moderndayslavery

May 1st contradictions

Has the fashion industry changed for the better?

May 1st – International Workers’ Day brings up contradictions in the fashion industry. Indeed, we cannot celebrate without considering the hypocrisy that brands, companies that own them, and final customers put in place.

Today’s public holiday aims to honour working people and raise awareness of their rights. But the race to the lowest prices sought by company owners and consumers makes it impossible to imagine healthy production chains. Indeed, wages are so low that many people cannot afford a decent life and not even cover their basic needs.

Ten years after Rana Plaza, the fashion industry hasn’t changed its patterns and workers’ conditions haven’t improved. In fact, we went from fast to ultra-fast fashion. If we purchase a dress for 20 euros, can we expect manufacturers to observe workers’ rights? Do people believe in fairy tales, or is it hypocritical behaviour?

Rana Plaza

On April 24th, 2013, a building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, taking away 1,138 garment workers, 80% of whom were women, and injuring more than 2,500. Near the bodies extracted from the rubble, the labels of major Western brands were found: Prada, Versace, Gucci, Moncler, Benetton, Primark, Walmart, Bonmarché, Zara, H&M, Mango and others.

Uyghurs

We wrote about Uyghurs’ forced labour here. Now we quote Public Eye, a Switzerland NGO:
“Today’s hippest teen-fashion brand is growing rapidly – and its internet-based recipe for success is top secret. Still, Chinese researchers working on behalf of Public Eye managed to visit some of Shein’s suppliers in Guangzhou, where conditions of production violate numerous state labour laws. Our trip inside the ultra-fast fashion leader also takes us to the European logistics centre in Belgium, where precarious working conditions are also a daily occurrence.”

According to an OECD summit in Paris, this search for lower prices has led some brands to turn to ever less demanding areas. They even maintain orders in countries in crisis, such as Burma, where unionised workers have become prime targets of the military junta behind the recent coup.

Made in “Chitaly”

What happens in Italy is no different. In order to keep their higher profit margins, brands commission productions to Chinese laboratories, asking for the lowest price. So the dream of “Made in Italy” is kept alive, at least for those with no sense of quality. Forget minimum wage!

Prices negotiated downward and overconsumption

To understand what the industry learned after Rana Plaza and the social consciousness developed, we just need to analyse the facts. Low-cost collections rotate faster and faster, and companies force prices downward at the manufacturer’s cost. This acceleration from fast fashion to ultra-fast fashion explains everything.

Marketing and social washing

Social washing is social greenwashing: a manipulative tool in the hands of marketing. In fact, campaigns showing brands being socially responsible multiply. Most of the time, there is no evidence supporting the information. And perhaps what happens, in reality, is quite the opposite.

After the pandemic, working conditions have got worse. So the race for the lowest prices brings up all the contradictions of our economic system on May 1st. How can people expect labourers’ rights honoured while purchasing fast or ultra-fast fashion? And how can a world that needs modern-day slavery talk about workers’ rights?

Enslaving workers: has anything changed?

It seems clear that our economic system is based on enslaving workers. That’s how it thrives.

Here we quote an excerpt of Li Edelkoort’s talk from the Voices stage – via Business of Fashion. Edelkoort is one of the most respected trend forecasters. This talk is from 2015, definitely not something new. 

So, why it’s worth sharing again? Because nothing has changed over time!

Enslaving workers and cheap deals

Low prices are enslaving workers and destroying cultural value. 
“The manufacturing of clothes has gone through a rapid and sordid restructuring process, which has seen production leave the western world to profit from and exploit low-income countries,” said Edelkoort. “How can a product that needs to be sown, grown, harvested, combed, spun, knitted, cut and stitched, finished, printed, labelled, packaged and transported cost a couple of Euros?” she asked, comparing fashion’s supply chain to slavery.

“On the hunt for cheaper deals, volume companies, but also some luxury brands, have trusted the making of their wages to underpaid workers living in dire conditions,” she continued. “What’s more, these prices imply the clothes are to be thrown away, discarded like a condom before being loved and savoured, teaching young consumers that fashion has no value. We should make legislation to have minimum prices.”

Has anything changed so far? 

No. That’s why it makes sense to touch on this issue again.

No one planned to find solutions. Brands and governments will never do it! A spontaneous act of understanding is not part of their plans. But the pandemic has contributed to exacerbating the situation. Many people lost their job, and the working conditions are even worse now.

Seven years later, we are still just talking. And talking about change when nothing ever changes can be frustrating. We like words, but actions must follow or change won’t happen.

So we signed the “Good clothes fair pay” petition, which demands a living wage for the people who make our clothes. They need 1 million EU citizen signatures. 

Let’s help them!