A Day At Printwear Live!

Ten o'clock on a Sunday morning, when all right-thinking people are contemplating a second coffee and a bite of breakfast. So, why then did I find myself...here?

What madness is this? Wait, though, there's a clue, way off there in the distance. Time to do a CSI-style zoom and enhance...

Aha, now that makes a bit more sense. Guru Ian dragged me and Pier Mascot Ali along to Printwear Live. It's the one point of contact in the year for the clothes customisation industry to meet, network and maybe do a little business. All the big distributors and brands are here, so it's important for Pier32 to get in and touch base.

Hall 20 at the NEC (for yes, readers, we were on the outskirts of Birmingham, the Midland's shining jewel) is stuffed to the gunwales with huge stalls and marquees, offering a ton of new clothing ranges and customisation technology. We were all pleased to see that organics made a strong showing this year. Well, we would be. It's how we roll.

So a visit to Stanley Stella would always be first on the agenda. A new kid on the block, they've gone all out for organic and sustainable fabrics. But they also have a keen eye on modern trends and designs.

I was especially taken with the tops made from Modal–a silky, luxurious fabric that's made from birch. It holds colour for longer than cotton and keeps that colour more intensely.

Ian also pointed out a clever design detail on a lot of clothes designed for the customisation market. Size tabs are offset from the centre of the collar or area designed to rip out, allowing you to put your own branding on the item. Neat thinking.

Another must-stop on the tour was Continental, who while independent are still able to make a big noise against the conglomos at the front of the hall. Their commitment to ethical and sustainable ranges has always made them a favourite here at The Pier. Their Salvage (made from recycled fibre) and Fair Share (paying above market price to the workers that make the clothes) ranges are tremendously popular with our clients. It helps that they've been pals of ours for years, of course!

It's always fun to wander a show and just soak up the weird and wonderful sights. If, like me, this is your first time at a particular show, there can be some real surprises. Take, for example, the guys at Oku, who had an honest-to-Betsy eagle on their stand...

Or the full-on, properly choreographed street-dance fashion shows that featured clothes from brands like Regatta and Trespass - you know, the mid-range brands you'd normally see halfway round the Snake Pass or in a tea shop somewhere in the Dales...

(OK, and AWDI, who do know their street wear).

A real eye-opener for me were the robot embroidery machines. Feed art in one end, and they'll kick into life and stitch that design onto pretty much anything. The end results can be insanely complex.

It was, to be honest, a pretty overwhelming day with lots to see and do. Guru Ian was in his element and walked away carrying his own body weight in brochures and giveaways. New trends for the coming season? Look out for retro styles that harken back to the 80s, with contrast-colours on sleeves and collars.

But the real big thing will be hexoflage–camo styles overlaid with a hexagonal grid in hot colours. Imagine future military livery. Blend in? No chance. This is the sort of colourway you slather over your Titanfall custom loadout before you stomp off to frag alien hordes.

A madcap day, then, but I walked away with a few treats (including a bottle of prosecco in a raffle–thank you, Pencarrie!) and a renewed respect for the complexity of the industry into which I dangle my writerly toes.

There are worse ways to spend a Sunday, that's for sure.

M&S Tripped Up Over Child Labour In Turkey

Shocking news came out last week which conflated two of the big issues of our age: child labour and Syrian refugees. More worryingly, it also concerned one of most beloved, and supposedly ethical retailers–Marks And Sparks.

A Panorama investigation that screened last week on BBC1 claimed to show that factories in Turkey were using Syrian children in garment factories that were making clothes for both Marks and online retailer Asos. The refugees were paid less than a pound an hour–well under the Turkish minimum wage–and were paid in cash on the street by a middleman. The show also alleged ill-treatment of the illegal workforce. One interviewee said:

“If anything happens to a Syrian, they will throw him away like a piece of cloth.”

M&S responded to the allegations by saying:

“Ethical trading is fundamental to M&S. We are acutely aware of the complexity surrounding Syrian refugees in Turkey. We have a local team on the ground in Turkey who have visited all of our suppliers there. They have also run supplier workshops on the Syrian refugee crisis highlighting the change in labour law and how to legally employ Syrian workers.

“We had previously found no evidence of Syrian workers employed in factories that supply us, so we were very disappointed by these findings, which are extremely serious and are unacceptable to M&S. We are working closely with this supplier to take remedial action, including offering permanent legal employment, in support of any Syrian daily worker who has been employed in this factory.”

The issue with a global supply chain is the difficulty in successfully monitoring and policing it. If a big order comes into a factory that urgently needs to be filled, it's easy to see how a factory owner might use all resources available to get the job done, however unethical it might be. Turning a blind eye as to where their agency labour is coming from could be seen as a necessary evil. It's a worry that the big brands seem to find it so difficult to ensure that this sort of behaviour does not happen in their factories. However, short of constant, unannounced inspections, it's tough to see how they can maintain the standards set out in their fair working practices handbooks.

Sadly, unethical labour has always been a part of the rag trade, and globalisation makes fair trade all the more difficult to develop and protect. Despite their best efforts, no-one is spotlessly clean in this game. As M&S have found out, an ethical standpoint often collapses when it comes to closer investigation.

For more on the story, check out this piece in The Independent.

Polling Clean And Buying Dirty: Why We Say One Thing And Do Another.

There is a problem with ethical consumers. Polls and research make it clear that we want to buy in a way that rewards companies who look after their workers and the environment. But, when it comes down to it, those good intentions don't match what goes on in the marketplace. We still massively support brands with proven ethical issues.

It's called the Attitude-Behaviour Gap, and it's a real stumbling block to getting a clearer idea into how ethical shopping can become more mainstream. To put it simply: we say one thing and do another. Why is that?

A short article over on the Ethical Trading Initiative website digs into the problem, and comes up with some interesting conclusions. There are a number of factors at play which, when put together, means that we're not quite as ethical in action as we are in intent.

The first issue is that of information overload. Anyone that spends an amount of time a day on the interwebs can sympathise with that, of course. An acquaintance of mine often says 'the more I research, the more confused I get.' And therein lies the problem. Contradictory reports, the lack of clarity as to what action to take, or even how effective that action can be, leads us to make a lot of encouraging noises without actually doing that much.

Then there's the problem of what to do when you actually need a new outfit. You may head to the shops with the best of intentions, but the fact remains that ethical choices on the high street are still thin on the ground. Even brands that make a big noise about their conscious standpoint like H&M only stock a limited range of ethically-sourced products, with a tiny selection of colours and sizes that shrinks the choice still further. What you want to do and what ends up happening may diverge simply because the items you have in mind aren't available. This doesn't just apply at an individual level, either. You're just as likely to be buying for a friend, child or loved one as for yourself. How easy is it to buy ethically then?

Social pressures play a part as well. Fitting into a group can mean dressing in a certain way or spending time and money in certain shops. What if someone you want to impress drags you along to Primark on a Saturday afternoon? How do you say no to that based on your conscience? If your moral judgements and those of a larger societal group are different, it becomes that bit harder to make and stick to the right decision.

It's clear that this disconnect works across the board: look at the surprising results that have come out of big political events like the Brexit vote, which most polls indicated would be a whitewash for the Remain camp. If we're not telling the whole truth when we talk to researchers or fill in an online survey, then we shouldn't be surprised when results don't match up to expectations. Does this mean the whole idea of the 'ethical consumer' is largely fictional?

Well, no, but with caveats. We've seen how easy it can be for fashion brands to roll back on controversial decisions with a well-aimed dose of Internet ire. People, at heart, want to do the right thing by garment workers and the environment. But the terrain is still dense and difficult to navigate, and it shouldn't be surprising if our best intentions can be overridden by the choices we have to make in the real world in order to get things done.

 

Are H&M&S Failing In Their Ethical Promises?

Sometimes it feels like sustainable fashion has turned a corner, only to find a car barrelling directly at it. Take two of the most recognisable names on the high street–H&M and M&S (a pairing that just cries out for the acronym H&M&S). They regularly push their sustainable credentials, launching capsule collections and entering into collaborations with eco-fashionistas like Livia Firth.

And yet, when it comes to promises around key ethical issues like a living wage for their foreign garment workers, both giant brands are failing. That is, according to activist group Labour Behind The Label, who have just published a report on the situation in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

The findings make grim reading for those who believe that H&M&S are making a difference in getting sustainability into the mainstream. Labour Behind The Label found that in eight factories scattered around the research area, workers were still living in abject poverty. In many cases, workers were bringing home less than half the money they needed to live in anything other than slum conditions. Forced to buy food on credit, they have a permanent place on the debt spiral.

Anna McMullen, lead author on the report, is damning in her conclusions. She says:

“Both brands have hung their ethical credentials around this key human rights issue, to great applause, but without reporting clearly on the outcomes of the schemes. While consumers are left to trust that what was said is being done, many are left wondering about the real impact of the promises that were made.”

M&S, meanwhile, have been robust in defending their policies and the rollout of wage increases since 2010. A spokesman reported:

“There’s always more to be done due to the complex nature of the clothing supply chain and we cannot determine the wages paid to supplier employees. However, we are committed to ensuring our cost prices remain high enough to pay a fair living wage, training workers in financial literacy and worker rights, and playing our part in collaborating with other brands and governments to improve the sector.”

That defence tells us a lot, and explains in part the difficulty in making a supply chain fair to all. The business is so bewilderingly complex that it's impossible to guarantee the changes you make will be properly implemented. Oversight on the changes is next to impossible when employees are paid cash in hand through a piecework model of compensation.

However, H&M are still at an early stage in their scheme to improve worker conditions. Their roadmap to change was only published in 2013, and the programme is due to run until 2020. Labour Behind The Label urges H&M to look at what M&S have accomplished, and learn from their mistakes. A particular problem: benchmarks, or rather the lack of them. Currently, H&M are setting wage rates at their workers' “own opinion of what a decent living wage is.” This is pretty meaningless, and gives no real figures for trade unions to negotiate with. Setting proper, researched benchmarks and keeping things transparent are, the report concludes, by far the best way to ensure that garment workers in South East Asia are treated and paid fairly.

Our View: frankly, we think it's unrealistic to expect root-and-branch change in in ground supply chain practices overnight. When a single item of clothing can have its material sourced on one continent, its accessories on a second before being assembled in yet a third, ensuring fairness and transparency is an incredibly difficult job. Nevertheless, it's good that groups like Labour Behind The Label are keeping the big brands on task, and making sure that the rhetoric doesn't outstrip the reality.

You can read the full report here.

 

Raven And Lily: Mindfully Empowering Refugees

Photo: courtesy Raven And Lily

The life of a refugee is one spent in limbo. Chased from your home, living in a camp or in severely reduced circumstances in a shelter, with little or no way to make a living. It's in our nature to want to help, but charity is not what refugees need. The first thing they would ask for is some kind of normality. A chance to contribute. A chance to work.

Photo: courtesy Raven And Lily

Raven And Lily are an ethical apparel company that base their whole approach around a desire to let. refugee communities regain a little pride. They are partnered with groups of displaced artisans scattered through nine countries. Their latest initiative, the Pakistani Collection, highlights the works of Afghan tribeswomen, all of whom are paid fairly for their skilful work. Raven And Lily founder Kirsten Dickerson explains the thinking behind the handmade clothes of the new line.

For our Pakistan collection, our Afghan artisans utilize their incredible embroidery skills, and it also gives them a chance to ensure their children have a good education and can break out of the refugee camp poverty cycle. We also want younger women to value what their mothers and grandmothers have done, while getting an education, so that their cultural and artisan skills do not disappear.

We’re partnered with 272 women across eight refugee camps. There’s three different skill sets within those camps, because the women represent various tribal groups from Afghanistan. Each tribal group has different embroidery techniques that represent the region they originally came from. With every design that we create with them, we actually think through designs that would use each one of their embroidery techniques so that we can employ as many of the women as possible, since they’re spread out among all the refugee camps.

It's a complex dance, involving a lot of communication and organisational nous to pull off. But the key to Raven And Lily's success is thoughtfulness. From the source material through to the design, every piece is carefully considered, with a clear focus on the ethical implications of every decision. This holistic approach helps Raven And Lily to stand out from the crowd. But we shouldn't forget that the clothes are also beautiful, highlighting the skills of these dedicated artisans.

Our View: Raven And Lily are a great example of how to work within an ethical framework while still producing items of great quality and beauty. All power to them.

 

You can find out more and buy items from The Pakistan Collection here.

 

Visible Clothing: Airing Their Nightwear In Public

We're seeing a lot of people entering the realm of ethical fashion that are doing more than just greenwashing. They're taking a thoughtful approach to the challenges around the launch of a properly fair and sustainable brand, taking time to make sure they get things right.

Few, though, have been quite as thorough as the two guys behind Visible Clothing. Before 2013, they admit that they paid no more than lip service to the notion of ethical fashion. One event changed their minds and their lives. That event, of course, was Rana Plaza. Andy and Andy take up the story:

"We knew that sweatshops existed but preferred to remain largely ignorant. We decided this needed to change; we needed to align our buying choices with our values. So we gave away all - ALL - our clothes at the end of 2013 and built new wardrobes from scratch containing only clothes that we knew were made fairly. But our personal wardrobes were not enough. So we decided to set up Visible with the goal of helping everyone who has thought about buying fairly made clothes to do so at an affordable price."

That's what you call putting your money where your mouth is. That was only the start of the Visible journey, as the two Andys took a properly hands-on approach to research for their new line of pyjamas. They made it their mission to visit every single person that would work on their clothes through the supply chain. It would prove to be an enlightening trip for everyone concerned. The Andys came to realise that the simplest of garments can go across continents in the journey from field to wardrobe, with the raw materials often stitched and finished thousands of miles from their origin.

Hence the point to making the business Visible. Back to the Andys to explain:

 

Without visibility, it is difficult for you - the customer - to decide whether or not everyone is being treated fairly. It is also too easy for us all to ignore the rights of the individuals who make our clothes because we quite simply don't know them. With even the smallest detail about the person who makes the clothing we wear, our mind-set can begin to change, and that person can begin to transition from an invisible cog in the machine to an actual, visible human deserving of our respect, dignity, and fair treatment. We desire far greater visibility into the fashion industry.

We are therefore focusing on three things:

-Visible people - We want to connect you with the actual people who make Visible clothing and to provide those workers with the chance to let you and us know whether they are happy with their working conditions.

-Visible costs - We tell you where every pound (or dollar) goes when you part with your cash, leaving you to be the judge as to whether our clothes have a fair price.

-Visible impact - We will charge a fair price for clothes which are made by people who are treated fairly, and by doing so will create opportunities for extreme poverty to be eradicated.

 

We bang on about transparency a lot here at The Pier, and Visible Clothing seem to be taking this notion and running with it. It's amazing to see a company that are making a real selling point out of the open-ness of their supply chain. The fact that Andy wore Visible pyjamas through his voyage of discovery tells you a lot about the comfort and hard-wearing nature of their cotton nightwear. With Christmas coming up, these guys are worth checking out.


Have a look at their journey below:

 

Visible PJ's from Visible Clothing on Vimeo.

 

Coffee for Change, Please!

The Big Issue Foundation has, I think we can all agree, done incredible work to help homeless people across the country. The important thing for me is that it's not just about charity or handouts. The point of The Big Issue is to give people that have fallen on hard times a level of dignity, and a handhold from which they can haul themselves back onto their feet.

But there's one problem. Where do you go when you're tired of selling the magazine on street corners? What if salesmanship isn't your forte? As a confirmed introvert, I know that I'd struggle in an environment where I have to be outgoing and loud to make a sale. How else can you contribute?

The latest initiative from Big Issue founder John Bird, along with social entrepreneur Cemal Ezel, answers that question neatly while exploiting our weakness for a nice cup of coffee in the morning. Change Please opened its first coffee cart in London this week, employing ex-homeless people as baristas.

Ezel has form in this area–he runs the Old Spike Roastery in Peckham, which exclusively employs homeless referrals. The plan is to aggressively expand the carts and the employment rate, with the London operation alone expected to hire 100 new people in the first year. The training they recieve will mean that they can move on to other chains. With more than 3000 new coffee shops expected to open in the UK in the next twelve months, that means they're involved in a growth industry with plenty of opportunity. Talk about a step up.

Ezel has smartly keyed into a part of the commercial sector that offers good returns quickly, and understands that pride in work and quality of the end product go hand in hand. He says:

“Coffee is very commercial, it is very communal and it is more and more part of people’s daily habits. This is about getting people off the streets and into housing.”

Change Please coffee is sourced from beans coming from Rwanda, Tanzania and Columbia. It's important to get that blend right. If the coffee isn't good, people won't come. But there's a great deal of confidence in the future of the brand, with key sites locked in and plans for carts in the atriums of big businesses like Barclays Bank. With expansion to cities like Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh in the pipeline, it looks likely that we'll all have the chance to try the brew for ourselves too.

Baristas will be getting the Living Wage of £9.15 an hour (£8.75 outside London), so you could argue that Change Please staff will be getting a better deal than many of their compatriots working in rival coffee chains. That's no reason for jealousy–it's an impetus for coffee houses across the country to up their game and pay their staff fairly.

Our View: this is a clever and inspiring way to get homeless people back on the right track. Mine's an Americano.

Noble Wool For Elegant Occasions

The weather has closed in. It's dark in the morning, and dark when you leave work. As winter takes hold, we start digging through our wardrobes for winter wear. For many of us, that means reuniting with woollen garments.

Ah, wool. We've waxed lyrical on these pages many times about the stuff. It's eminently sustainable, of course: insert grass into sheep, and there it is, every year. The fibres are durable, water-resistant, breathable, anti-bacterial, completely natural and, if you pick the right manufacturer, eminently local. Scottish wool, still a spit and a whistle away from us in the UK in relation to its nearest natural rival, New Zealand, is the best on the planet. It's a no-brainer.

But when we think of wool, we think in terms of chunky sweaters, thick scarfs, heavy socks. Actually, alpaca is best for socks, but I digress. What I'm getting at is that there's a bit of an image problem when it comes to wool. The words sleek, elegant and tailored do not come to mind when we consider the fabric. That's not just a shame–it's completely inaccurate.

Our dapper chums over at The Tweed Pig reported recently on a new organisation seeking to redress the balance. The Noble Wool Club, a collaboration between fabric producer Scabal and Woolmark, aims to highlight the use of superfine fibres and the skills of the farmers and weavers that bring them to market. Scabal, whose Huddersfield mill has been in production since the 1530s, is leading the pack with a 12-micron fibre, perfect for the softest, most luscious suiting fabric. This is not your chunky knit.

But the Club is as much about provenance and sustainability as the quality of the wares. To join, you have to be a producer of superfine fibres working under an exacting range of conditions. Farms must be family-owned, breeding sheep (typically Australian Merinos) based on heritage bloodlines that are fed on granite-based soils typically found 600m above sea level. With a focus as much on the land and the history behind the wool as the production, the Noble Wool Club is taking an approach that you could compare to that of French wine-growers and their terroir.

It's important to shout long and hard about British wool. Its quality is second-to-none. The heritage and history under which it is produced brings us a fabric created with pride and care. Wool's sustainable creds are not in question. It's about time we started looking at how we can use it more, in contexts outside the realm of the thick and itchy Christmas jumper. Our View: The Noble Wool Club is an admirable initiative that should do much to highlight an aspect of a great British fabric that often gets overlooked.

Making Fair Trade Transparent With Pachacuti.

Transparency and traceability are two key ideas that help to define ethical fashion. To put it more simply, knowing how and where our clothes are made. That's pretty important if we want to be sure they're being made with the appropriate levels of respect for the environment and people who create them.
Technology is helping companies that would otherwise have little idea or control over the production process to ensure their products are being put together as they'd hope. The communication and navigation tech that we take for granted is changing the way ethical fashion gets from remote locations to your door.
We've talked in the past about Pachacuti, who work with native artisans in Ecuador to make brilliant Panama hats. Over the past three years, they've been willing partners with the EU Geo Fair Trade project in a scheme which has brought unprecedented levels of traceability to their supply chain. The aim: to provide visible accountability of sustainable provenance, both for raw materials as well as production processes.
The results have been pretty remarkable. Pachacuti hats are woven in the remote region of Azuay–an area that is largely inaccessible by road. Despite that, the project has managed to log GPS tags that shows the 154 houses in which Pachacuti hats are woven. It doesn't stop there. Data on the areas where the all-important straw is harvested and processed has also been collected–from weather patterns to the times when the roads become impassable.
Why bother with all that? Well, by tracking where materials are coming from, it's easier to open lines of communication, allowing Pachacuti to work with the Ecuadorian people to ensure their product is produced sustainably and fairly. The communities that produce the straw and hats work as collectives, protecting the land and the folks who toil upon it. Communication equals transparency, allowing both sides to deal with each other openly, honestly and most importantly, accountably.
The craft of creating a Panama hat in Ecuador is, if you'll pardon the pun, woven into the culture. It permeates so deeply into Ecuadorian life that in 2012 UNESCO put hat weaving onto their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage: knowledge, traditions and rituals which pervade the everyday life of a community, passed down through generations and forming an intrinsic part of their identity and culture. It's vital that it be both celebrated and protected.
These rural communities suffer from high rates of migration and alcoholism, which aren't helped by the unscrupulous practices of most traders who buy hats from them. Pachacuti are setting a different example, working directly with collectives to ensure high quality and a fair price. As the word gets out that there is a better way than deling with the scalpers, one that protects their rights and culture, then communities are seeing the benefits to allowing a transparent and sustainable model guide the way they do business with the West. The EU Geo Fair Trade project is a pilot, but everyone involved is highly enthusiastic about the future.
Most importantly, it dispels a well-worn myth. Panama hats aren't made in Panama at all, and now we have the data to prove it!

UDITA!

I wouldn't call it light viewing, but a documentary released in May has come across the Pier's News Desk that I think will be of interest. Udita is a film taking on the predicament of garment workers in Bangladesh, and their struggle to organise, unionise and get a fair deal for their work.

Udita (Bangladeshi for 'arise') follows a turbulent half decade in the lives of women on the front line in the garment workers struggle. From 2010, when organising in the workplace would lead to beatings, sacking and arrests, through the tragedies of Tazreen and Rana Plaza, through to the present day, when the long fight has begun to pay dividends. We see this vital period through the eyes of union members, workers and leaders.

Udita is the work of acclaimed activist documentary film-makers Rainbow Collective. It weaves the stories of people they have followed in earlier films like 'The Machinists' and 'Tears In The Fabric' with those of new characters. The narrative they create is compelling, moving and inspiring.

There's a real upsurge in films highlighting the struggles of garment workers and ethical fashion, but Udita is one that's worth checking out for its clear vision and obvious empathy with the people portrayed. Perhaps not the most unbiased of documentaries, but a little righteous anger against injustice never hurt.

Watch Udita in full below.

An Effortless Route To Ethical Fashion

An interesting piece was posted recently by Jen Pinkston, whose blog The Effortless Chic is well worth a read if you're into that breezy California look. Jen's not just your average fashionista, though–she writes thoughtfully and wisely on ethical fashion and the pitfalls in making it a part of your everyday life.
She's put together a framework for shopping ethically that's pretty achievable with a tiny bit of extra effort. More importantly, you might just save yourself some money if you take Jen's advice.
Here's a rough outline. Regular readers may notice some alignment with the arguments we've been putting here at The Pier for a more ethical outlook. It's good to get the word out through as many places as possible.

1. Don't buy something unless you need it. What use is a garment that you pick up on the offchance that it might come in useful, only for it to take up space in your wardrobe?
2. If you need it, try to find it used. Ebay is your friend here, of course, but second-hand stores are increasingly picking up on the thrifty trend, and there's a lot of good stuff in your local Oxfam these days.
3. Buy ethically, if you can. This, annoyingly, is the tricky bit. It's often hard to tell how ethically an item has been produced. The general rule of thumb is that if a garment is crazy cheap (like the 99p dress I talked about last week) there's a good chance it has ethical no-nos somewhere down the supply chain. There are, of course, plenty of online outlets that will do the job, and Jen has a good list on her site.
4. Support local and small businesses! They're more likely to have rolled ethical practices into their working model, for two reasons. It's great PR, and over the long run it's more cost effective, especially at the smaller scale at which these guys work. Smaller scale often means more care and attention is paid to your order as well.
5. Finally, if after all that you can't find the item you need, then make sure you buy it with an eye to the future. If it's well made, it'll last longer, and look better. Think investment, rather than stopgap. Remember what Pier Crush Vivienne Westwood says: Buy Less. Spend More. Choose Well.

There's more on The Effortless Chic, so check out Jen's pearls of wisdom. You too can be looking as stylish as her in no time!
http://theeffortlesschic.com/how-to-shop-more-ethically/

REMAKE The Connection Between The Maker And The Clothes.

There's an clear divide in our thinking when it comes to the clothes in our wardrobe. They appear on the racks of Primark or M&S, we buy them, we wear them. We don't think about the people at the other end of the process. The ones who make the clothes in the first place.
That dissociation is part of the reason that fast fashion has become so prelavent in our world. We don't see clothing as a crafted item, more as a product spat out of a machine. If that were to change, then perhaps we would be a little less blasé about buying an item, wearing it once, then chucking it away.
REMAKE is a recently-formed consultancy aiming to reconnect us with the people who make our clothes. Working with major brands like Levi's, they're trying some innovative new ideas to make the business of apparel production more focussed on the well-being of the artisan at the heart of the process.
For example, by organising trips for brand executives and headquarter employees to the factories and communities who make their products, they're helping to find tangible ways to enhance the well-being of workers and their families. The idea is to put a face to the person that stitches the clothing, packs it, cleans it. When that happens, we can't help but empathise. With that empathy comes the willingness to make their lives better, entwined with the understanding that there are real business benefits to having a happy workforce. Simply put, a reasonably modest investment in worker well-being ensures workforce loyalty, less disruption and and a bounce in production.
In a recent piece for their website, REMAKE spoke to four garment workers in Haiti, who make clothes for some of the biggest names in American fashion. The stories that Guerrier, Maud, Bruce and Celestin tell are typical of the people that work in the big clothing factories. They work hard. Perhaps their families depend on the tiny income they bring in to keep going. They live in conditions that are close to poverty, in shacks and tiny rooms. They have very little. But they have hope for the future, and make the very best of what they have.
Of course they have wishes. But they ask only for simple things. Access to medical care and education for their loved ones, the chance for their children to do better in life than they have. It's almost heartbreaking. But it's also important that we see and hear these people, so that maybe we can use our influence and power to do a little better by them.

Please read the interviews with Guerrier, Maud, Bruce and Celestin on the REMAKE website. It might help you to rethink the people behind your clothes.

http://remake.world/haiti/meet-some-makers/

Scoring Slavery

No-one wants to think that their clothes are products of slavery. Regardless of how cheap the item is, if you offered it to customers with a big sticker saying that it was made under sweatshop conditions, it's likely that you'd get very little takeup... and possibly reported to the authorities.
There's a wilful blindness at the heart of fast fashion, an "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" attitude that means consumers have to be clouted repeatedly over the head with the idea that there is a good reason that cheap clothes are so cheap. It's most likely going to be labour costs in the form of fair wages that have been crossed out of the costing analysis.
What we really need is a list of how different fashion brands stack up on this important issue. Maybe even something like a league table. The ability to see at a glance how they compare on this most basic of ethical issues could really enable we the consumers to put pressure on the underperformers.
Australian campaigner Matt Darvas has just released a report that does exactly that. Using a scoring system based on how open different brands are at documenting and implementing fair labour relations, they've come up with a league table that goes from A+ (for brands Etico and Audrey Blue) to a damning F for the PAS group. These scores are for the Australian market, but it gives a fair idea of how the global players are sitting when it comes to fair treatment of their overseas workforce. Here's the list:

Matt is careful to note that having good ethical practices in place is no guarantee that these practices are being adhered to. But at least we're in a position to make a judgement based on more than price or look.
For more, check out Matt's blog post: http://mattdarvas.com/2015/04/23/top-fashion-labels-ranked-on-use-of-slavery/

Printing Technology

Traditional print crafts often celebrate and depict the world from which they came. Whether that be in the colours and dyes they use, or the designs that reflect the activities of the villages in which the people that make them live and work, vibrant local fabrics often have a story to tell. All you have to do is look.
The artisans of Tilonia, a village in the heart of Rajistan in India, have gone a step further. The people there have been helped by a social enterprise programme based on a partnership from the American-based Friends Of Tilonia charity, and Barefoot College, an NGO that has provided basic services and solar electricity to deprived areas of the sub-continent for quite some time. When the opportunity came to start up a business using the colourful prints of the region, the local craftspeople had a good idea.
They have launched a range of bags and scarves, using designs that represent the work that Barefoot College and Friends of Tilonia have done to help the village. A warm, circular motif invokes the solar power that has been installed and maintained by women trained by Barefoot College, while a rectangular pattern represents books, an indicator of education provided to women in the region. The artisans of Tilonia are skilled in embriodery, block printing and tie-dying. The new range of accessories uses those ancient skills in a clever new context, to celebrate the way modern technology has helped to transform their lives.
For more on Barefoot College's programme in Tilonia, check out their website: http://www.barefootcollege.org/

The Label Tells The Whole Story

We always check the labels on our clothes, for washing and drying instructions. But what if those labels could cary other information: like the stories of the people who made the clothes in the first place?
The Canadian Fair Trade Network and Rethink Canada have teamed up to do just that, with eye-catching and thought provoking results. Their labels might be a little unwieldly, but they certainly grab your attention. And the tales they tell will make you think twice about the sacrifices that fast fashion forces on its workers.

Take this attractive burgundy hoodie--a perfect choice for relaxed weekends. A harmless, blameless item. Until you read the label:

"100% cotton. Made in Sierra Leone by Tejan.
The first few times he coughed up blood he hid it from his family. They couldn’t afford medical treatment and he couldn’t risk losing his long-time job at the cotton plantation. When he fell into a seizure one day it could no longer be ignored. The diagnosis was pesticide poisoning. The lack of proper protective clothing has left him with leukemia at the age of 34. He has two daughters. One of them starts work at the factory next year."

Or how about this mustard-coloured jumper? A nice piece for layering on a crisp autumn day. But what does the label tell us?
"100% cotton. Made in Cambodia by Behnly, nine years old. He gets up at 5:00 am every morning to make his way to the garment factory where he works. It will be dark when he arrives and dark when he leaves. He dresses lightly because the temperature in the room he works reaches 30 degrees. The dust in the room fills his nose and mouth. He will make less than a dollar, for a day spent slowly suffocating. A mask would cost the company ten cents."

The notion of transparency ties into ethical fashion in so many ways, and this simple idea, of giving us as consumers more information about the workers that make our clothes, is at the heart of the struggle. The work that the Canadian Fair Trade Network are doing is advocacy, but it's based on a belief that in order to do right, we have to know what we're fighting against.

Next time you check the label of your newest purchase, it might just be telling you more than what temperature to wash it at.

For more information on the work the CFTN are doing, visit their website.

Where Do Our Charity Clothes Donations Go?

You're a responsible citizen, who believes in keeping your old stuff out of landfill where you can. You recycle your bottles and cans, and when it comes to those old clothes cluttering up the back of the wardrobe, you donate them to charity. But where do those old clothes go? The general assumption is that they pop up nationwide, in Oxfam, Helen Douglas or National Heart Foundation shops.

You'd be wrong. The majority of donated clothes in this country are shipped abroad, as part of a £2.8billion worldwide trade in second-hand garments. The good news is that as our consumption of clothes rises, the amount of clothes sent to landfill is actually starting to drop. Nearly half of the garments we throw out are going to charity instead of incineration plants or the tip. But the assumption that those clothes are going to charity shops is, sadly, mistaken. Over 70% of clothing donations are sent overseas, where they will be sold for profit.

Over 350 million tonnes of British clothing was sent abroad last year, a haul that's worth more than £380 million. Key destinations include Poland, Ukraine, Ghana and Pakistan. The clothes, which are highly prized by foreign markets, are graded for quality and sent off to market by textile merchants who, in some instances, have been doing this for decades. Author and lecturer in developmental geography at King's College London Dr Andrew Brooks puts it succinctly:

"There's a moment of magic where a gift turns into a commodity. Like many used items, on the surface second-hand clothes may appear to have very little value, but through processes of sorting and transporting - turning disorderly objects into an ordered commodity - they are reproduced as retailable assets."

 Is this such a bad thing? Does it really matter where our clothes end up, as long as they're doing some good somewhere on the planet? It's a tricky subject. Brooks argues that cheap foreign imports are stifling local production in developing countries that need it the most. In Uganda, over 80% of clothes sold at market are second-hand. In Nigeria, the textile workforce has effectively disappeared: that's 200, 000 people forced out of work. But many charities, including those are set up to help the deprived in these countries, depend on the cash they get from sales of donated clothing to continue their good work. Talk about a vicious circle...

In response to the problem, some organisations are cutting out the middlemen and starting up their own recycling schemes. For example, Oxfam now has its own recycling plant in West Yorkshire, which allows much more control over where donations end up, and has set up a scheme in Senegal employing locals to sort and re-distribute exports at fair prices back to the local economy. It's a drop in the bucket, admittedly, and no-one's naive enough to claim that this will end the trade overnight. It's also worth bearing in mind that the trade in second-hand garments has benefits up and down the supply chain, providing employment and, of course, keeping these valuable resources out of landfill.

But awareness of where your clothes go after they go into the chute of the hopper outside your local Tesco has to be knowledge worth having. The truth is that your old shirts and coats are much more likely to end up in a street market in Uganda than an Oxfam in Uxbridge.

Life In The Sweatshop

A fascinating web TV show has shown the stark reality of life for Cambodian garment workers to the people who need to see it the most: a group of young fashion bloggers.

The show, Sweatshop: Deadly Fashion, was launched by Norwegian newspaper Afterposten, and took three young fashionistas into the heart of the fashion district in Phnom Peng. Their mission was to work for a month alongside the men and women that make the clothes they write about.

The results were shocking. The Norwegians were confronted with the poverty and grinding hard labour endemic to the sector, and their initially blase attitude was quickly wiped away as they were set to work. As the bloggers realised that the clothes they were making were outside the budget of their new Cambodian friends (at one point, it was estimated that one blouse from Mango would cost a month's rent on the place where they were sleeping) the unfairness of the exploitation sank in.

The show gives us an insight not just into the conditions under which many poor Cambodians have to work, but the attitude that we have towards them. We comfort ourselves into thinking that they're somehow happy with their lot, that living in a shack that you can barely afford to keep is the best that these people can hope for. The bloggers seemed shocked that their host, garment worker Sotky, would aspire to more than that. The hypocrisy seems astonishing, but at the same time the Norwegian kids are only saying out loud the comforting lies that most of us tell in order to feel OK about buying that cheap blouse.

The end of the series shows three young people that are chastened and appalled by the lives of the people they have shared time with. The work is mind-numbingly repetitive and exhausting, the pay laughably minimal. They've seen the other side of the smiling, immaculate face that the fashion world presents to the public... and it's not very pretty.

Watch the whole series at Afterposten. 

How Bankers And Ethical Fashion Are Planning A Better Future

A fascinating symposium in New York last month saw some of the most inspirational voices in sustainable fashion talk to an audience of bankers. The aim of the event, hosted by Credit Suisse, was to show that new ways of thinking about fashion could be the key to significant rewards, both financially and for the well-being of the planet as a whole.

 The symposium speakers were prepared to address some key issues behind sustainable fashion: not least the meaning of the word itself. Soraya Darabi, head of e-tailer Zady, heaped special scorn on those that use it as a kind of catch-all buzz-term--much in the way that 'green' became co-opted into virtual meaninglessness in the 90s. She said:

“It is really hard to understand if someone says the products is sustainably produced—what do they mean? Do they mean the catch phrase version of sustainable, or do they mean it is authentically sustainably produced?”

The key, Darabi believes, is in transparency, in knowing where and how your raw materials are sourced, and how the people who handle and transform those materials are treated. That's a chain that stretches from farm to closet, and it's vital to get a handle on the complexities of that network if you want to understand sustainability.

With this in mind, the experts argue, a change is arising where people are becoming more connected with the stories and people behind their clothes. There's a great opportunity for ethically-conscious retailers to catch the leading edge of that wave of interest. Things are changing, and it's important to see that to be able to benefit from it. Jill Heller of The PureThread said:

“I think people are starting to understand that shopping for clothing, can in fact, link them with something bigger. One thing to really look at is fair trade. Are the workers being paid fairly? Are they being treated fairly? Are the labor conditions safe in the building? Are there reasonable hours of work? I think it is a very important to look for fair-trade certifications on the garments.”

The experts were withering of the fast-turnover, high volume output of the traditional, seasonal fashion model. By stocking winter clothes just after the bank holiday, or swimsuits after Christmas, stores are invoking a model that urges us to buy and keep buying. Sustainability is, Jill Heller argues, about rejecting that model, and making the most of what's already in our wardrobe. If we're buying clothes that are of good quality and designed to last, there's no need to buy every year.

Heller said:

“We don’t need to consume as much. We probably have a closet full of clothing that you can figure out how to reuse and restyle; like shopping your closet, meaning take a fresh look at it.”

The event was a success largely because sustainable fashion is no longer viewed as a niche interest. It keys into notions of fair treatment and respect for dwindling resources, that are becoming ever more important in this rapidly-changing world. There are still challenges to starting a sustainable fashion business and making a success of it. But if the bankers of New York are prepared to listen, then we're already making massive progress.

Fawcett Society Update

A twist in the tale of the Fawcett Society scandal regarding the ethical production of their iconic t-shirt. This, from Fawcett deputy CEO Eva Neitzert...

We are pleased to confirm that we have today seen expansive and current evidence from Whistles that the CMT factory in Mauritius they used to produce our ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirt conforms to ethical standards.
We have been particularly pleased to receive evidence that:
- 100% of workers are paid above the government-mandated minimum wage and all workers are paid according to their skills and years of service.
- The standard working week is 45 hours, and workers are compensated (at a higher rate of pay) for any overtime worked.
- There is a high retention of staff and employees are offered training and development.
- An audit into the CMT factory was carried out in October 2014 by an independent not-for-profit organisation and this did not reveal any material concerns on the working conditions, the welfare or the health and safety of workers.
- Workers are able to join a union and there is a union presence in the factory.
The evidence we have seen categorically refutes the assertion that the ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ T-shirts produced by Whistles were made in a sweatshop.
Whilst we have confidence in the evidence provided to us, we are currently working closely with an international trade union body to scrutinise it so that we can be absolutely assured of its provenance, authenticity and that all findings are robust and factual.
Further, whilst Fawcett has a UK remit, we are nonetheless acutely concerned with the inequalities women across the globe face. We recognise that investment in developing countries is vital and support this provided decent labour standards are adhered to.
We will continue to work with Elle and Whistles on this project.

Looks like the ball's back in the Mail On Sunday's court on this one...

The Right Story For The Wrong Reason

I never thought I'd see the day when the Mail On Sunday, of all papers, makes an ethical fashion story their Page One lead. Under the headline "62p A Day", they feature a factory in Mauritius where t-shirts for the western market are cranked out while workers are paid a derisory pittance and sleep sixteen to a dormitory in squalid conditions. For those of us who cover the ethical fashion beat, it's a distressingly familiar story. It's almost refreshing to see it splashed on the front page of a national newspaper.
Of course, that's not the whole story. The MoS discovered that the factory in question was being used to make t-shirts, sold by posh brand Whistles, for a high-profile campaign sponsored by Elle to support women's rights charity The Fawcett Society. T-shirts that had been worn both by celebrities and prominent left-wing politicians, including Ed Milliband and Harriet Harman, who proudly wore hers for Prime Minister's Question Time.
Whoops.
Now, The Fawcett Society has long called out The Daily Mail for its robustly old-fashioned views on feminism and equality. And of course, the paper will grab any chance it can get to make the Labour front bench look foolish with both mitts and its tail. Let's be clear. The Mail's story has little to do with worker's rights. It's about giving old enemies a bit of a kicking.
Before we go any further, here's a declaration of interests. Back in 2012, Pier32 printed two runs of the initial design of the "this is what a feminist looks like" shirt for the Fawcett Society, which were sold from their website. We used blanks from B&C Collection, who are members of the Fairwear Foundation--which means those two runs were on shirts that hadn't been produced in a sweatshop and were printed here in the UK. The Fawcett Society chose to go elsewhere after those orders. We were never told why.
The web gets more tangled when you start looking into the history of how these new garments were produced. In a statement, Fawcett claim that they expressed concerns over the t-shirts when they saw the "Made In Mauritius" tag after being told they would be ethically produced in the UK. These concerns were alleviated by Whistles, who claimed they had independent ethical compliance audits from the factory in question.
Which would be fine and dandy, except Whistles CEO Jane Sheperdson is no stranger to this sort of controversy. She was an executive at TopShop for four years, second only to Arcadia head Philip Green. Arcadia, the conglomorate that owns brands including TopShop, were among the first to outsource clothing manufacturing abroad to cut costs. And CMT, the factory at the heart of the row, was landed in hot water back in 2007 for the same shananigans that have caused such a headache for Whistles and Fawcett this week.
None of which proves anything, of course. It's important to note that the allegations in question remain purely that. Whistles insist that the factory in question is properly certified. If that's the case, then it should be run under strict ethical guidelines. There are two versions of the story, and neither quite add up. There are currently more questions than answers, and we have a few of our own.
In a press statement, Fawcett Society president Dr Eva Neitzert states:

'...we remain confident that we took every practicable and reasonable step to ensure that the range would be ethically produced and await a fuller understanding of the circumstances under which the garments were produced.'

What steps were taken, exactly?
Once it transpired that the t-shirts had not been manufactured as requested in the UK, why did Fawcett not bin the run and insist that they were supplied with goods as requested?
Why, as negative publicity for the range continues, are Whistles still selling the t-shirts?

No-one is coming out of this cleanly. The Fawcett Society look like gullible idiots, and their iconic brand has become tainted. Whistle's ethical reputation (such as it was) has taken a battering. Even the Mail, who trumpeted their concerns about the women at CMT, did so while their famous "Sidebar Of Shame" printed salacious gossip and leering pics of starlets directly alongside. No-one buys their concern. The agenda is clear as day.
Ethical sourcing and supply-chain transparency remains a minefield in which many big names have been caught. For charities, good practice is doubly important. It's essential that their promotional items are produced to strict ethical guidelines. The good work of The Fawcett Society, which we support unreservedly here at The Pier, has been shockingly compromised this week. Whether through complacency or incompetence, it's worrying that the phrase "this is what a feminist looks like" is now associated with the image of a dupe... or worse, a fool.