Arcadia, the high street of exploitation
Thursday, 11 March 2004 00:00
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| Arcadia, the high street of exploitation |
| Evidence of poor conditions |
| The Verdict |
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Arcadia is the UK's second biggest garment retailer after Marks and Spencer, and its biggest women's wear retailer. It owns seven high street labels: Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Top Man and Top Shop, Wallis, Evans and Miss Selfridge, whose products are available in more than 2000 UK outlets as well as international stores in another 20 countries. Arcadia Group employs 25000 workers. In 2003, Arcadia Group almost doubled its profits from £116 to £228 millions, which is estimated to have added £1 billion to the personal fortune of owner Philip Green. Philip Green, who also owns British Home Stores, is famed for his ability to source goods more cheaply and squeeze prices to suppliers harder than most of his competitors. Such practices, however, are responsible for the increasingly precarious lives of garment workers all over the world, and are unlikely to be compatible with Arcadia's claim to take its supply chain responsibilities seriously.
Bought in 2002 by Philip Green, the company is no longer floated on the stock exchange. Green and his family own 92% of Arcadia Group and announced, in October 2003, a profit increase of 96% on sales which only rose by 3.3%. Such impressive profits were the result, said Green, of better buying and of turning over stock more rapidly. Buying and stock management issues have been identified as priorities since Green bought Arcadia. Analysts have also quoted cost efficiencies and margin improvements as accounting for such growth. Top Shop is the best performing of Arcadia labels and grew by 10% in the same year. Arcadia garments are produced by some 750 suppliers - in countries which include Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Greece, Poland, Turkey, UK, Spain, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Hong Kong. Although the company's supply chain is not as visible as that of international brands, a picture is nevertheless emerging of working conditions which are a far cry from the dream factory we read about in the fashion pages and from the standards stipulated by the company's code of conduct and the International Labour Organisation.
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