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Human
Technical clothing often brings to mind chemists in shiny labs dreaming up exciting new ideas. However the nature of manipulating pieces of fabric makes it difficult to mechanise the garment production process, making the clothing industry one of the most labour intensive in the world. However shiny and sophisticated your new jacket is, someone, somewhere, still had to sew, or possibly laminate, it together.
Gear History looks at some of the origins of the modern garment industry. The majority of workers in it are women. Often with little education, and with no opportunity to form unions, they have little understanding of their rights or expectation about their treatment. The fact that a woman may be a second wage earner in a family has historically been used to pay less than a living wage.
Neo-liberal economists like to argue that even the worst of jobs is still a step onto the ladder of development for people in the poorest countries. Just as working conditions have dramatically changed in the west in the last one hundred years, so must other countries go through this process if they wish to achieve a western standard of living.
The difference in this case is that these workers are not producing goods for their own domestic market. They are making them for us. Therefore, every time we refuse to pay a premium for an ethically produced garment, we are in effect supporting labour abuses. Development cannot happen overnight, but we are holding the reins to slow it down.
The International Labour Organisation and the UN list the nine conventions of labour rights:
1. Employment is freely chosen
2. Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected
3. Working conditions are safe and hygienic
4. Child labour shall not be used
5. Living wages are paid
6. Working hours are not excessive
7. No discrimination is practised
8. Regular employment is provided
9. No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.
Recent cases where these have been contradicted are, however, numerous.
The advent of fast fashion can be blamed for the increasing pressure
to produce faster and cheaper. As the outdoor clothing industry generally
sticks to a more traditional two or four seasons a year, which are planned
in advance, highly researched, and generally unconcerned with what people
in Heat Magazine are wearing, this is obviously a mark in its favour.
But it is highly unlikely that the industry is completely exempt from
labour abuse problems.
