Even though I’ve found myself outside a lot less throughout the pandemic, expressing myself through fashion still puts a smile on my face. And as a sustainable fashion enthusiast and activist, I’m all too aware that while many of us consumers have millions of outfit options available at the swipe of a card or the click of a button (at increasingly lower prices!), the people who make those clothes often lack basic necessities.
Some fashion brands actively donate to a number of philanthropic causes, a practice now deemed the bare minimum for corporate activism in light of increased superficial attention on the Black Lives Matter movement. These donations might be appreciated, but retailers have a duty to take care of their supply chains before distributing funds elsewhere– and we shouldn’t accept any less.
Amid the reign of rebellious designers like Mary Quant in the 1960s, young people turned to cheaply-made, trendy clothes, rejecting the “buttoned-up appearance of their parents’ generation in favor of their own aesthetic.” Fashion brands kicked their production into high gear to meet rising demand for affordable fashion. The resulting system was fast fashion, where many companies outsource production to factories in less regulated countries, saving millions of dollars on labor.
In a typical garment factory, many of which are located in countries like China, Bangladesh and India, workers are paid well below a living wage – that is to say, the bare minimum necessary to fulfill their basic needs. Work days can run 14-16 hours, 7 days a week to meet brand deadlines. These long hours are often spent in unstable factory buildings with no ventilation and toxic chemicals, not to mention verbal and physical abuse.
And many of the workers are coerced into their positions through practices that amount to human trafficking. Stop Child Labour’s global campaign coordinator Sofia Ovaa said, “There are many girls in countries like India and Bangladesh, who are willing to work for very low prices and are easily brought into these industries under false promises of earning decent wages.” 2014 research on the abuse of female textile workers in South India revealed that recruiters would convince parents in poor rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills for good pay and accomodations.
With corporate complacency and little oversight from governmental parties, these cycles persist.
The United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets an international standard for fundamental human rights to be protected. Obvious violations within many garment factories include the rights to just and favourable conditions of work, reasonable limitation of working hours and adequate standards of living among others.
Despite the inherent extortion within the fast fashion production model, PrettyLittleThing, a UK based fast fashion apparel retailer, wants its consumers to know it cares. “We got YOU! 💘 We wanna hear about a time when PLT has had your back or been there for you,” the brand announced on Twitter last month with its #PLTGotYou campaign, alongside a feel-good video featuring a screen of headlines that detail its philanthropic and other societally aware efforts.
Among the headlines were a number of pledged donations from the past year. After former Love Island host Caroline Flack took her own life in February, PLT and influencer Molly-Mae Hague donated 100 percent of profits from their new clothing range to Mind, a mental health charity. Then in June, amid police brutality protests following George Floyd’s death, PLT committed to donating the proceeds from its collaboration with rapper Saweetie to Black Lives Matter. The brand’s founder and CEO Umar Kamani even pledged to donate his March salary to small businesses during the first wave of Covid-19 lockdowns.
Even with a generous track record, PLT is not exempt from human rights violations. The brand’s parent company Boohoo made headlines in July when British newspaper The Sunday Times published an undercover investigation revealing that workers in a Leicester factory that supplies Boohoo were being paid less than half of Britain’s national living wage. And it’s hard to believe the company had no idea about these exploitative wages when 77% of UK companies believe there is a likelihood of modern slavery in their supply chains.
Donations don’t absolve brands like PrettyLittleThing of their duty to not cause harm in the process of creating their products. Corporate social responsibility, a self-regulation model in which businesses aim to be socially accountable, has often been framed as an optional activity with bonus points for participation, but businesses of all kinds have a responsibility to respect human rights as a foundational principle.
John Ruggie’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights asserts that businesses must not only demonstrate a policy commitment to respect human rights but use due diligence to prevent human rights violations and seek remediation of any negative effects they cause.
On the part of the fashion industry, remedies most effectively mean fair pay for production moving forward with additional financial compensation– and garment workers’ voices should be involved in determining wages that will actually allow them to sustain themselves. In order to do their due diligence, brands must also use their leverage to ensure that factories are creating a safe and fair environment for their workers. State actors also have a duty to prevent corporate human rights violations, but their complacency doesn’t give fashion companies the right to shirk basic decency and respect for those who tirelessly work to make the clothes that line their shelves.
If brands aren’t respecting the basic rights of the people who work hard to craft their designs, how can they expect us to call them charitable? If PLT and Boohoo really want to show their consumers that they care, they need to look in their own backyards, their own supply chains, and ensure that they are now doing their part to fix the damage they’ve done.