Category Archives: CSR

Made in…where!?!

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Yesterday, just before going to bed, I was reading the BBC news website and came across an odd article announcing the release of premium jeans in Sweden. Normally, something like this wouldn’t be big news but, the title of the article begins with the words “North Korean designer jeans…” !?!

The jeans, named Noko Jeans, are being released today in Sweden and will cost 1,500 Swedish kronor ($220; £132). The whole adventure started with an email sent to North Korea in 2007 asking about the possibility of shifting some of their production from Southern China. According to the BBC article:

“North Korea’s biggest garment company turned the idea down, but eventually they struck a deal with the state’s largest mining group, Trade 4, which runs a textile operation on its site.”

Interesting…

The email that started it all!

So the email started a relationship that resulted in an official diplomatic invitation to North Korea.

What spurred this?

“The reason we chose North Korea was, and is, because we had had an interest in the country for quite some time. North Korea is one of the few blank spots on the map, both figuratively and literally—Noko Jeans was a way to gain access to an otherwise isolated country. A way to learn more about it. There’s little to none infrastructure for producing JEANS since it’s a product they’ve never done before, but they DO have up-to-date factories in the Pyongyang-vicinity (where our factory is!).”

Maybe denim production is lacking in the Hermit Kingdom because the dress code forbids them. In fact, Noko jeans are only available in black because blue denim is too ‘American.’

Naturally, after I recovered from the shock of this information, I wondered, how can they justify it? We may not know much about North Korea but we have heard a few things here and there.

I did a quick search and found that a few others have asked the same question. On their facebook page, Noko Jeans responded to a query about the money trail (where does it go?):

“Noko Jeans

You are completely right, North Korea is a country where many atrocities happen, almost on a daily basis. I, and we, do, however, believe that it is better to do something, than nothing at all.

As you’ve written, and we firmly believe, projects like this is a way to influence. Even though we work in a very “micro” context, we believe we bring something to to the table. Outer influences are only a good thing. Be it through detailed CSR/code of conducts agreement, or the fact that we’re physically present throughout ALL our production, our collaborators are – kindly, of course – forced to work in a different way than when, for example, Chinese or South Korean companies produce clothes there.

We worked more than 2,5 years (still without any salary for any of us) to realize this project so I really hope that you understand that this is much more than us going to North Korea for ten days and setting up a jeans factory….. We stayed at the factory for the whole time during the production to make sure that our code of conduct was followed to the point. I don’t know any other example of any other garment producer in the world who show that kind of dedication in making sure that the CSR-policy is more than a piece of paper….…

The price of the jeans is to cover our expenses, but since the interest for the jeans seems to be huge at the moment we might have some money left beginning of next year. And some of that money will of course be given back to the country and/or the factory somehow. We’re working on how to do this in a proper way, for example in reinvesting in the machinery of the factory — or in person give something back to the people who made the pants.

We WILL find a way to give something back in the right way, but at this point ANY input/suggestions is very much welcome…

Sorry for wall of text :—)

Love ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ , Noko Jeans”

They also have this video on their Vimeo account showing their factory.

This is Our Factory from Noko Jeans on Vimeo.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really know what to think about this so, I emailed Noko jeans earlier today asking about their Code of Conduct and also asking them for an interview.

If you have any questions that you would like me to ask, please let me know. Stay tuned for an update to this fascinating story!!

Update III: Uzbekistan’s Cotton Trail

Yet another update on forced and child labour in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector.

The Cotton Campaign continues to report on the flagrant abuse of human rights by the Uzbek government. There have been some unfortunate incidents linked to this year’s harvest (to read more about them click below) including:

Another post gives a quick overview of the findings in the Veritas preliminary report saying that:

The Cotton Campaign, through Ferghana.ru, has posted a list of representatives that were present at the Tashkent Cotton Fair. According to the Cotton Campaign, “contracts were signed for over 600,000 tons of this year’s crop alone, and the list of attendees was the largest ever.”

Take a look at the list and see if you recognize any names. Please let us know who they are and which companies they service. This is a big step in the ability to trace this harvest.

Finally, in case some are still wondering what the big deal is, here are some videos showing what life is like for the cotton labourers.

A Big Step for Russell Athletics, A Giant Leap for Best Practices

On November 17th, 2009, United Students Against Sweatshops announced its historic victory against Russell Athletics with an agreement to reinstate 1200 Honduran workers that had been laid off when Jerzees de Honduras factory shutdown shortly after unionization.

The Case:

As outlined in the previous post by Mary Hanlon: “Over a two-year period, Russell managers carried out a campaign of retaliation and intimidation in order to stop workers at two of the company’s Honduran factories from exercising their right to form a trade union and bargain collectively.”

Jerzees de Honduras which was directly owned and operated by Russell was one of the targeted factories. A report by the Worker Rights Consortium details that:

“Prior to the closure announcement, the WRC, as part of an ongoing inquiry into code compliance at Jerzees de Honduras, had identified persistent violations of workers’ associational rights, including multiple threats from management personnel that the factory would close because of the decision of workers to exercise their right to unionize. The WRC brought these violations to the attention of Russell’s senior management in the United States on multiple occasions, but the problems continued. Thus, at the time of the closure announcement, on October 8, 2008, the WRC already possessed substantial credible evidence that the decision to close the facility was, at least in significant part, a product of ongoing animus by the company toward workers’ exercise of their associational rights. The WRC reported this to universities on October 10, 2008.”

In a letter addressed to their collegiate partners, Russell emphatically denies these accusations stating that:

“The recent decision to close Jerzees de Honduras (JDH) had nothing to do with unions. In fact, we previously recognized that plant’s union status on October 3, 2007 — more than a year prior to the closing. As the Fair Labor Association (FLA) noted in its report: “If the primary motive of the company had been to frustrate the union, it could have closed JDH earlier and even switched production from Honduras to Mexico.”

We made the painful decision to close this plant due to deteriorating economic conditions that caused a severe global slowdown in the demand for fleece products. We are not alone in facing a decline in business. Approximately 25 different Honduran factories closed in the last year, including many apparel manufacturers. Furthermore, JDH was our only facility with a lease that permitted us to vacate immediately. The choice was that black and white, and an independent investigation commissioned by the FLA found that basing our decision on the lease saved the company $2 million, enabling us to protect jobs in our other plants. It’s also important to note the decline in the apparel market forced us to announce the closure of seven other company facilities in the U.S. and Central America, all of which were non-union.”

The Movement:

Following the shut down of the factory, USAS successfully lobbied around 100 universities to terminate or suspend their licensing contracts with Russell Athletics. According to the NYTimes, USAS used other pressure tactics and activist strategies:

“Going beyond their campuses, student activists picketed the N.B.A. finals in Orlando and Los Angeles this year to protest the league’s licensing agreement with Russell. They distributed fliers inside Sports Authority sporting goods stores and sent Twitter messages to customers of Dick’s Sporting Goods to urge them to boycott Russell products.

The students even sent activists to knock on Warren Buffett’s door in Omaha because his company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns Fruit of the Loom, Russell’s parent company.”

The students also worked with 65 members of Congress to draft a letter that expressed their “grave concern” and requested a response from the company to the allegations of misconduct. The letter can be found here.

While USAS was working hard to bring attention to the issue, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) decided to conduct a series of investigations into the allegations against Russell. In June, the FLA put Russell on a 90-day special review which “requires specific actions by Russell to address issues related to the closure of the Jerzees de Honduras factory and to be in good standing with the FLA.” The FLA then worked with Russell to create a remediation plan which the company must follow in order to be removed from special review status which was extended another 45 days. This status continues until the end of the current special review period which will be in mid-December.

The Conclusion:

On November 17th, after a series of talks and negotiations a statement was released that stated:

“Russell Athletic and the union of workers of Jerzees de Honduras S.A. de C.V. SITRAJERZEESH and the General Confederation of Workers are pleased to announce the completion of an agreement that is intended to foster workers rights in Honduras and establish a harmonious and cooperative labor-management relationship. This agreement represents a significant achievement in the history of the apparel sector in Honduras and in Central America.”

Highlights of the agreement are Russell’s promises to reopen the factory, reinstate 1200 former workers and recognize SITRAJERZEESH. Perhaps the most important promise is that of non-interference and union neutrality in all facilities owned by the company in Honduras.

Rod Palmquist, USAS International Campaign Co-ordinator, was quoted in the USAS press release describing the significance of this agreement:

“This is the first time we know of where a factory that was shut down to eliminate a union was later re-opened after a worker-activist campaign. This is also the first company-wide neutrality agreement in the history of the Central America apparel export industry – and it has been entered into by the largest private employer in Honduras, the largest exporter of t-shirts to the US market in the world.”

SA would like to congratulate everyone!!! Thank you for your hard work to make an unjust situation right again. This is an interesting example of work being done on multiple fronts to improve labour conditions. While this conclusion only affects workers in Russell and Fruit of the Loom factories in Honduras, it may become a big step in best practices in the Central American apparel industry.

Meet// Reyna Martinez: Stitched up in Honduras Speaker Tour

Over a two-year period, Russell managers carried out a campaign of retaliation and intimidation in order to stop workers at two of the company’s Honduran factories from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively. (People & Planet)

Below is a message from Fashioning an Ethical Industry (FEI):

People and Planet and Labour behind the Label present Reyna Martinez – sharing her story of the mission to defend the human rights’ of factory workers supplying Fruit of the Loom in Honduras.

On November 7, 2008, a 36-page report documented serious violations of workers rights by the Russell Corporation, a company wholly owned by Fruit of the Loom. Over a two-year period, Russell managers carried out a campaign of retaliation and intimidation in order to stop workers at two of the company’s Honduran factories from exercising their right to form a trade union and bargain collectively.

The courage of workers in Honduras and a university boycott has forced Fruit of the Loom to listen to the pleas of their employees, and they are now negotiating with the union in Washington DC, which they previously refused to do.

Hear Reyna Martinez’s story:

24th November: Edinburgh University David Hume Tower, Conference Room
25th November: Birmingham University, Guild Council Chambers
26th November: Oxford University
27thNovember: Bristol Kino Cafe, Nice Tree Hill
30th November: London UCL University

For further information on the speaker tour please see the People and Planet website

Source: People and Planet, via FEI

Summary of the CSR – Asia Summit 2009

CSR Asia 2009

Panel Disucssion: Karamjit Singh (Editor, The Edge), Dato’ Yusli Mohammed Yusoff (Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia) and Richard Welford ( Chairman CSR Asia)

27th-28th October 2009 CSR – Asia held its 7th summit “Sustainable Business as the Road to Recovery” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the most cutting edge CSR issues facing businesses in these turbulent times of trading.

As I came to the conference with a fashion background, with knowledge of the direct implications CSR has on the textile and apparel industry, my perspectives and knowledge was over the course of two intense days challenged and greatly advanced.

I therefore want to share with you some of the main topics and issues which were discussed throughout the summit.

Richard Welford, Chairman of CSR – Asia kicked off the summit by highlighting what the recession has meant for CSR.

He started out by stating that “as many business leaders as well as other stakeholders and the general society assumed that the “trend” of ethical business practises would subside as a result of the recession they were wrong! As it is now is more relevant than ever”.

He supported this by explaining how the recession has put a stronger focus on irresponsible business practises, which has resulted in consumers now demanding and expecting companies to take responsibility for how they make their money with transparency being key.

CSR is also stronger than it was a year ago there has been budget increases within some CSR departments. However others have seen cuts in accordance with other departments as businesses have been hit by the recession.

Further Richard announced the publication of Asian Sustainability Rating™ on www.csr-asia.comwhich provides an indepth assessment of CSR related disclosure of 200 of the largest companies across ten countries in Asia.

In the panel discussion which followed where Richard Welford, Dato’ Yusli Mohammed Yusoff (Chief Executive Officer, Bursa Malaysia) and Karamjit Singh (Editor, The Edge) agreed that CSR will determine the winners and losers in the aftermath of the recession. A W recovery was predicted which was underpinned with the importance of companies looking internally for their competitive edge to enhance their brand reputation.

One issue, which was a coherent throughout the whole summit, was the importance of stakeholders.

Richard concluded the panel discussion by specifying “You cannot do CSR without stakeholder engagement and community investment”.

Terence Lyons from Augure held a session on the future of stakeholder engagement. He stressed the importance of identifying your stakeholders within your value chain through an actionable framework. Further he provided a model of how to convince board of directors to provide recourses to CSR. One has to have a compelling story, position the big picture and then tie the big picture.

Ever heard about naked CSR? Well I had not, or at least until Ashley Hegland from Edelman explained the power and influence of viral marketing. As our generation is far more exposed to and engaged in opportunities of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, blogging ect the slightly older generations (which normally are CEOs) are now identifying the potential and opportunities which the interactive media can have on their businesses.

Viral marketing is a great tool for companies to use to engage stakeholders with their CSR practices.

I was lucky to meet Allison Murry, former Head of Responsibility at T-Mobile which explained how T – Mobile created an interactive website where:

We want your help to design new mobile applications that will help tackle a social or environmental issue we all care about.

Everyone can get involved by helping us choose the issues to focus on and share ideas for mobile applications. We then look into turning the ideas into mobile apps that will be launched for people to use that have a real impact.

Allison then told me about the first application they launched which was the:

Recycle Guide – save time, money and help the environment with our new mobile app

By using the Recycle guide you can discover where and when you can recycle within the UK. For more information visit http://thespark.t-mobile.co.uk/about/our-mobile-apps.

A great initiative – and an inspiration for others to think outside the box!

The issue of transparency and governance was quite engaging as to how this allow for better risk management and therefore will enable companies to identify their ESG risks. David Smith from RiskMetrics Group explained how adopting transparency would protect companies against “swimming naked when the tide goes out”. He also stressed the importance of this, as investors’ now wants to know the good and bad of a company’s CSR performance.

This was just a very brief summary of the summit and some of the key points which I took from it. However when I get the rest of my notes in order I will post another post with some further thoughts and ideas which was discussed.

Finally I would just like to thank CSR Asia for hosting such a inspiring and challenging summit and if anyone gets the chance to go next year when it’s held in Hong Kong – I would strongly recommend it!

Source: T-Mobile, CSR – Asia Summit 2009

[Lesson 1] Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon’

Lesson1 This lesson introduces the following concepts: consumer choice, designer choice, the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon,’ greenwashing, unintelligent design, and cradle to cradle design theory. For more information on these issues, please visit the ‘Works Cited’ page at the end of the lesson.

* If you are planning to use this lesson, please let us know so that we may keep track of our progress.

Introduction

Both consumers and designers alike have been left to fend for themselves when it comes to understanding the social issues and environmental concerns increasingly associated with the fashion industry. Signals of deception, such as greenwashing, as well as unintelligent designs that have created products with hidden ingredients, known as products plus, have seemingly hijacked the potential for any real choice to exist at all.

Click here to download this lesson: Lesson 1: Sifting through the ‘Ecofashion Lexicon’

Curb Your Consumption

MA Design Studies (MADS) student, Katie Hart has recently launched an initiative set to investigate the relationship between consumer behavior and over-consumption. Through the online lab, Curb Your Consumption, Hart shares her research and ideas, bringing together resources, news, events, and links on the subject.

Her final project explores patterns of consumption within the UK. Along the way, Hart hopes to “work with a diverse range of consumers to:

Educate and communicate the problems with over-consumption of fashion products in the UK
Understand what consumers need in order to actually change their behaviour (i.e. labelling, information pack, seminars etc)
Contribute to a grassroots movement of positive change in consumer behaviour” (Hart, About Me)

Here are some of the exciting things happening over on her site:

Hart has created a large visual artifact that illustrates “the problem with fashion overconsumption, and the global torment we are creating with this excessive spending” (Hart, About My Project). She will also be conducting a series of workshops. If you are interested in participating, be sure to contact her. Her book, titled Buy Now. Pay Later – today’s treasure is tomorrow’s trash, will soon be available on her site, and she is currently working on what she calls “bite-size learning materials” on the following topics:

Fibres and Fabrics – taking the microscope to our clothes
The hands that touch our fashion – a journey into the histories of our garments
Fast Fashion – the issues
Recycling/Reuse – what to do with your clothes when they are worn out

If you would like to learn more, be sure to follow Hart on her journey toward solutions for sustainable consumption and learn how you can ‘curb’ your consumption habits.

***Will you be in London the first week of December? Her work will be on display at the MA Design Studies Final Exhibition, Applied Imagination – Bringing Method to the Madness at T2 Truman Brewery – from 4th – 8th December 2009.

Here are some images of her work via the online lab:

For more images, visit Curb Your Consumption.

MADS is a graduate program offered through Central Saint Martins. For more information on the program, click here.

A New Approach to the Issue of Living Wages

One of the root causes of poverty wages in the industry is the power of global buyers to constantly relocate production in search of ever lower prices and better terms of trade. This power is used to exert a downward pressure on wages and conditions – labour being one of the few ‘production costs’ or ‘inputs’ that can be squeezed.

The solution

The basic idea of the Asia Floor Wage is to put a ‘floor’ under this, thereby preventing this competition from forcing wages below poverty levels and making sure gains are more equitably shared along the supply chain. The Asia Floor Wage alliance have formulated a unified, regional demand for a minimum living wage which is decent and fair and which can be standardised and compared between countries. This regional collective bargaining strategy will unite workers and their allies from different Asian countries behind one wage demand.

The goal is to attain this standardised minimum living wage for workers across Asia through negotiations between garment industry employers and workers’ representative organisations, and with the mediation and support of governments, inter-governmental organisations and social movements.

The report constructed by the Asia Floor Wage organisation is available here.

Source: Asian Floor Wage

Watch//Waste = Food

“Waste = Food” is a fantastic documentary, perfect for incorporating into course curriculum as a visual aid to inspire fashion design students to think critically about ‘waste.’

Outline:

Man is the only creature that produces landfills. Natural resources are being depleted on a rapid scale while production and consumption are rising in nations like China and India. The waste production world wide is enormous and if we do not do anything we will soon have turned all our resources into one big messy landfill. But there is hope. The German chemist, Michael Braungart, and the American designer-architect William McDonough are fundamentally changing the way we produce and build. If waste would become food for the biosphere or the technosphere (all the technical products we make), production and consumption could become beneficial for the planet.

A design and production concept that they call Cradle to Cradle. A concept that is seen as the next industrial revolution.

• Design every product in such a way that at the end of its lifecycle the component materials become a new resource.

• Design buildings in such a way that they produce energy and become a friend to the environment.

Large companies like Ford and Nike are working with McDonough and Braungart to change their production facilities and their products. They realize that economically seen waste is destruction of capital. You make something with no value. Based on their ideas the Chinese government is working towards a circular economy where Waste = Food. An amazing story that will definitely change your way of thinking about production and consumption.”

Director Rob van Hattum

Research Gijs Meijer Swantee

Production Karin Spiegel en Madeleine Somer

Editors in Chief Doke Romeijn en Frank Wiering

Source: Google and Tegenlicht

Social Alterations

An education lab for responsible fashion