Coggles was shocked but not surprised to read that one of Britain’s richest men is profiting from Asian workers paid less than £3 to £4 a day to make clothes for his latest Kate Moss range for Topshop as reported by the Sunday Times.
Topshop, Topman, Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge, which are owned by Sir Philip Green's firm Arcadia Group, employ hundreds of Sri Lankans, Indians and Bangladeshis who work 12 hours a day, six days a week.
A worker at Star Knitwear, which makes T-shirts for the Topshop Kate Moss range, said they were paid £112 a month - equivalent to about 40p an hour. The T-shirts are sold in Topshop for £12. You have to assume therefore that as you walk home from the shops smug in the fact that the clothes that you bagged that were so cheap and therefore ‘throw-away’, someone somewhere on this planet is paying for that garment with their freedom with pure slave trade pay and conditions.
There is growing concern at Coggles and within the UK fashion industry over the use of Third World labour. Jane Shepherdson, who resigned from Topshop as brand director last year, said consumers cannot keep buying cheap clothes and “not ask where they come from”.
An investigation by War on Want (www.waronwant.org) revealed recently that some of Britain's other best-known high street brands are selling "cheap chic" clothes at the expense of workers in Bangladesh despite pledges to protect basic labour rights, War on Want says bargains in Britain, such as jeans for £3 and cocktail dresses for £6, are possible only because retailers wrench lower prices from suppliers in Bangladesh who get clothes stitched at the lowest possible cost.
War on Want says that although Primark, Asda and Tesco have stated publicly they will limit the working week and pay a "living wage" overseas, these commitments are flouted in their suppliers' factories. Geoff Lancaster, head of public relations at Primark, said the company had been involved in trying to raise standards in Bangladesh and would investigate. It denied it was cutting costs so British shoppers benefited from cheap prices.
If you could see the conditions of the person who made your £3 tshirt or jeans which you wore once and threw away, and then had to watch them make that garment 12 hours a day, six days a week you my change your shopping habits. On this island we care about animal cruelty and environmental issues but don’t really give a s**t about our fellow human being.
It’s a basic fact that if you buy ridiculously cheap priced clothes you are abusing the planets resources and it’s inhabitants, change now, sorry rant over! - Mark Bage
Emily and Fin's 50’s inspired dresses are now back in stock.
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