Designer's Ethics in Production

[Ahimsa]

I believe this could use its own thread in light of the recent Rick Owens discussion.

This is to discuss designers and the ethics in their production.

Relevant threads for reference:
Who Makes What for Whom

NEXT

The fair trade, vegan, organic and sustainable brands thread

Sustainable fashion

[unwashed]

I just found this report and may give some insight in what is happening in the Eastern Eurozone regarding the fashion industry. I haven't read it yet, only first couple of pages.

http://www.cleanclothes.org/resource.../stitched-up-1

protect, respect and remedy
According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, home and hoststates of apparel and shoe brands/retailers, the European Union and brands and retailers themselves have a duty and responsibility to respect and protect human rights wherever they produce. This means they should act with due diligence to ensure workers receive a living wage and take clear steps to remediate when this is not the case.
•Home states of these brands / retailers and the EU have the duty to ensure, that brands and retailers respect human and labour rights worldwide.
•Host states of these brands / retailers and the EU have a duty to protect the human and labour rights of their workers and implement minimum wages that fight poverty rather than creating an impoverished and socially excluded workforce.
• Brands / retailers have the responsibility to pay the full price of the product they order – a price that is in accordance with human rights. This includes a wage that workers and their families can live on.
• Brands have the responsibility to not take advantage of their purchasing power or weak state implementation of labour and human rights, and respect the international human and labour rights, including the right to a living wage, over and above compliance with national laws and regulations protecting human rights.

[bukka]

^
Report Summary by Shucks

new report is out by the CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN on the poverty wages in the eastern european and turkish garment industry, where also many high fashion brands have production. (rick owens, i'm talking to you...)

here's an excerpt from the executive summary:




[...]In all the countries researched an immense gap between the legal minimum wage and the estimated minimum living wage was found. This gap tends to be even larger in Europe’s cheap labour countries than in Asia.

The countries where the legal minimum wage is the lowest in relation to an estimated minimum living wage (below 20%) are Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. As of 2013, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania have lower legal minimum wages than China; Moldova and Ukraine have even lower legal minimum wages than Indonesia.

The take-home wage of garment workers falls far short of a subsistence minimum, let alone a living wage. In all researched countries [...], the lowest found take-home net wages do not even reach 30% of an estimated living wage. From the interviews conducted in this research it became clear: Jobs with such a tremendously low wage create poverty rather than fight it.

Garment workers are under enormous pressure to stay in their job. Many families depend on the job of the garment worker because this is the only regular income in the household. No matter how bad the situation is the workers have to perform and do everything they can in order not to lose their jobs. Too often workers choose between a minimal income and their health. Their dependency and devotion is being exploited by managers.

The research found that the situation for women was particularly bad with women ruining their health while being the health-safeguard of the family. Still their work is not recognized and devalued as “unskilled” work as compared to “technical” or “hard” work of men.

Women also face extreme time-poverty, stress and all too often sexual harassment. All over the region work in the garment industry is infamous for low pay and bad working conditions, it is seen as mere “contribution” to the family income, as supplementary wages. Contrary to this perception a majority of women workers are single mothers or family breadwinners.

Working in the garment industry contributes to the family’s poverty and social exclusion. A total of three million formal and informal garment workers are affected in the countries researched. Issues contributing to the increased risk of poverty and social exclusions include:

1) wages set far below subsistence and poverty lines, let alone a minimum living wage;

2) women being subject to discrimination in pay and treatment;

3) reliance on the wages earned as main source of income for the family and

4) having almost no active collective representation in the form of unions or labour support organisations.

The research found that workers in Georgia (due to an almost complete absence of legal and institutional protection) as well as home-based workers in Bulgaria and migrant workers in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey face the highest risk of being poor and feeling deprived of any opportunities and influence on their living situation.

The research also highlights the numerous and varying violations of law and diverse wage theft practices. This indicates that institutions such as the labour inspectorates in the countries turn a blind eye on conditions in the garment industry. They are reported to be understaffed, malfunctioning and sometimes bribed in most countries researched, while in Georgia, a legal workers protection system and institutional mechanisms such as labour inspection and labour court hardly exist or do not exist at all.

Despite the strong position of the sector as an employer and exporter in the region, the workers remain in poverty and see their basic human rights denied. While the countries depend on the sector, it in turn creates distress and diseases for workers and their families.[...]




read the full executive summary and/or report HERE:

[unwashed]

Thanks, I thought it might be related but didn't had the time to check. Anyway still something relevant to this topic as well.