April 24, 2013 was a horrifying day in fashion history. The catastrophic events of the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh have sparked a momentous movement a year later. That day is now known as Fashion Revolution Day.

More than 1,100 garment workers—a third of those who entered the clothing factories that morning in Bangladesh—died in the collapse of the massive eight-story building. Ordered to come to work despite the warnings that cracks found in the building the day before could lead to an imminent collapse, the fashion industry demands flew in the face of safety, and the factory operators ignored the warnings for fear of losing money and clients.

The Rana Plaza collapse triggered protests and riots in Bangladesh over fashion factory working conditions. On June 5^th, police in Bangladesh opened fire on protestors who were demanding back pay and compensation that had been promised by the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association and the government. Several months later, more protests over wages led to fighting and gunfire from police.

No garment is worth this price.

The idea for Fashion Revolution Day was born out of the atrocity in Bangladesh and countless other conditions around the world that exist in the name of cheap, fast fashion. Fair Trade pioneer Carry Somers, fashion activist Lucy Siegel and Livia Firth came up with the idea to redefine the day and empower those lives lost in Bangladesh as a means to prevent more unnecessary tragedy. The event “will keep the most vulnerable in the supply chain in the public eye,” FRD says on its website. “Fashion Revolution Day is the day on which we will celebrate fashion as a positive influence, and all those who contribute to making it so. It will rally the high street, the high end, the new, the ancient, the innovators, the buyers, the shoppers, the media, the commentators, the activists and everyone in between.”

“We want people talking about the provenance of clothes,” Somers told Vogue, “raising awareness of the fact that we aren’t just purchasing a garment, but a whole chain of value and relationships. FRD will become a platform for best practice – for brands to show off what they are doing to improve things.”

But, Firth warns that we should be wary of greenwashing. “A paper bag here, an organic T-shirt there – some brands tick a couple of boxes and ignore the main issue,” she says. “Some mega brands still don’t give a damn but there are brilliant examples like Paul Smith who is absolutely in charge of his production chain.”

“As consumers, we want people to re-engage with fashion, slow things down a bit, love the clothes we buy more,” adds Firth. “Care about how they are made and by whom.”

It used to be this way. People we knew made our clothes, or people who sold the clothes to us knew who made them. Garments had tremendous value. Clothing, blankets, accessories, were made to last—and they did, for decades, generations. They were handmade, crafted with time and precision, not against corporate deadlines, ignoring safety and human decency.

Cate Blanchett told Vogue that garment manufacture demands the same attention as we’ve been giving to climate change, an issue she’s extremely passionate about. “If you offer options then it’s not sacrifice, it’s choice,” she says. “As well as the fundamental improvement to our spiritual health, buying with conscience is about the option to buy something for £1 that has the potential to blind 15 children as a result of an inhumane production line – or something else for £1.50 that will have a positive effect. Like climate change – we need to change the way we consume fashion. And if more individuals do then we make a change collectively.”

To participate in Fashion Revolution Day, people are being urged to wear one article of clothing inside out to signify their support of ethical fashion and more transparency in production. Take a picture or video of yourself in the inside out clothing and post online to Instagram or Twitter to @Fash_Rev with the hashtag #InsideOut. The campaign is also urging people to get in touch with the brands that make their favorite clothes and ask the question: “Who Made Your Clothes?”

“Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of the Rana Plaza disaster was that, even a week later, many brands did not know whether or not they had been producing clothing within the building,” the campaign explains. “The theme for the first year brings the consumer to the forefront and tell brands that they want to know who made their clothes.”

The fallout from Rana Plaza has brought attention to the discussion about why “ethical fashion” needs to come to have the same definition as simply “fashion”—all fashion should be produced ethically, all the time. No one should be forced into working conditions that are unethical, unhealthy and unfair. If that’s the price of clothing—if we can’t do better than this—then perhaps we should wear nothing at all. “This is a global problem – we need to question how loyal we are to all brands to flush out sweatshops all over the world, even in developed countries, on our doorstep,” says Firth. “If we imagine we are voting every time we buy something, and we use our purchase power, then things will change.” They just have to.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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Image credit via Fashion Revolution Day

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Workers making garments for some of the world’s most successful clothing brands demand that the Bangladesh government increase the minimum wage, currently about $38 per month.

At least 50 people were hurt as protesters clashed with police in violent protests in Bangladesh’s capitol Dhaka. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to control nearly 50,000 garment workers protesting for higher wages.

In all, 400 of 5,000 Bangladesh garment factories have been closed as garment workers strike to increase their minimum wage from 3,000 daka (less than $40 per month) to 8,000 daka ($100 per month). Strikers have been blocking traffic, bringing Dhaka, Bangladesh’s largest city, to a standstill.

“I hope the workers will get back to work,” Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told reporters on Bloomberg. In return, Khan promised to increase security for factories that employ 3.6 million people, mostly women, accounting for 78 percent of the country’s export earnings.

Forces for Fair Wages Unite

The protests come as a new law makes it legal for garment workers to form unions. At the same time, stakeholders, like H&M have joined IndustriALL Global Union in asking for a higher minimum wage for garment workers.

“We strongly support the workers demand for higher wages,” H&M spokeswoman Andrea Roos said by e-mail to Bloomberg. “Bangladesh is an important sourcing market for H&M and we have on various occasions and also together with other clothing companies, urged the government to raise minimum wages in the textile industry and to revise wages annually.”

Bangladesh has risen to become the second largest garment producer after China, grossing $19 billion, with minimum wages that are the lowest in Asia next to Myanmar.

Amid Disaster, Inspections Needed

The strike comes five months after the 8-story Rana Plaza factory collapsed killing more than 1,000 people. It’s considered the worst industrial disaster in the country’s history. In all, 2,000 factories in Dhaka, similar to Rana Plaza, have been unlawfully expanding using shoddy construction but with only 40 building inspectors in the city, it’s hard to shut them down.

According to The New York Times, “A single inspector might visit a 1,000-employee factory for six to eight hours to review all types of manufacturing issues, like wages, child labor or toxic chemicals. Some auditors receive only five days of training, whereas the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires three years of training and experience assisting inspectors before employees can lead an inspection of a sizable factory in the United States.”

While Bangladesh has a long way to go in terms of safety and a fair minimum wage, the government worries about alienating Western consumers who have helped to build an industry that makes up 80 percent of the country’s exports. But as factory workers begin to find their voice, it becomes more and more difficult to deny their rightful demands.

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Image: dbackadder

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ColumnHow has Uniqlo managed to avoid the dreaded “fast fashion” label?

If you don’t shop at Uniqlo, you will soon. The Japanese retailer has already captivated urban centers like New York and San Francisco with ambitious plans to expand to 1,000 U.S. stores in the next decade.

Uniqlo’s specialty is cheap but quality basics, presented in a rainbow of the season’s trendiest colors. But despite the chain’s quick-moving inventory and bargain basement prices, Uniqlo has somehow managed to escape the fast fashion stigma slapped on competitors like H&M, Forever 21, Zara, and Old Navy. This week’s Behind The Label looks at why.

The Uniqlo we know today got its start when Japanese entrepreneur Tadashi Yanai evolved his family suit business into a chain of contemporary activewear stores in 1984. The first store was called Unique Clothing Warehouse, a lengthy moniker that was later shortened to Uniqlo. The chain initially sold brands like Nike and Adidas, but as it expanded, it shifted to more store-brand apparel.

Today, there are more than 835 Uniqlo stores around the world, with seven in the U.S. Over the past decade, parent corporation Fast Retailing has also added brands like Theory, J Brand, Helmut Lang, Princess Tam.Tam, and Comptoir des Cotonniers to its portfolio of companies.

The Good

Uniqlo’s first American retail presence was in New York’s SoHo neighborhood, where it quickly gained a cult following of devotees drawn by the promise of quality items at low prices. Indeed, Uniqlo’s mission is grounded in the promise of a fashion democracy; its tagline reads “Made For All.” But how is Uniqlo able to offer quality to “all” at such low prices?

First, there’s the power of buying in bulk. But Uniqlo doesn’t just work with anyone. Where some fast fashion companies work with up to 300 manufacturers, Uniqlo works with approximately 70, according to its latest corporate social responsibility report. According to Takao Kuwahara, chief executive of Uniqlo U.K., the company takes a hands-on approach in order to ensure quality. “We make a lot of our products in China but, because of our approach to manufacturing, we can maintain very good quality control,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “When we find a factory we want to work with, we commit to buying all of their product for the next five years—but only if they meet our standards. Then we send in our own team of trained craftsmen to teach the factory how we like things done. The team stays until they get it right.”

Then, there’s Uniqlo’s minimalist approach to design and construction. Design director Naoki Takizawa is an alumnus of Issey Miyake, Japan’s most famous minimalist fashion designer. Much like fellow Japanese brand Muji, Uniqlo aims to eliminate the inessential. “The only things that stay are the things you need: It has to protect you from the rain, and heat has to escape,” Takizawa told Fast Company.

And finally, there’s a minimalist approach to inventory. “We have much fewer styles, especially when you compare us with companies like H&M or Topshop or Zara,” Shin Odake, CEO of Uniqlo U.S.A., told New York Magazine. “That’s the secret of why we can get better quality. We try to consolidate the fabric buys as much as possible. H&M sales are bigger, but we have bigger orders. We take huge quantities, and we have negotiation power.”

The Bad

Uniqlo’s minimalist approach to sourcing, design, and inventory may partly explain how the brand is able to offer $5 tees and $19 jeans. But labor is a significant part of the equation too.

Uniqlo has long produced the majority of its clothing in China, but in recent years it has expanded into cheaper manufacturing bases like Vietnam and Bangladesh. According to the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, Bangladesh offers the cheapest garment labor in the world, at 21 cents an hour. Vietnam’s wages aren’t much higher: 52 cents an hour in cities and 36 cents an hour in rural areas.

Cheaper labor comes at a price, as the recent garment factory collapse and fires in Bangladesh have reminded us. The incidents have prompted major retailers like Walmart, Gap, and H&M to initiate conversations on how to improve Bangladeshi working conditions. Fast Retailing, the world’s fourth largest clothing retailer, isn’t reported to be a participant in these discussions. The company is not a member of the Fair Labor Association, which promotes responsible labor standards, nor does it participate in industry-wide environmental working groups like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

Uniqlo’s apathy toward its workers is further evident in this year’s CSR report. The chapter on garment manufacturing focuses more on quality control than quality of life. The strongest statement on fair labor is that Fast Retailing “always produces clothing under socially acceptable working conditions” – hardly a revolutionary commitment.

Uniqlo has also been singled out for having an unhealthy corporate culture. It is currently suing the publisher of a scathing book called the “The Glory and Disgrace of Uniqlo,” which accused the retailer of “extremely harsh, slave-like labor conditions at overseas factories.” And earlier this year, Japanese business magazine Toyo Keizal ran a feature article on Uniqlo with the headline: “Hihei suru shokuba” (“the worn-out workplace”). According to an English summary of the article by the Japan Times, Uniqlo perpetuates the worst stereotypes of Japanese rank-and-file corporate culture. Workers have little decision-making capacity and are expected to follow the company manual to the letter, with harsh punishments for minor infractions. They are regularly expected to contribute “service zangyo,” or voluntary overtime with no pay, even though the practice is forbidden and employees can be demoted or fired if found out. As a result of these and other restrictions, a staggering 53 percent of employees leave the company within three years.

The Questionable

My strategy since become a conscious consumer has been to build a wardrobe around high-quality staples: great-fitting jeans, comfortable tees, versatile black dresses. For this, Uniqlo is heaven-sent. Its styles aren’t driven as much by trend as they are by timelessness. In fact, its new LifeWear collection, released last month, promotes a minimalist wardrobe of 11 basic “projects” that together comprise a full wardrobe.

“We don’t have seasonal fashion themes like other companies. We are much more product focused. Year by year, we are constantly testing, improving and updating,” Yuki Katsuta, Uniqlo’s senior vice president of global research and design, told Business of Fashion last month.

This shopping philosophy resonates with many conscious consumers, which may be why Uniqlo has escaped the dreaded fast fashion label. It’s easy for ethical shoppers to justify a Uniqlo purchase by arguing for its quality, much like slow fashion proponents do.

But Uniqlo’s supply chain is still littered with the social and environmental issues representative of other fast fashion retailers. At the end of the day, Uniqlo still uses cheap labor to make cheaply constructed garments. But because of the brand’s focus on quality, versatility, and minimalist wardrobes, you hopefully won’t be tricked into buying more of them than you need.

Images: Instant Vantage, Sean Davis

The post Behind the Label: Investigating The Social Responsibility Claims Of Uniqlo appeared first on EcoSalon.

A sustainable fashion reporter looks for new ways to keep readers abreast of fast fashion issues like the recent Bangladesh garment factory disasters. 

The media moves stunningly fast these days, and the consequence is that stories like the recent Rana Plaza garment factory disaster in Bangladesh and the impact of breakneck production of fast fashion, are often relegated as old news within hours. As a busy reporter and editor at the heart of the eco news scene, Amy DuFault is all too familiar with the pace of today’s media machine and the cost of not paying full attention. “It will happen again and again,” she said. “Until we start realizing that consuming at the pace we are currently cannot support human rights or the environment.”

DuFault decided to take matters into her own hands by creating and promoting a run of limited-edition t-shirts emblazoned with the names of the four garment factories at the center of the garment factory crisis: Spectrum, Ali, Tazreen and Rana. According to DuFault, “Each of the four garment factories listed on the t-shirt have contributed to roughly 1,618 deaths, an equal amount of injuries and serial maiming that goes beyond human recognition.”

Beyond drawing attention to the crisis, the t-shirts were made to show that, as DuFault says, “fashion can be done right.” Inspired by Experimental Jetset’s “John & Paul & Ringo & George” design, the t-shirts use non-toxic water-based inks and are made from an entirely traceable supply chain by TS Designs in Burlington, North Carolina. 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the Clean Clothes Campaign to support their continued coverage and monitoring of working conditions in the global garment industry.

We caught up with Amy DuFault as she got set to launch the initiative, here’s what she had to say:

Rowena Ritchie: Why is it so vital we keep the Bangladesh disasters fresh in people’s minds?

Amy DuFault: The New York Times wrote recently that Bangladesh was the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry, but the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh was just one of many garment factory disasters. There are deaths daily in garment factories from faulty old machinery maiming people, to blocked fire access routes during suffocating fires. In the case of Bangladesh, I feel like we hit an all new low when a factory could illegally retro-fit extra floors to accommodate bargain chains so that the managers could fulfill even bigger orders, faster. All this constant shopping to fulfill some aching need for meaning… our need to buy cannot ever come at the expense of another human being no matter how deep our addiction.

RR: Why did you feel personally motivated to launch this initiative?

AD: My original thought with all this was to just get money together from all my colleagues who were tweeting and Facebook posting their hearts out. Many of us felt we might need to start a support group from how depressed we all were hearing the daily death tolls, seeing those horrible images of young women sticking out of rubble and labels from fast fashion houses all over the place.

Speaking on a personal level, I went to a very dark place feeling powerless and that having been a part of the sustainable fashion industry for more than 8 years now–how could it have only gotten worse?

But through it all, I saw new leaders emerge and groups like the Clean Clothes Campaign, who are really taking action by reporting, protesting, and getting people to sign petitions that legally bind companies to fair labor rights. I wanted to support their efforts by helping to keep the story fresh in people’s minds.

RR: What’s the significance of making a t-shirt – don’t people have plenty of them already?

AD: It’s true, we do have tons of t-shirts in our drawers… I recently met Eric Henry from TS Designs when I was in Manhattan and I was wooed by his story of “dirt to shirt” manufacturing in Burlington, North Carolina. His story seemed to me a perfect fit with what I wanted to do–create awareness of basic human rights in garment factories, but show how fashion can be done right on a human as well as environmental level from “dirt to shirt.” Every t-shirt we made has a number on it that you can track and see who made your shirt. Everything is made and produced within 100 miles of Eric’s facility and there is little he doesn’t know about his business.

That there could be some slight possibility that a shirt made sustainably from beginning to end in this country could help remember the plight of garment workers thousands of miles away–and potentially start a conversation that starts a bigger dialog–is such a powerful thing.

Top Image:  Dan Cutrona

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On May 13^th, 2013 H&M signed the Accord of Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.

Nearly three weeks after the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed and killed more than 1,120 people and injured many more, H&M signed an agreement with the mission to prevent similar disasters.

The Accord of Fire and Building Safety was drawn up by a labor coalition including IndustriALL Global Union, Clean Clothes Campaign and Workers’ Rights Consortium, and was published over a year ago. The Accord calls for a safe and sustainable Bangladeshi Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry where workers do not have to fear fires, building collapses or any other accidents that could be prevented with sensible health and safety measures.

Basically, the agreement requires companies to provide suppliers with more financial support in order to make the necessary factory safety upgrades. The plan established in the agreement is for a five-year period, during which the signees would actively take part in reviewing, implementing and enforcing factory safety regulations. Working together to develop a worker complaint process and a method for employees to report risks are also part of the agreement, which will be overseen by the International Labor Organization.

The aim of the agreement is to develop a nationwide factory safety initiative, which would require collaboration between a broad coalition of brands, the Bangladeshi government, industry associations and trade unions. There are more than 5,000 garment factories in Bangladesh where workers often make no more than $40 a month.

“Fire and building safety are extremely important issues for us and we put a lot of effort and resources within this area. H&M has for many years taken the lead to improve and secure the safety of the workers in the garment industry,” says Helena Helmersson, Head of Sustainability at H&M.

This Accord was drawn up and published on May 13, 2012 and activists have been pushing companies to sign it ever since. Why has it taken such a horrible event to spur agreement? Although H&M has implemented some factory assessment measures in the last few years, they obviously were not effective or worthy of a leadership title in garment worker safety.

The Accord was signed last year by PVH (Tommy Hilfiger  and Calvin Klein) and German retailer Tchibo, all of which have just been joined by several European companies including Inditex (Zara), H&M, British retailers Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Primark, and Benetton. Today is the final date for companies manufacturing in Bangladesh to sign the agreement, the measures of which need to be implemented within 45 days of signing. Wal-Mart, the second largest retailer to outsource garment manufacturing to Bangladesh, refuses to sign the agreement. Target, JC Penney, Sears, The Children’s Place and The Gap have yet to sign. If the carnage of the Rana Plaza collapse wasn’t a wake up call, what will be?

Image: rijans

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If these photos don’t make you wanna quit your job and travel the world, we don’t know what will.

Asia’s diversity never fails to astound. Nowhere on Earth can you find a greater variety of cultures, languages, races, ethnicities, religions, climates, and geography. It’s mind-numbing.

These photos provide just a taste of what Asia has to offer. They’re also an important reminder of the need to protect what makes the world’s largest continent unique. Though the scenes depicted here may seem worlds away, our choices always have an impact wherever we may roam, reminding us to tread lightly.

(above) Penang, Malaysia

Bangkok, Thailand

Great Wall, China

Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

Hong Kong

Polomok, Philippines

Bali, Indonesia

Maldive Islands

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Lhasa, Tibet

Huashan Mountain, China

Udaipur, India

Cassava farm near Luang Prabang, Laos

Bali, Indonesia

Singapore

Koh Samui, Thailand

Tokyo, Japan

Tainan County, Taiwan

Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Seoul, South Korea

Abseron, Azerbaijan

Busan, South Korea

Kampong Thum, Cambodia

Shanghai, China

Himalaya Mountains, Uttarakhand, India

Binh Thuan, Vietnam

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Meizhou, China

Koh Samet, Thailand

Dornogovi Province, Mongolia, from the Trans-Siberian Railway

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ratchaburi, Thailand

Yangon, Myanmar

Eastern Vasayas, Philippines

Makalu Base Camp, Nepal

Kyoto, Japan

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Elephant orphanage between Colombo and Kandy, Sri Lanka

Angkor Wat, Cambodia 

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According to Ecotextile News, the Chinese government recently “ordered the closure of over 2,000 companies in 18 different industries – including the dyeing and finishing sector – as the country mulls a new environmental tax on manufacturing to crack down on highly polluting industries.”

This environmental tax will likely be enforced on carbon dioxide emissions and discharges of polluted water and, according to Ecotextile News, “would form part of Beijing’s drive to make its economic growth cleaner.”

This is welcome news for the worldwide eco community struggling to crack down on highly polluting, highly energy-wasting facilities, but will this only force the outed to set up shop in another country that doesn’t have proper enforcement in place?

According to MSN, a typical scenario when production is moved from countries like China to lower-cost labor markets in Vietnam and Bangladesh, “a huge restructuring in the global supply chain aimed at reducing costs,”  is the next logical step. Currently, a smaller (but no less dramatic)  restructuring is the movement of companies inland in China from coastal areas.

One of the biggest supporters of the move? Walmart whose shifting of the way it buys its private-label goods (eg. Faded Glory) it is estimated can save $4 billion to $12 billion with a few minor adjustments.

MSN says: “The company also thinks it can find cost savings by even further globalizing the way it buys goods. Instead of its current practice of buying for each national market separately, Walmart is creating four global merchandising centers. For example, a center in Mexico City will handle merchandising for emerging markets. The company plans to extend this strategy to global sourcing of fruits and vegetables, too.

As a result, companies in coastal China will find themselves in competition on price not just with companies in inland China but also with companies in even-lower-cost economies around the world.

In textiles, for example, a company in coastal China, where wages range from $117 to $147 a month, will find itself in competition with companies in Bangladesh paying $60 a month.”

While these new moves in the Chinese government’s crackdown on pollution will allow them to meet environmental standards under a current Five Year Plan, what will be the repercussions? Is there a whole other conversation to be had about ethics?

Above image by Jakob Montrasio

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