Global Clothing Industry essay PDF

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An essay about the impacts of the global clothing industry and fast fashion...

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Ellie Watt – GE11001 Global Clothing Industry essay

“Describe the geography of the global clothing industry. Using examples, discuss the experiences of places and people in the global south of working in the clothing industry. What are the possible responses to the inequalities present in the industry?”

The global clothing industry has changed and progressed significantly over the last few decades. Globalisation, ‘the increase of trade around the world, especially by large companies producing and trading goods in many different countries1’, plays a crucial role in the development of the clothing industry and global commodity chain. Global commodity chains have been organised since the 1990’s steered largely by powerful retail companies who use both their bargaining and buying power within the web of production in order to gain what they want.2 Many larger retailers, although designing and controlling the company from developed countries in the global north, manufacture their products in large factories in the global south. For example, “H&M manufactures their goods with low costs due to sourcing production via sub-contractor networks in Asia, most recently in Bangladesh”. Zara, another fashion retailer, manufactures around 11,000 different pieces of clothing a year. This is an extreme case of the fast-fashion concept, with Zara’s competitors creating 2000 - 4000 items. This fast-fashion production involves small batch production and labour-intensive work, either taking place in one of their 20 factories or in small workshops across Europe and in parts of Asia such as China or Bangladesh. Although the costs of manufacturing in Europe is much higher than Asia (15-20% more expensive) the shorter supply chain means that Zara can get their finished goods out to consumers faster and stay responsive to the chain of demand. Zara is able to design a new item of clothing and have it shipped to its’ 2,213 different stores within only two weeks: that is fast fashion3. The fashion industry has significantly evolved in the last few decades, as well as the shopping habits of consumers. During the mid 1980’s, mass production of clothing began to fade, and the introduction of numerous fashion seasons came into place. Towards the beginning of the 1990s, retailers started focusing on updating their product range and responding faster to new and refreshing fashion trends; providing products to match this rather than only those that were cost efficient to manufacture. 4 This change has influenced retailers to create more flexible product lines, created with low costs in order to keep up with the highly competitive concept

of ‘throwaway’ fashion.5 This new trend was the beginning of major wastage within the clothing industry, advantage being taken of cheap labour in the global south and an unsafe environment for those workers putting in the hard labour to create the finished garments.

A major issue as part of the experiences of factory workers in the global south is the poor and unsafe working conditions, with many factories exemplifying characteristics of a sweatshop. A sweatshop can be described as ‘factories where workers work long hours under poor conditions, and for very low wages.’6 In April 2013, the eight-storey Rana Plaza building complex in Savar, Bangladesh, collapsed killing 1,134 people. Despite concerns being raised about the building’s infrastructure, apparel manufacturers still ordered the employees to come into work. Official warnings had been sent out stating that people were to avoid being inside the building, however after being further ignored the building later collapsed with hundreds to Bangladeshi workers inside7. Although this tragedy was titled “Bangladesh’ worst industrial accident”8, Clean Clothes Campaign, an anti-sweatshop advocacy group based in the Netherlands, revealed that over 500 Bangladeshi apparel industry workers have died in factory fires since 20069. This does not include the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory fire in November 2012, in Dhaka, where at least 117 people were confirmed killed and over 200 injured.10 However, the clothing and textile industry is a vital part of Bangladesh's developing economy. Ready-made garments constitute for 80% of Bangladesh’ $24 billion in annual exports, as well as 20% of the GDP. By 2013 4.2 million people, majority of these being women, were employed in the textile and apparel industry, who were then spread across more than 4,500 factories.11 Due to the large dependency on this industry, it is essential than Bangladesh continue to manufacture clothing and readymade garments in order to allow their economy to develop.

On top of these abysmal working conditions, the wages paid out to these factory workers is unacceptable. A study made by the Sustainable Brand organisation, in partnership with the Fashion Revolution campaign and the C&A Foundation, the wages and working conditions of female garment workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India are studied and compared. Bangladesh workers earned the lowest pay out of the three, at an hourly rate of 28 taka (the equivalent of $0.95 in purchasing power parity). 64% of the time they were earning less than the minimum hourly wage and there was evidence showing that more hours of work were

resulting in lower pay. In addition to these findings, it was made evident that workers in both Cambodia and India were also underpaid. In Cambodia on average they worked 48 hours a week and earned an hourly rate of 3,500 riels (the equivalent of $2.53 in purchasing power parity). Although this meets the minimum wage, most workers feel massive financial strain and work many overtime hours in order to supplement their income. India’s workers - a sample of export-oriented factory workers in the southwest of Bangalore - on average worked 46 hours a week and earned an hourly rate of 39.68 rupees (the equivalent to $2.27 in purchasing power parity). Therefore, the minimum wage was typically earned by most, as well as being paid into pension and state insurance programs. However, they were often exposed to abuse by their employees and the income they gained would be heavily relied on by their families. Nonetheless this is comparative comfort to the workers in the other two countries, especially Bangladesh.

Constant change and expansion take place within the global clothing industry, whether this is due to advancement in marketing technologies, improvement in many countries’ infrastructure or a change in production strategies and the clothing commodity chain. Working conditions and wages for workers such as those in Bangladesh are slowly improving, although there is still a lot of progress to be made. Many large retailers do not accept responsibility for the conditions and pay of the workers as they do not directly employ these people. This overall situation has got worse due to the global economy. “Rich and powerful countries negotiate trade deals with developing countries which allow easy trade of goods and service.”12 It seems as if these deals do not incorporate any regulations regarding pay and conditions of the employees in the factories. Therefore the clothing companies are able to benefit by selling their products for low prices and make up big profits.

Ethical consumption works as one response to unequal trade regulations. This involves consumers being active in this approach and taking up ‘positive buying’ rather than just a simple boycott. Consumers have been reluctant to accept these sustainable changes and are unsure about changing their consumption choices within an industry that relies heavily on their rapid turnover of goods.13 Many producers in the fashion industry are attempting to change its unsustainable nature, but this is would only be possible in the long term if

consumers begin to purchase and support sustainable fashion. This response could be one which is effective in the long-term, however it involves consumers to change their way of buying, to believe in the concept and get on board with the idea of sustainable fashion. Various Charities have been set up in order to respond to the inequality of the global clothing industry. ‘Labour Behind the Label’ (2001) is a UK campaign group that focuses on labour rights in the global clothing industry. They help raise awareness, research and lobbying in support of workers’ demands for improved pay and conditions. The campaign has been effective in pushing UK retailers to sign the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, ensuring Rana Plaza victims receive long-term compensation, campaigning with Cambodian garment workers to demand a living wage, among many other cases, as well as supporting workers in Indonesia to receive legally-owed severance pay. 14

Government initiatives have been put into place following the Rana Plaza collapse, for example The Accord on Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety, made up of over 200 garment retailers, brands and importers, was created to provide a binding, multi-stakeholder solution to the problem. Another group, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was also formed by a group of 29 American garment manufacturers. Finally, the Bangladesh government has worked with the International Labour Organisation on a National Action Plan to inspect factories not covered by either the Accord or the Alliance. Through these groups, 3000 factories have been inspected to check on the safety of the building and the working conditions., ensuring factory owners make improvements and changes where necessary and over 150 factories where closed or relocated to a safer site.15

Another response involves the Lean Retailing Model. This model “requires apparel suppliers to replenish basic and fashion basic products on a weekly basis”16. The model grew more dominant at the end of the 1990’s and so did the benefits of sourcing the items of clothing closer to home and the US market, allowing products to be manufactured and delivered more efficiently to the finished-goods inventory. “Adopting even a single lean production line was associated with a labour compliance improvement of nearly a third of a letter grade, while a 100% lean factory saw an improvement of over half a letter grade. Overall, lean adoption reduced the probability of serious labour violations by 15 percent. researchers also found a statistically uncertain but still positive effect on health, safety, and environmental

compliance.”17 Although the costs of production still remain a prominent factor in manufacturer decisions, it’s clear that different products line of production is being altered in a way which takes some pressure off the workers in developing countries.

It is evident that although there’s a lot of progress being made to improve the inequality within the global clothing industry, there is still a long way to go. The factory workers in the global south are still being poorly paid and working in unsuitable conditions, and much more needs to be addressed and tackled in order to reduce inequality and keep up the efficiency of the ready-made garment production.

1 Cambridge Dictionary Definition, Globalization Accessed on 18/10/18 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/globalization 2 Taplin, I. (2014), Global Commodity Chains and Fast Fashion: How the Apparel Industry Continues to Re-Invent Itself Accessed on 18/10/18 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1179/1024529414Z.00000000059#_i 3 Singh, G. (2017), Fast Fashion Has Changed the Industry and the Economy Accessed on 20/10/18 https://fee.org/articles/fast-fashion-has-changed-the-industry-and-the-economy/ 4 Author Unknown (2018), Zara supply chain analysis - the secret behind Zara's retail success Accessed on 20/10/18 https://www.tradegecko.com/blog/zara-supply-chain-its-secret-to-retail-success 5 Bhardwaj, V. (2010), Fast fashion: response to changes in the fashion industry Accessed on 20/10/18 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09593960903498300 6 Author Unknown (Present), What is a sweatshop? Accessed on 18/10/18 http://www.theworldcounts.com/counters/modern_day_slavery_facts/sweatshops_conditions 7 Hemphill, T. & White, G. (2018), Multinational Enterprises, Employee Safety and the Socially Responsible Supply Chain: The Case of Bangladesh and the Apparel Industry Accessed on 19/10/18 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/basr.12153 8 Author Unknown (2013), Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000 Accessed on 19/10/18 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22476774 9 Clean Clothes Campaign (Date Unknown), Rana Plaza Accessed on 19/10/18 https://cleanclothes.org/safety/ranaplaza 10 Ahmed, F. (2012), At least 117 killed in fire at Bangladeshi clothing factory Accessed on 19/10/18 https://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/25/world/asia/bangladesh-factory-fire/index.html 11 Hemphill, T. & White, G. (2018), Multinational Enterprises, Employee Safety and the Socially Responsible Supply Chain: The Case of Bangladesh and the Apparel Industry Accessed on 20/10/18 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/basr.12153 12 Author Unknown (2017), Why do sweatshops exist? Accessed on 18/10/18 https://ethicalgear.com/sources/why-do-sweatshops-exist 13McNeill, L. & Moore, R. (2015), Sustainable fashion consumption and the fast fashion conundrum: fashionable consumers and attitudes to sustainability in clothing choice Accessed on 20/10/18 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijcs.12169 14 Labour Behind the Label (Date Unknown), Campaigning for garment workers’ rights worldwide

Accessed on 20/10/18 http://labourbehindthelabel.org/who-we-are/ 15 Sutcliffe, J. (2017), Four years on from Rana Plaza – What’s changed? Accessed on 19/10/18 https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/development-blog/four-years-on-from-rana-plaza-what-s-changed 16 Abernathy, F. & Volpe, A. & Well, D. (2006), The Future of the Apparel and Textile Industries: Prospects and Choices for Public and Private Actors Accessed on 20/10/18 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a38114 17 Chipman, I. (2016), How to Improve Working Conditions in the Developing World Accessed on 20/10/18 https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/how-improve-working-conditions-developing-world...