Nike: “Just pay it”

Big corporations and Brand names like Nike will NEVER put their profit in the hands of cheap labourers who make their clothes, right? Wrong!

In the past Nike has always blamed their sub contractors for abusing the human rights of their labourers. In fact most high street labels and big brands do that. BUT that is all about to change. Nike is going to pay $1.5 million to help workers abruptly laid off last year by 2 subcontractors in Honduras.

This is only happening as the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) demanded that Nike stop blaming their subcontractors and take responsibility for the workers who had been laid off.

A lot of brands and high street shops that use sweatshops will often blame their “sub contractors” (the people who supply to the brand/high street shop) saying that they can’t control how their sub contractors behave.

However in April, University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor, Biddy Martin made the school the first to end a licensing agreement with Nike, which means that Nike can no longer produce their apparel. She said “Nike had violated its code of conduct, which requires university licensees to be responsible for their subcontractors.”

And only after the USAS launched the “just pay it” campaign against Nike did they take responsibility of their supply chain. If Nike hadn’t taken action then the schools and universities would not carry on buying from Nike.

A lot of people think that the brands and labels are in control and no matter what we do they will always exist and carry on. We forget that we have the POWER- if we stopped buying their products they would not exist. We are the consumers and these brands will do anything to make sure we keep buying from them. So we’d might as well use that power we have to influence Nike and change an underpaid garment workers life!

We can show the brands and labels we- the consumers will not stand for unethical treatment of workers. The United Students Against Sweatshops have made a difference.

Can you? Find out how you can do something different

Garment workers go on strike!

Garment workers in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka were striking out against low wages. Factories that supply to Zara and H&M were closed from Saturday last week.

Such a strike will have long term affects of the countries economy. Garment work accounts for 80% of annual export earnings worth £10bn. That’s a hefty chunk of change, but guess what? The average worker only earns 2000 takas which is around £30 a month.

How would you feel if your country had a £10bn pie of which you only got the crumbs?

This could be changing. The government has agreed to increase the monthly wage to 5000 Takas which is £48. VICTORY!!

It’s a shame things had to get out of hand and 30 people had to be injured for the government to finally wake up!

Factories opened up again last Tuesday, with workers resuming work but only under the assurance that these changes will take place by July.

Imagine if the workers did not go back to work. Who would make our clothes? And how would Zara and H&M stock their shelves? It makes sense to give the workers a fair share of the profit, as without them the brands wouldn’t have anything to sell. Fashion wouldn’t exist.

What would £48 buy you for a month?

Nike: Ticks the right box

Not only has England actually made it to the World Cup this year but a very important issue has become a part of the great sporting event. Nike has produced environmentally friendly uniforms for the upcoming 2010 football world cup.

The kits are going to be made from discarded plastic bottles collected from landfills in Japan and Taiwan.

When I first read on Ecouterre about this, I was a tad confused. “How on earth are they going to pull that off?” Well the plastic bottles get melted down into yarn first and are then spun into fabric.

Each shirt is made from 8 plastic bottles. Apart from just saving on raw materials, Nike managed to reduce 13 million plastic bottles from the landfill which is enough to cover a football pitch 29 times over!

Nike seems to have grown a corporate conscience since the late 1990’s. It feels like just yesterday that a photo of a Pakistani boy stitching Nike footballs started making its rounds...

Image Credit- James Temple on Flickr at Creative Commons 

Upcycle to downsize waste!

Could we expect to see Ethical fashion a lot more? Ethical fashion is more visible on the high street than it was three years ago. Even though you still have to look hard for ethical products, they are becoming easier and easier to find.

This is through a method of ‘Upcycling’

Upcycling gathers readily available materials to make fashionable clothes. This slows down the factory’s supply demands (workers don’t have to make as much fabric) and it reduces the need for new raw materials. This gives more time to workers to make the clothes and could minimise issues such as unpaid overtime of garment workers.

One famous ethical loving couple are Colin Firth and his wife Livia Giuggioli. Who own an ethical shop in Chiswick called Eco Age. Livia even wore an upcylced dress to the Oscars earlier on in the year. Her Oscar dress was made from pre consumer waste of high end Italian end of roll fabric.

Tesco also used the method of upcycling when they debuted a new range of clothes made from end of line stock.

A dress made from left over textiles will cut down on waste and ease up the pressures felt by garment workers who have to produce high quantities of materials in a very short amount of time.

What do you think of Upcycling? Can it change the way our clothes are manufactured?

Image Credit- Nicogenin on Flickr at Creative Commons 

Emma Watson launches new line of clothes.

"I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren't many options out there."
- Emma Watson

Emma Watson aka Hermione from the Harry Potter films has designed a clothing line for People Tree with everything made in India, Bangladesh and Nepal by hand from 100% organic and Fairtrade-certified cotton. About time we were given an alternative to toxin ridden cotton garments.

Organic cotton is grown from non-genetically modified plants and doesn’t use fertilisers or pesticides. Regular cotton can pollute water and poison animals as it is grown with fertilisers and pesticides. Animals fed with food containing cotton seed oil can be poisoned.

The Fairtrade labels all around the coffee counter remind us to choose our coffee carefully but when were in a clothes store we don’t have anything pointing us in the right direction. With recent articles and TV specials we have all become more aware of where our clothes are coming from but we don’t know where to find alternatives. So it’s a positive step to see someone as high profile and fashionable as Emma Watson encouraging us to shop more cautiously.

Emma Watson will be showcasing her new collection for People Tree at the Fairwear 2010 fashion show, at Bristol Cathedral on Thursday, 25th of February.

Image Credit- David Shankbone on Wikimedia Commons at Creative Commons  

Where do you get your Fair trade clothes from?

We often get asked “where can I get fair trade clothes from?” and “I can’t find an alternative place to shop, so I will just stick to what I know.”

As fashion labels and big stores are becoming more conscious of where their clothes come from, you as a consumer now have more options than you think.

Take high street stores such as Topshop. They stock ethical fashion brands such as People Tree as well as Gossypium. You know you have no excuse when Topshop is getting involved! Topshop also stock Gossypium and Hug all of which are fairly traded brands.

Lobbying Does work!

Lobbying and pressuring high street stores does work.

Zara finally woke up and smelt the bed of cheap roses. The more we bring the issues to the attention of the high street stores the less they will be able to ignore what they are doing. It’s great news that such a large company like Zara has taken the first step forward now maybe more stores will follow suit.

The louder we speak, the more the high street will listen!

See how lobbying and campaigning can help improving working conditions