Something Needs To Change...

The tragedies in third world countries, including the Bangladesh factory collapse (April 2013) and factory fire (November 2012) show that something needs to change in the clothing industry.

These third world factories supply a number of companies in the west, such as Walmart, Gap, H&M, Primark and more. The workers in these factories work extremely long hours and get paid an absolute minimum. 

The factories the West's garments are made in are extremely hazardous and would not pass the West's Health and Safety laws. So why should they be expectable in the third world where clothes are made for OUR benefit?

The big companies that use these factories should insist on independent oversights of the working condition. Just because they're out of sight, they shouldn't be out of mind. Companies have 'rejected' this in the past because of costs but isn't it worth it? Organisers for independent inspection say that they could be funded for as little as 10% per item. A small price to pay which would make minimal dents in companies billion pound profits.

Reference: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/04/29/2576913/low-wage-workers-pay-steep-price.html

Dhaka Bangladesh Factory Fire, Nov 2012

While researching into the Bangladesh factory collapse (24th April 2013) I found out about this also recent clothes factory fire which broke out in November last year.

Apparently fires in these types of clothing factories are very common in Bangladesh and so companies should really be putting pressure on the local businesses to improve safety.

Reports said that over 100 people died. 

The fire started on the bottom floor of the factory which trapped many victims. Officials believe it was an electrical short circuit which caused the disaster. The factory had no fire exits already making the factory an unsafe place to work. Workers had been unable to escape through narrow exits

Text reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20482273
Image references:http://womennewsnetwork.net/2012/11/25/garment-fire-bangladesh-crisis/
                          http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/25/bangladesh-factory-fire-dhaka

Bangladesh Clothing Factory Collapses

In the last couple of weeks (24th April) a clothing factory in Bangladesh has collapsed which is something that a lot say could have been avoided. The workers in the factory sew clothes for companies in the west, one of those being Primark.

Workers had complained about the state of the building. There were huge cracks in the building but the workers were told to ignore the cracks, continuing work as normal.

"The deaths as a result of the collapsed building in Bangladesh were a tragedy but not an accident," says Murray Worthy from the charity War on Want. He argues that the level of neglect and lack of regulation in the industry led to the disaster at the factory.

Campaigners believe that the rapid expansion of the clothing industry (stemming from issues such as fast and throw away fashion) plays a large role in what has happened.

Sam Mahers is from Labour Behind the Label and says that it's common for these factory buildings to have illegal floors added. One minister alleged that the whole building had been illegally constructed.

Labour Behind the Label is currently trying to get people to sign up to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement. This is an agreement which will include building inspections, a review of safety standards and training in workers' rights. So far the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger have signed it.

Supervisors of factories in Bangladesh monitor their staff very closely, even down to how long their toilet breaks are.

The textile industry in Bangladesh is hugely important for the company as shown in the chart below

The countries exports have increased hugely over the last 30years, mainly because of the country's cheap labour. The textile employees are among the lowest paid in the world. This is apparently the only way that Bangladesh can stay in competition with China and Vietnam.

Primark say they had "been engaged for several years with NGOs and other retailers to review the Bangladeshi industry approach to factory standards. Primark will push for this review to also include building integrity".

For many this is too late as over 400 people have died from this incident.

Companies are beginning to look more closely at their suppliers due to a number of campaigns on the issue of slavery and around factory workers. Consumers could also help push this with thinking about why a piece of clothing is so cheap? Is someone else suffering for it? It is primarily down to the companies to change the way they operate not for the consumers and most people in the UK would rather pay a higher cost for clothing than think there are people suffering for it.

Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22296645

Anti-Slavery

Research from Anti-Slavery International has found that top UK high street brands are selling clothing made by girls in slavery in Southern India.

The research uncovered that young, unmarried girls and women from lower classed families  are forced to work in the spinning mills and garment factories of five Indian clothing manufacturers that supply major western clothing retail brands. Export data was found which confirmed that dozens of major western brands had purchased garments from these manufacturers.


The workers are cheated into slavery. Parents agree to three year contracts for their daughters to work on the assumption they will receive their promised pay and the amount that they receive upon finishing their contract. The final bonus is used against the workers to prevent them demanding better working conditions or leaving.


The owners of the factories go against local customs, forcing the confinement of the women to hostels as a way of keeping them 'safe'
The workers are allowed a weekly five minute phone call to family which is monitored by security staff. If parents visit, they can only speak to their daughter under the watch of a security guard like in a prison. Apart from this, no other outside communication is allowed.
In most of the mills, there is no weekend breaks and if there is a day off, the women have to stay in the factory or mill compound. In some of the mills and factories, workers can have up to six days leave but have to work an extra month to complete their contract for each additional day they take off.

Many of the workers suffer poor health from poor food diets, poor hygiene and the hazards associated with working with cotton. Many workers get TB or ill from cotton in their lungs, some die from this lack of health care.

Workers are often not routinely paid, in one mill the workers were promised the equivalent of £52 a month for 48 hour weeks but only get £24 a month for 76 hour weeks.
Other factory workers are forced to work 12 hours Monday to Friday and 16 hours on Saturday to be allowed Sunday off.

Reference:http://www.antislavery.org/english/what_we_do/programme_and_advocacy_work/slavery_on_the_high_street.aspx

Modern Day Slavery

I found this video of a TED talk by Lisa Kristine, Jan 2012. Lisa is a photographer who travelled the world for two years, documenting the harsh realities of 'modern day slaves'.

Some Key Notes:

• “There are more than 27 million people enslaved in the world today — that's double the amount of people taken from Africa during the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade.”
• "I knew slavery existed in the world, but not to such a degree...I felt ashamed at my own lack of knowledge of this autrousity in my lifetime"
• 150 years ago, an agricultural slave would cost $50,000 in todays money, three times the annual salary of  an American worker, today they are enslaved for just $18
• Slavery generates profits of more the $13 Billion dollars world wide, each year.
• They are usually tricked with false promises of education and better jobs
• The goods that have enslaved people produce have value but the people producing them are disposable
• Slavery exists everywhere and is illegal everywhere
• Her camera got far better treatment than the people
• Some don't even know their enslaved as this has been the case all their lives, they have nothing to compare it too
• When the villagers claimed their freedom, the slave holders burned down all of their houses. 
• Some sex slaves were as young as 7 years old
• Between 100,000 and 300,000 American children are sold into sex slavery each year
• Children taken from their families and trafficked and vanished
• Met a slave who has known cruelty all his life and so passes that down to the younger slaves that he manages
• "He has a dream that he will become free and become educated with the help of local activists like free the slaves"

Textile Slavery, Uttar Pradesh, India. 10.14

• Visited villages were entire family's were enslaved in the silk trade.
• The mix dye in big barrels and submerge the silk in them up to their elbows, but the dye is toxic
• "We have no freedom, we hope still though that we can leave this house some day and go some place else where we actually get paid for our dying"

She took photographs like the one below as she wanted them to know we would be baring witness to them and try to make a difference in their lives. The images are not of issues, they are of people all deserving of the same rights and dignities in their lives. 

Reference: http://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_kristine_glimpses_of_modern_day_slavery.html

10 Facts About Modern Slavery

The Dollar A Day Dress

This film was created by BBC's Panorama in 2005. The team travelled the world to create the film which highlighted how the global garment industry can harm poor countries. 

Steve Bradshaw travelled from the Andrew to the Sahara collecting different fabrics for an outfit which was designed and made by a group of London Fashion Students, then was modelled at London Fashion Week. Each piece of fabric symbolised the plight of millions who live on less than a dollar a day to make the clothing that people all over the world wear.

Some people believe that the best way to help the poorer countries would be to 'wean' them off Western aid, ensuring a free and liberal world trade system. In this documentary, Panorama uncovers some of the harsh truths about the affect free trade has on the developing world and as to whether it would do more harm as well as more good.

Some of the findings:

• Cotton from Mali: Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world where farmers were encouraged to grow cotton. Cotton prices in the world market is dropping and the farmers are facing competition from heavily subsidised US cotton farmers. The West gives fifty billion dollars to Mali in aid, but three hundred billion dollars to its own farmers, giving Mali farmers no chance.
  The World Trade Organisation has ruled US subsidies illegal as it's a clear breach of the West's 'commitment' to free trade, however the US are yet to change this.
  As well as this, the famous blue robes of nomads in Timbuktu are no longer made from Malian cotton but from cotton textiles manufactured in China.
• Cotton from Uganda: In Uganda, most people wear second hand clothes which have been donated by the richer countries. This trade ruins the chances of growth for the local textile industry.
  Some Africans call the clothes "dead white men's clothes" not believing that people would willingly throw away such things. This comes back to an issue of sustainability. Until the country can phase out cast offs, their industry will not be able to provide the jobs and economic growth Uganda needs.
• Alpaca wool from Peru: In Peru, farmers are facing the loss of the country's most valuable resource as the quality and price of wool from the farmed Alpaca's suffers from poor breeding methods. The wool is supposed to be one of the worlds most luxurious and expensive fabrics.
  This is a great contrast to those farming the Alpaca's who are some of the poorest people in the world as the quality and price of the wool has taken a 'nose dive' due to poor breeding.
  More developed countries have also started to import some of Peru's genetic stock and began breeding selectively to produce finer wool which the Peruvian farmers can not live up to unless the richer countries share their breeding technology.
• Silk from Cambodia: In Cambodia, 1 in 5 people depend on the garment industry for their livelihood. The 250,000, mostly women workers, earn good wages and say they work in good conditions. The factories they work in are monitored by the International Labour Organisation supported by Cambodia's new labour union.
  The garment factories blossomed after Cambodia signed a global quota system, obliging rich nations to buy from countries with high labour standards, however in Jan 2005 the regulations ended and the country has to now compete with China whose workers wages and rights are unprotected.
  Cambodia's only chance of success is to market its labour standards to companies who are keen to protect their brand name. This would then give big companies a unique selling point, however the country could also likely to fall victim to "a race to the bottom" over labour standards.

I personally am quite shocked over the findings of this Panorama investigation. I can't quite believe how selfish the richer countries are and their unwillingness to really help the third world countries which have been and still are key to the fashion industry. High street fashion companies could make a real stand with partnering with a country such as Cambodia which has much higher labour standards than the countries they are currently opting to manufacture garments in. Why wouldn't a high street brand want to help and support a country where there is fair labour? It is all part of the selfishness, low costs at manufacturing provide companies with a bigger turn over. I'm sure, should this be campaigned about people would fight for the brands they are wearing to have been made in a country with high labour standards rather than made by sweatshop slaves and be prepared to pay more, knowing they are making an impact and changing the lives of thousands in the East.

Reference: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4314653.stm