WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

H&M, Inditex, Adidas, Gap... Some of the world's most famous apparel brands source from Cambodia, where 1 million people are employed by the garment, footwear and travel goods industry. Low-paid work, work in the informal economy, even work without pay is sadly widespread. By some estimates, half of all fashion workers are indebted to micro-finance because they need to take out loans to make ends meet. And, warns Clean Clothes Campaign, while Cambodian law theoretically protects the right of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, many independent labour organisations face severe legal and practical restrictions.

What can, and should, multinational brands be doing about this? Why don't they step up and pay more than survival wages? How does politics come into play here? Plus the curious case of the instant noodle unions - can we really expect trade unions run by management to put workers first?

In the latest from our series on workers rights, Clare meets Tola Mouen, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, Cambodia.

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All fashion eyes on the Danish Capital!

We interrupt our series on workers’ rights to bring you this warm and lovely chat between friends.

I have been on the sustainability advisory board of Copenhagen Fashion Week since 2019, and it’s by far my favourite fashion week.

As the SS27 runaways happen in the city, and the event turns 20, here’s how CPHFW's CEO Cecilie Thorsmark is thinking about progress, nostalgia and the way forward for sustainable fashion.

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How much do we really know about how our clothes and shoes are made? Or even where? While the latter is routinely included on care labels, that’s often the end of the story, at least the one the brands want to tell you.

Despite years of campaigning by groups like Fashion Revolution, Labour Behind the Label and Clean Clothes Campaign, many of us still have no idea who made our clothes and under what conditions.

Did you even know the Philippines is an important garment producer for brands like Lulu Lemon, and until recently, Adidas? In 2023, when a factory in Cebu supplying Adidas closed, 4000 workers lost their jobs. How about the stories of union busting linked to factory in Cambodia that's a major supplier to ASICS? Or the closure of another facility in Vietnam making Nike shoes that left thousands of workers without severance pay?

Niki Gamara is CCC’s South East Asia Urgent Appeals Co-Ordinator, working with those needing quick support in areas where violations are happening. In this vivid, warm conversation we talk about everything from how the history of colonisation echoes in the present to what I should do with my sneakers now that I know more about what goes in behind the scenes...

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There's a long history of exploitation in the denim supply chain, as our first guest this week, Bego Demir, can attest. He developed incurable silicosis in the 2000s as a result of his sandblasting job in a Turkish factory producing jeans for a famous American brand.

These days Bego coordinates Clean Clothes Campaign Türkiye, and is supporting a creative new activist strategy to hold another brand to account, this time for making big claims about being "responsibly made", while workers in a supplier factory in Istanbul faced harsh consequences when they dared to organise for better conditions.

Earlier this year, the Dutch office of the CCC network filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against denim giant Levi Strauss. Their core argument is that Levi’s used misleading claims on the labour conditions in its supply chain when advertising its products to Dutch consumers. Four individual consumers, who purchased Levi’s products believing they were buying from an ethical brand, have joined the lawsuit. One of then, Pam, is also on this week's show sharing her perspective.

Too many brands fail to prevent worker exploitation in their supply chains, from union busting to denying workers' their basic rights, whether that's the right to organise, to strike, or to be paid a living wage.

Could this latest CCC tactic - to use consumer law that protects shoppers from greenwashing - make a difference? Let's find out.

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
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What are the biggest issues facing garment workers globally today? How can we most effectively advocate for them if we've never walked in their shoes? What do we mean by solidarity, and how does that work in action? Is the compliance and social auditing industry the answer? (Spoiler alert: no!)

In this deep and meaningful introductory convo with Clean Clothes Campaigner Johnson Yeung, we unpack the challenges and changes facings the labor rights movement today, and ask, what will it really take to build a fair fashion supply chain for the people who make our clothes?

This Episode was recorded at the CCC's 35 Year Celebrations in Bangkok.
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Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.