The fashion and textile industry is facing a “pressure cooker” crisis as rising global temperatures collide with outdated factory infrastructure. In a panel discussion at the Sourcing Journal Sustainability Forum last week, industry experts warned that heat stress is no longer just a compliance issue.

Heat stress is a massive economic and humanitarian threat that costs money and lives.

Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute (GLI), and Sarah Krasley, chief executive officer of Shimmy Technologies, discussed how extreme heat is eroding productivity and endangering worker health and also explained why the industry must pivot from simple decarbonization to active “climate adaptation.”

The session opened with harrowing testimonies from garment workers in Bangladesh and India. Workers described factory floors reaching 40 degrees Celcious (104 degrees Faranhiet), likening the experience to being “locked inside a pressure cooker” or feeling like a “boiling can waiting to burst.”

Judd presented new data from GLI research in Dhaka, highlighting a dangerous reality. He noted that higher temperatures create a seven-month season. He said heat stress is no longer a brief summer spike but now spans from April to October. The research looked at indoor heat levels versus outdoor areas. Rudd said factory interiors are consistently 1.5 degree Celcius to 2 degrees hotter than the already extreme outdoor temperatures due to machinery and poor ventilation.

He also noted a productivity cliff. When temperatures cross a Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) threshold, worker productivity falls off in a sharp, non-linear decline. “It’s easy to get bogged down in statistics, but these are human beings. We cannot lose sight of that,” Judd said.

The financial implications of inaction are staggering. According to Judd, projected heat levels by 2030 could jeopardize billions in export earnings across the world’s top garment-producing regions and put nearly one million jobs at risk.

Despite the scale of the problem, the solution may be more affordable than previously thought. Judd said upgrading approximately 3,000 to 4,000 tier-one factories in Bangladesh can be done over the course of three years at an affordable cost. He also said most cooling investments have a payback period of under three years due to recovered productivity and reduced safety incidents.

A major point of contention was the industry’s obsession with “mitigation” (reducing carbon footprints) at the expense of “adaptation” (protecting people from existing heat).

Sarah Krasley pointed out a jarring irony in modern factories where “the machines are better protected than the people.” Krasley said in areas where automated cutting tables or laser finishers are used, factories install high-end climate control because the machines fail in high heat. “But in the room right next door where manual labor is happening,” Krasley said, “the cooling ducts just stop.”

Krasley then shared “glimmers of good news,” noting that some manufacturers are seeing the business case for adaptation independently of brand pressure. Solutions such as “water curtains” (evaporative cooling systems) can cost around $200,000, which is a manageable sum for large operations that significantly improve floor temperatures and help factories become “the place everyone wants to work.”

The experts argued that brands must look beyond the factory floor to the homes of the workers. GLI sensors placed in workers’ residences in Dhaka recorded midnight temperatures of 28 degrees Celcius to 29 degrees. With tin roofs and frequent power “load shedding” preventing the use of fans, workers are unable to recover overnight, leading to long-term health decline and lower daytime performance.

The panelists then offered action items to address these issues. This includes increasing transparency where factories install $10 sensors immediately so brands and workers can monitor real-time heat stress levels. Policy changes are also needed. Countries such as Cambodia, which lack a legal heat standard, must establish clear work-rest ratios based on temperature. Judd also said living wages are now a climate issue. Higher pay allows workers to afford better housing with ceramic tiles and proper ventilation, which is essential for heat recovery.

“The science is clear, and the tech is well known,” Judd said. “It’s not as expensive as you think. It’s about the will to implement it.”