Being fashion forward cannot mean ethical backwardness
Consumerism is rapidly becoming the new world order, and nowhere is this more evident than in the textile and apparel industry. Consumers want high street fashion at affordable prices. Across the globe, much of high street fashion, from clothes to shoes and handbags are outsourced to developing and under-developed countries due to their lower material and labor costs.
In June 2014, international fashion and retail industries were rattled when an SOS cry for help was discovered in a pair of trousers from Dublin-based fast fashion retailer, Primark. The note had been lying in the trousers since 2011, and was wrapped in a prison identity card. It was written in Chinese and the writer claimed that the inmates were forced to work ‘like oxen’ and given food that would be considered unfit for animals.
Primark and Topshop, another well known fashion retailer from the UK, have come under fire for allowing children as young as 14 to work in their supply chains. Most of these supply chain factories are in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Tanzania. In fact, London-based Ethical Trading Initiative estimates that there are approximately 211 million children under the age of 15 working around the world.
As a result of high demand for fashionable clothes, production and consumption have drastically increased with undesirable social and environmental impacts. There is an unnecessary increase in materialism and spending and in the past couple of years, the fashion industry has come under a great deal of criticism for exploiting workers in inhumane working conditions.
In 2017, one of Pakistan’s largest retailers in the country’s own apparel industry, Khaadi, found itself in the center of a campaign against inhumane workplace conditions and workers’ rights which it denies.
According to labour rights groups, Khaadi workers are not given an official appointment letter at the time of their hiring, which subsequently results in the violation of their rights by their employers. The company is also accused of depriving it’s workers from social protection.
In Pakistan, despite the presence of numerous labor laws, most factories owners, especially those belonging to the fashion industry, find loopholes in the system to exploit their workers.
Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba
In 2012, nearly 300 workers, most of them hired by third party contractors, were killed when a textile factory caught fire in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, which remains an industrial hub. A judicial inquiry revealed that several violations led to the high loss of life, including the late arrival of the fire brigade, congestion and the lack of fire hydrants.
Ethical fashion is an umbrella term to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare. Some of the biggest ethical issues in the fashion industry and particularly in the apparel manufacture sector, are about child labor, low wages, health and safety risks, environmental degradation and animal cruelty.
In Pakistan, despite the presence of numerous labor laws, most factories owners, especially those belonging to the fashion industry, find loopholes in the system to exploit their workers. One would assume that working conditions in small factories would be the most miserable, but unfortunately, it is the larger companies working in collaboration with international brands that have the worst labour conditions, and the big retailers they sell to abroad have been shrouded in controversy in the past few years.
As the fashion and retail landscape transforms and grows in Pakistan, it is the responsibility of the government to take concrete steps to ensure that labour laws are strictly being adhered to by factories and sweatshops. It is also imperative that if third party contracts are in place, stringent measures be taken so that workers’ rights are not exploited.
Health and safety officers must be employed to periodically check the premises of the factories in order to ensure that they are built according to the highest international standards. Customers can play a major role by endorsing companies that are following ethical practices and boycotting those that violate the rights of their workers.
Without it, our fashion choices will always remain questionable, and stained black with the despair of hands that make it all possible.
– Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba is a freelance consultant working in the areas of environment and health.
