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...
Labour
slogan t-shirts: what do you think?
I have been obsessed with U.K. designer Katharine Hamnett for a long time. In fact, it was her slogan t-shirts that first showed me that there was opportunity to transform this industry; she is the quintessential example of a pissed off designer who refuses to stand for the high human cost of fashion. She is dedicated to the promotion of organic cotton, and runs a strong campaign against the conventional ‘white gold’: “Conventional cotton represents 10% of world agriculture and uses 25% of the world’s pesticides. 100 million conventional cotton farmers, from Russia to South Africa, are living...
FIBERcast tweet along
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...
Sweated Labour, Dell, Transparency and this Blog
The issue of transparency is an important one. So, here’s a little blogging transparency … I write Social Alterations on my ‘Made in China’ Espresso Brown Dell Inspiron 1525. The National Labour Committee released a report today titled “High Tech Misery in China: The Dehumanization of Young Workers Producing Our Computer Keyboards” Sure enough, Dell is one of the companies manufacturing products in the Meitai Plastics & Electronics factory highlighted in the report in Dongguan City, Guangdong China. According to the report, the base salary at the factory is 64 cents/hour. Minus room and board, workers...
AHRC: Call for more attention for handloom weavers suffering from hunger and Tuberculosis in Varanasi
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) released a ‘Hunger Alert’ update today regarding the state of poverty and TB amongst handloom weavers in Varanasi, India. According to the report, the weavers are suffering from lack of medical attention, government neglect and extreme poverty and hunger. You can read the entire alert, as well as view a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and World Health Organisation calling for their intervention here. What does this have to do with sustainable fashion design? To say that the textile sector in India is vast would...
FEI Conference
Fashioning an Ethical Industry: Putting Ethics into Practice March 11th, 2009 This is a one day conference that will bring together experts in ethical fashion, as well as students and tutors, to discuss the current state of the ethical fashion industry, and ways to put ethics into practice. There is no question this will be an excellent conference. You can read more about this year’s conference and speakers here. To read a report on last year’s event click here, or to listen to a podcast, click here. Source: FEI
Compostmodern 09
If you’re interested in sustainable design, check out the Compostmodern 09 conference. The event will be available as a webcast, so you only have to worry about the long commute to your office, living room, kitchen table, or bed to get there. Feb 21st is the big day/40$ webcast registration This years scheduled speakers: Eames Demetrios/Eames Office Saul Griffith/Makani Power Allan Chochinov/Core 77 Nathan Shedroff/MBA Chair, California College of the Arts (CCA) Michel Gelobter, John Bielenberg and Pam Dorr/Project M and HERO Housing Resource, Alabama Emily Pilloton/Project H Design Dawn Danby/Sustainable Design Program Manager, Autodesk ...
ZARA and the right to freedom of association
A recent campaign from UNITE HERE Canada claims that the right to freedom of association is at stake for employees at ZARA, in Montréal, Quebec. According to a recent press release, “ZARA has engaged in conduct which may have violated the Québec Labour Code. This has included demoting two employees who led a union drive at ZARA’s downtown Montreal store, firing four employees who supported the union at ZARA’s Rockland Mall store, and holding anti-union meetings at three Montreal stores, in one case telling employees that joining a union is ‘treason’ against the company.” Click here to...
Message from the Asian Human Rights Commission on the 60th Anniversary of UDHR
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...
