Labour Behind The Label

After months of intense struggle, unions and employers reach an agreement to increase wages in Cambodia. Unions and garment manufacturers in Cambodia have reached an agreement to increase wages significantly. The agreement follows months of unprecedented labour activism in Cambodia, where a rapidly growing garment industry has become the most important industrial sector and income-earner.

Take action today to support over 300 Cambodian workers sacked for their participation in strikes for fair wages. The workers downed their tools in September last year to support trade unions in ongoing minimum-wage negotiations. They were dismissed from their factories as a consequence. 

Take action in a new way - hold an LBL clothes swap!

Fashion connects us to people across the world. Fashion students - the next generation of industry players - can have a role in transforming the industry so that in the future beautiful clothes are produced whilst respecting the rights of people and the planet.

This short film, which is available to watch online, introduces Fashioning an Ethical Industry and the work the project has been doing with fashion schools, colleges and universities to equip them with the tools and resources to teach their students about ethical issues. It features interviews with representatives from London College of Fashion, Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Traid, Soil Association, Asia Floor Wage and Bangladeshi Garment Workers.

The film was shot in spring 2010 at Fast Forward, the project's international conference, held at the Rich Mix Arts Centre in London and Fashion Victims, an event held at University of the West of England for 14 - 18 years olds. You can learn more on the Fashioning an Ethical Industry website.

The latest edition of FEI's magazine, Sense, folds out to create a poster of the best in graduate ethical fashion for 2009. Find out more about how you, as a students or tutor of fashion, can get involved in creating a more ethical industry in this one of a kind publication.

(Fashioning an Ethical Industry, June 2009, 8 pages)

Sense is a beautifully produced magazine for fashion students, covering everything from business ethics to sourcing fair trade fabrics, packed full of industry tips and profiles of students designing an ethical industry. Sense offers inspiration and ideas for students wanting to learn about ethics in fashion and get involved in creating change while at university or college.

This new report by War on Want uncovers evidence of workers in Bangladesh regularly working 80 hours a week for just 5p an hour, in potential death trap factories, to produce cheap clothes for British consumers of Primark, Tesco and Asda's 'George' range.  The research found six factories producing for some or all of the companies, and found serious workers rights violations in each, with workers too frightened to join a union and few who had even heard of a code of conduct, let alone spoken openly to social auditors.  These six factories prove that despite the fact that all three have commited to ensuring freedom of association, a living wage, legal working hours and proper monitoring and verifaction of supplier factories illegal and exploitative conditions are found within their supply chain.  Whilst the research focused on factories in Bangladesh we can have little confidence similar conditions don't exist in other factories or other countries.

For over a decade, consumers, workers and campaigners have been calling on fashion brands to make sure the workers who produce the clothes they sell are paid a living wage. At the start of 2006, Labour Behind the Label decided it was time to check in with the fashion industry, to see what progress has been made. This report presents the results of our investigation, revealing who is - and isn’t - doing what.

Arcadia is the UK's second biggest garment retailer after Marks and Spencer, and its biggest women's wear retailer. In 2004 it owned 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.  This briefing was produced by Labour Behind the Label in 2004.