Forced Labour

Oxfam Hong Kong launches new CSR report for the Garment Industry

July 24, 2009
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Oxfam Hong Kong launches new CSR report for the Garment Industry

Oxfam Hong Kong has just launched a new guidebook for the garment industry titled Good Fashion: A Guide to Being an Ethical Clothing Company. Although they encourage the use of the guidebook for educational use, as well as for research, advocacy and campaign purposes, be sure to notify them if you are going to use the guidebook so that they may assess its impact.   “As an active promoter of corporate social responsibility (CSR), Oxfam Hong Kong launches the first corporate social responsibility guidebook: Good Fashion: A Guide to Being an Ethical Clothing Company today. Good Fashion targets to...

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“Defy them”

May 8, 2009
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New short film out of Amnesty International this week. Whether we like to admit it or not, there is a direct correlation between the fashion industry and torture. Social issues facing the industry today include: forced labour, child labour, harassment or abuse, nondiscrimination, health and safety, freedom of association and collective bargaining, wages and benefits, hours of work, overtime compensation (Workplace Code of Conduct, FLA). Source: Amnesty UK

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Women Exploiting Women

March 3, 2009
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  The National Labor Committee released a report last week citing sweatshop conditions in a Guatemalan factory manufacturing clothing for Briggs New York (80%) and Lane Bryant (remaining 20%) clothing.   If you don’t want to read the full article, here is the abstract:   “Young Mayan women sew Briggs New York and Lane Bryant clothing under abusive and illegal sweatshop conditions at the Nicotex factory outside Guatemala City.  Women in the U.S. are unknowingly purchasing clothing made by other women who are being exploited. All overtime at the Nicotex factory is mandatory, and 14 2/3-hour shifts, from 7:00...

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FIBERcast tweet along

February 23, 2009
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  The first FIBERcast, featuring Dr. Marsha Dickson and Mr. Doug Cahn, took place today, February 23, 2008. The broadcast was hosted by Dr. Hye-Shin Kim, of the University of Delaware, and focused on “Social Responsibility in the Apparel Industry”.   For those not following on Twitter, here are my live tweets of the event: searchable under #fibercast, #csr and #sr   ·  Dr. Marsha Dickson # fibercast: monitoring become the standard, but often does not provide solutions. new book http://tinyurl.com/aqb85w about 2 hours ago ·  #fibercast problems are complex and widespread/freedom of association/forced labour/discrimination/child labour about 2 hours...

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Message from the Asian Human Rights Commission on the 60th Anniversary of UDHR

December 17, 2008
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Many textile and apparel companies boast a commitment to operating within the legal frameworks of the countries in which they manufacture. It would seem only reasonable to expect as much (Congratulations! You didn’t break the law!). Considering the standard of human rights within such countries, should this fact be celebrated? December 10th marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this video, Basil Fernando, CEO of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), highlights the issue of “non-rule of law”. According to Fernando, the last 60 years of Human Rights has only worked to establish the...

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