Florence Palpacuer, Prof. of Management Studies

Over the last 20 years, the way clothes are made and sold has changed dramatically.

Production shifted from local to global manufacturing with almost no clothing or sporting goods produced in the countries where they are to be sold. Materials for a pair of jeans, for instance, typically travel 30,000 km before reaching a store!

The environmental cost is huge, transportation being one of the main sectors of energy consumption. The human toll is enormous. “Made in China,” “Made in India,” or Made in Turkey,” are some labels we see on the product.

These clothes are often made by young women, 16-25 years old, most of them working in Export Processing Zones (EPZ) where product components (fabric, yarn, buttons for clothing, but also chips and frames for computers, or pretty much any component for light, non-perishable consumer goods) are sent to be manually assembled under the cheapest possible conditions, before being sent back to be sold in foreign markets.

66 million people worked in EPZ in 2006, up from 22.5 million in 1997. Long hours, poor wages, health problems, sexual harassment and repression of workers’ organizing efforts are standard working conditions in these zones, as the International Labor Organization (ILO) has repeatedly pointed out.

In this modern age, why are young women exposed to such unfair and harsh working conditions – only to produce more popular goods at an ever faster pace and for cheaper prices? This is the way brand and retail companies sell products under the rationale that we, the consumers want them this way.

The most capricious impulses, the reason why you would buy a new pair of sneakers when you already have one, are supposed to guide consumption and production decisions. Such consumption patterns can hold direct consequences on work conditions.

Forced overtime, for instance, occurs when women are not allowed to leave the factory and go home in the evening because the product has to be sent out for delivery the very next day. Why such short and absolute delivery times?

Because brand and retail companies do not want to hold stock (at an extra cost) while they also do not want to run out of stock (and miss an extra profit). This is a systemic issue and accordingly requires a comprehensive solution.

The brands that are targeted by campaign groups such as the United Students Against Sweatshops in the US or the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) in Europe are just the tip of the iceberg. These consumer campaigns are making the issue of unfair labor visible. They are reconnecting the worlds of consumption and production that were taken apart a few decades ago in the name of corporate profits.

Women, student, consumer, labor rights, religious as well as community groups are coming together in coalitions like the CCC, and with workers’ and community groups in the South. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of unfairly treated workers behind brand name labels as well as the true social cost of global production.

How can you contribute to this movement for global justice and a better world?

For one thing, think twice before buying products. Don’t contribute towards product proliferation, and push for shorter delivery time and price pressures on workers and suppliers. Try to buy products you really need.

Second, watch out for labels and try to purchase clothes that are made in places in close proximity to where they are made. This will help sustain jobs for the people nearby, and decrease transport of pollution.

Third, keep campaigning. Join actions led by coalitions such as the CCC, send letters to brand and retail companies.

The CCC will provide sample letters and names and addresses where they can be sent to help workers in specific cases of labor rights violation, for instance. Finally, support socially conscious clothing companies. The CCC has recently assessed a few of them and information is available on their website.

Sincere initiatives that try to practice ethical principles are typically small rather than big companies where the search for profit goes unquestioned. Examples include Blackspot Shoes, a young small non-profit consumer cooperative selling sneakers online, or No Sweat, in the UK.

The more companies will know that consumers are aware and really care, the more they will have to put human values before profits in making production decisions. New, sincere initiatives will also be able to develop. Small-scale individual behavior can bring largescale changes.