous legislation and the new reform on the length of the working day.
Certainly the irregularities mentioned above, are not unique to the Colombian fashion system, but are present throughout the world. Hence, Colombia's advances in labor regulation represent a necessary step toward building a more fair and sustainable fashion industry –both nationally and globally.
