“Fair working conditions!” seems like a mantra people repeat yet don’t really know what it means. Suston meets experts who say that while safe and fair labor conditions are possible in the supply chains, there is still much to be done.

In the late 1990s, many might have believed that the worst was over. Awareness of the “sweatshop” working conditions in the sports and fashion industries’ factories sent shock waves that reverberated in news stations and high streets across the world for years. Big names like Nike promised to make amends, and began implementing comprehensive improvement programs in their supply chains. Many more followed suit, terrified that their own dirty secrets might also see the light of day.

But during the twenty years that have passed since these anti-sweatshop campaigns, the reality is that it is still very much Wild West conditions in much of global apparel manufacturing:

The 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, for example, killed 1,134 garment workers the day after dangerous cracks were reported to management. Or the Uighur minority group workers, locked up in labor internment camps and forced to produce garments in Xinjiang, China. And then there’s the imprisonment and assassination of garment industry union leaders in Myanmar – just to name a few. The workers in these cases were busy putting together garments for some of the leading brands of Global North consumers.

Enter the fair labor movement in the garments industry

How can this be? After all, most people would like to think of themselves as ethical and fair. But given the complexity and obscurity of global supply chains, both businesses and consumers do often lack the ability to make informed ethical choices. In fact, unless one goes out of their way to source ethically produced products, the chances are good that the product comes from a factory with working conditions that many would find shocking.

Mariette Van Amstel, Fair Wear’s Head of membership, confirms that labor violations in the garment industry are by no means rare:

“We work in a sector with high risks for human rights violations, including severe situations such as an unsafe building for the workers, forced labor, no payment of legal minimum wage or exploitation of vulnerable groups like migrants.”

Fair Wear Foundation is an independent non-profit that exists to reduce such risks by working to improve conditions for workers in garment factories. Not ones to get side-tracked by gray areas and relativism, Fair Wear has a very concrete idea of what constitutes as “fair” (see Fair Wear’s 8 principles below).

Using a “process approach,” Fair Wear assists its members to incrementally move towards fulfilling each of these principles to the point that a brand and where workers can realize their rights to safe, dignified and properly paid employment. Mariette Van Amstel shares how this looks in practice:

“It all starts with risk assessment, and the identification of human rights risk for the workers. Fair Wear works collaboratively with brands and supports them to address root causes, implement corrective actions, and prevent a recurrence, fostering continuous improvement in labor standards.”

Fair Wear helps members prevent human rights violations by offering expertise, resources, and tools to implement through the diligent and monitoring systems across their supply chains.

“Fair Wear members are frontrunners in the industry, and specifically within the community of our outdoor brands. The degree of confidence in Fair Wear’s approach stems from its transparent reporting and public accountability about brand progress, independent validation, and continuous improvement processes,” says Mariette Van Amstel.

It is this combination of its collaborative B2B approach and specialization in the garments sector that has helped Fair Wear become the preferred partner of many leading outdoor and apparel brands including Vaude, Rab, Ortovox, and Icebug.

Fair Trade Certified

Another organization working towards stronger labor standards is Fair Trade Certified (FTC). But whereas Fair Wear is a membership organization, the FTC is an active certifier. This means that it uses a model based on auditing and then certifying producers that meet rigorous environmental and social standards. Products produced by certified farms and factories can then carry the consumer-facing Fair Trade Certified label.

While primarily used in the agricultural sector, FTC has received growing support among outdoor brands including the likes of Patagonia, REI, Prana, Arc’teryx & MEC. In its efforts to combat poverty and social injustice, one American outdoor brand in particular has found a strong ally in FTC: Cotopaxi. And according to Annie Agle, Cotopaxi’s Vice President of Impact and Sustainability, the difference between a certified and non-certified factory are striking:

“Nothing prepares you to see hundreds of workers at sewing machines – people just sitting there for hours producing our overconsumption. It’s depressing, for lack of a better word,” shares Annie Agle, before continuing:

“Fair Trade Certified factories feel less oppressive. There’s a self-respect amongst the workers, and you get the sense that they are empowered!”

High labor standards aside, Annie Agle believes that much of the secret behind this empowerment lies in the FTC’s unique Community Development Fund (CDF). Here, a premium of 1-2% of the entire order value is collected and placed into a fund managed by a democratically elected Fair Trade Committee made up of factory workers.

Whether it be university scholarships and daycares for the workers’ children or increased wages for the staff, it’s entirely up to the workers themselves to decide how the funds can best be used.

“There are many stories of companies swooping in with grants to assuage public concern around human rights abuses in facilities. These tactics do not result in real change.”

Instead, Annie Agle argues that to truly reverse injustices embedded in the ways in which our clothes are made, brands need to invest in meaningful transitions – and here the workers are key:

“Workers are not passive! All they need is to be paid fair wages, and workers make great decisions for themselves and their communities.”

Fighting inequality in value chain with fair labor

Unlike “Biodegradable,” “Compostable,” and “Organic,” fair trade is not a protected title and therefore risks being thrown around by non-serious actors. To overcome this, acknowledged third-party organizations are key. Fair Wear Foundation and Fair Trade Certified are widely seen as the leaders in the outdoor industry, but others include amfori BSCI, Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Grüner Knopf, and the International Labour Organization (ILO). There are also free-to-use tools like the Open Supply Hub.

Similarly, just as “sustainable” has come under fire for its ambiguity, so too has “fair.” A brand’s Fair Wear “Leader” designation or a Fair Trade Certified product does not equal a 100% fair exchange. Both FWF and FTC claim to be working towards fairer practices, not to be there already.

“Fair Trade Certified is not a solve-all, and it can still have issues. But after my 6 years at Cotopaxi, working in an industry that is so unregulated, they’ve proven their weight,” confirms Annie Agle.

But the fact is, brands diligently pursuing fair labor practices represent a minority. The realization of a future where workers and consumers enjoy the same basic human rights, therefore, remains a distant dream. But united, this can change:

“The garment industry is fragmented,” shares Mariette Van Amstel,

“Therefore, it is important to join forces and not work alone as a brand.”

Annie Agle couldn’t agree more and admonishes others to pay their workers a fair price:

“I don’t want to be a moralist, but why wouldn’t you pay what it actually costs to produce a product? Fighting inequality is more than just an audit, it’s about supporting the most vulnerable in our value chain, which are our factory workers.”

 

 

Lead Photo: Cotopaxi / Unicorn Factory