Truth about Fashion

Fashion is a concept which not many people know about, and so many misconceptions pop into your mind when you hear that word.

My journey to enlightenment started at the Good Values Club, which is based at Abbey Primary School, Leicester. The Good Values Club is a club that teaches children from the age of five about the five basic human values, which are Truth, Love, Peace, Right Conduct and Non Violence, and how to incorporate these values into our everyday lives. Through the Good Values Club, we came into contact with the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy (AFP), who were running a project called Naitika, which worked with young people to develop projects on Ethical Fashion.

My group consisted of eight young people, aged between 12 and 17, and we wanted to learn more about fashion industry. Each one of us had reasons for wanting to take part in the project and mine was to explore how much the fashion industry is really worth and to learn why the big labels and major fashion companies make so much profit. Turning a simple necessity into a commodity which has been overpriced. From a £20.00 designer top, around 20 pence is given to the garment workers that actually make the top, is this fair? Is this what you would expect from people that consider themselves to be civilised? We care for animals more than we do for people, doesn’t that show something about our true nature?

These garment workers in developing countries are not only being abused by their employees but the corporations that carry out business with them. These workers only get paid 60% of their living wage. Imagine 60% of your dinner plate empty, 60% of your house empty, 60% of your life empty, how would you cope?

So what can you do? Even in the current economical climate we are all keeping our hands in our pockets as inflation increases, the cost of living rockets through the roof but what about the garment workers? Is their cost of living not increasing? We as consumers have the power, we need to pressurise the big businesses to do more, to introduce a fair minimum wage and treat garments workers much better. The big brands could afford to lose 3-5% of their billion dollar profits in order to provide the garment workers with better factories and equipment which meet health and safety standards, to pay them overtime and give them appropriate breaks for their working day.

It is our duty to help the garment workers that work tirelessly day in day out in such bad conditions, so please spare a thought for the garment workers that are making the clothes we wear every day.

Article written by- Hemant Mistry

Image Credit- Blossom Carrasco

The fairtrade world of HAPPINESS

As a member of the Good Values Club I got involved with the Asian Foundation for Philanthropy [AFP] and made a movie called “The Twisted World” as part of the Naitika programme.

The people who work in the fairtrade factories are treated with respect but people who work in the non fairtrade factories are tortured and are forced to work over time with no extra payments. Also they work in unhygienic conditions, They don’t get paid enough, but in the fair trade factories would get the Indian minimum wage and don’t have to do much overtime but get paid for overtime , also you get hygienic conditions to work in.

While working on the Naitika project I made a movie about comparing fairtrade and non-fairtrade factories. We showed the difference in conditions in both factories and also how differently the garment workers are treated.

The movie I made shows how some people are treated well and how some are treated badly. I had a lot of help from some stories example: The Roopa Story, The story of Roopa was basically about a girl who was found dead in a factory because of the threats she was receiving from her employers. They caused her to be stressed about her work which resulted in her committing suicide. Also different kinds of facts about garment workers helped me make the movie .

From the movie that I made I have learnt a lot from it and how we should buy more fairtrade items because it helps the garment workers to earn a decent living. This experience has made a huge impact and has opened my eyes and now I buy more fair-trade items because it helps other people in India and other developing countries to survive and have the basic necessities they need in life and I hope you enjoyed reading my article.

Mohit Mistry, Good Values Club

Fashion - make the world a better place!

Young people come together as one and give awareness to the public on ethical fashion.

The Girls Group from Rushey Mead School was a group that was formed as an after school club and met up once a week. The group decided to do a project on ethical fashion, this project was run though an organisation called the Asian foundation of Philanthropy (AFP).

As a member of the group I had just joined to spend time with my friends but when we started the project I got more interested and learnt facts and true stories on what going on in the world. At the beginning of the project I didn’t know much about ethical fashion and that garment were treated so badly.

Just imagine, where some of your clothes come from the workers get treated horrifically, with no rights, no respect, no freedom of speech, just simply nothing. All the workers are under threat to physical and verbal valance. 80% of the 500 thousand garment workers are women and children. Our Girls Group showed a visual, intellectual and emotional side to how the garment workers were treated in comparison to fortunate factories. Examples of unfortunate factories are in India, Pakistan Bangladesh, China and many more countries.

You as a person and everyone around you should think about where your clothes come from and I know that our country is in a recession and the shops may have low cost products but just think, you wouldn’t want to be in a badly treated garment workers position and that is a fact. Consider where you shop and try to make some time to pressurise garment factory owners to raise the garment workers’ wages but do this responsibly and without violence. Don’t forget is not how you look it’s about where your clothes come from!

Article written by- Shalina Patel from The Girl's Group

Image Credit- Kajal Nisha Patel 

Young person tell's it how it is!

Priyesh Pattni (Naitika Resource Officer) interviews a young person who took part in the Naitika workshop's to find out her learnings from the Naitika project.

Alexander wang sued for $450 million for running alleged “sweatshop” in NYC’s Chinatown.

Who says sweatshops only exist in India, Bangladesh and other developing countries. They don’t. They are everywhere. Some are right underneath your nose.

Award winning designer Alexander Wang has come under fire for running an alleged “sweatshop” in New York City’s Chinatown. Mr Wang is now being sued by 30 employees for $450 million as his factories have been violating New York State labour laws; the employees want compensation for overtime and low wages.

The employees say they have been forced to work for 16 hour days in a “stifling, windowless 200-square-foot room with 15 others”. The plaintiffs (employees) want $50 million for each of the suit’s nine charges. Alexander Wang who earned $25 million last year as denied the allegations.

So what exactly has been happening at the factory? 56-year-old Wenyu had worked at the factory for 3 years and was fired after he complained about the unhealthy environment and applied for worker’s compensation for his injuries. Wenyu claims he even had to work 25 hours without a break and as a result suffered from injuries to his eyes and kidney stones. Ming Hai (Wenyu’s lawyer) said “A lot of the workers are new immigrants and they don’t speak English. They work long hours. It’s like a new kind of slavery.”

We in the UK have a very large immigrant community and we know a lot of them will work for little money, which is why most of our parents know at least one immigrant builder who can build an extension, do the roofing AND decorate for half the price. But is this right?

Should we exploit someone’s desperation for work and income for our own advantage?