Zine #6 . 10 global goals that will save fashion

SDG 15 LIFE ON LAND

SDG 6 DECENT WORK

SDG 12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION

SDG 1 NO POVERTY

SDG 5 GENDER EQUALITY

SDG 6 CLEAN WATER

12 | Responsible Consumption and Production created by Bronwyn Seier @bronwyn_seier

5 | Gender Equality written by Izzy Taylor @stopthetraffik

Introductions Fashion Revolution

Contents

5 | Ode to the Women of the Earth written by Amanda Gorman @amandasgorman

8 | Decent Work and Economic Growth

10 | Reduced Inequalities

DUCFS

written by Clare Press @mrspress

written by Amy Cuff @miss_amy_cuff, @stopthetraffik

6 | Clean Water and Sanitation written by Molshree Vaid @mollvai

written by Imogen Napper @imogennapper illustration by Jesse Zhang @jessezhangart

Students have the power to be one of society’s greatest assets. As tomorrow’s leaders, policy-makers and industry pioneers, we are the empowered. We are a force for change.

created by Adapt @adapt__

15 | Life on Land written by Tamsin Blanchard @tamsinblanchard photographs by Ashish Chandra @aashishchandra

17 | Partnerships for the Goals written by Bella Webb @bellawebb_

STOP THE TRAFFIK

12 | Dear Agony Aunt

13 | Climate Action

As the largest student-led fundraiser in the UK, DUCFS carries a responsibility to address the most pressing issues for our generation and promote positive social change. Action Required represents a major landmark in our sustainability journey, combining both our 2019 and 2020 causes and catalysing the impact of our platform. Working alongside Fashion Revolution and STOP THE TRAFFIK has enabled us to maximise the reach of our message. By combining forces, we embody the power of collaboration in the pursuit of lasting change.

Human and environmental sustainability presents one of the most crucial challenges facing our global society, and positive improvements can only be achieved through a collective effort. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals crucially offer individuals, governments and corporations a means to engage with this change. Like the fanzine series, the SDGs break down an overwhelming global issue into more feasible solutions, such that change can start today.

14 | Life Below Water

written by Orsola de Castro @orsoladecastro illustration by Meg Fransee @meglfransee

At Fashion Revolution, we know it may not be obvious that our clothes are fundamentally linked to the Global Goals, but they are! Inspired by the success of our MOOC (or Massive Open Online Course) launched in June 2019, which explained how the SDGs relate to the materials, supply chain, and production of the clothes we wear, this collection of mini-zines breaks down 10 of those goals and how they relate specifically to the choices we make every morning when we get dressed.

We hope this zine helps inspire you and your friends and family to take action today, whether that means writing to a policy maker, tagging a brand to ask #whomademyclothes, or simply thinking about changing your own shopping habits and wearing your clothes for longer. Every action counts.

2030, here we come.

written by Lizzy Jewell @stopthetraffik

1 | No Poverty

Sometimes we need to set guidelines and targets in our lives to measure our progress, and celebrate our achievements. In 2015, world leaders at the United Nations agreed on 17 sustainable development goals to meet by 2030 if we are to end poverty, fight inequality and reduce the impacts of the climate emergency. These goals are aimed at everyone. Yes, governments and business need to act urgently, but so too, do we.

Creating Action Required has been a joyful collaboration. It has been a delight to work alongside the creative, passionate activists at DUCFS and Fashion Revolution, and create a product that drives change in a very real way.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a roadmap for how we build a world that is inclusive and prosperous, without putting people or planet in harm’s way. This chimes perfectly with our vision for a world free of human trafficking. Through our choices, our activism, and our fashion, everyone has the power to be a change-maker. Action Required is the first step, we hope, of many.

At STOP THE TRAFFIK, we work year-round to create a world where people are not bought and sold. Using the power of people and technology, we disrupt and eradicate exploitation wherever we find it, and we invite everyone who shares our values to help us achieve our mission.

SDG 12 RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION

For hundreds of thousands of years, people owned very few items. 10,000 years ago, when we began the transition away from nomadic lives, we built houses as permanent structures of shelter. Today, our houses still offer us that basic protection from wind, rain and dust. But they are more than that.

They have become museums for all that we own, filing cabinets for our belongings and monuments of stuff.

Even until around 500 years ago, our belongings were fairly limited. The first consumer revolution took place in England between 1600 and 17601. It was then that the rise of a middle class allowed for the pursuit of small luxuries, like extra pairs of shoes or sugary sweets.

Key to the Industrial Revolution, the power loom was invented in 1784 and made the speed of factory weaving 40 times faster.

This was followed by the invention of the sewing machine in 1846, further spewing fashion towards mass production.

Then, in the early 20th century, the advent of marketing revolutionised consumer desire. In the 1920s, the Wall Street banker Paul Mazur, wrote,

“We must shift America from a needs, to a desires culture.

People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old had been entirely consumed.”

And until today, these desires have been manufactured to make us want even the most regrettable of trends, at increasing rates. With media becoming ever more present in our daily lives, from social feeds to reality TV shows, we now live in a world where the pressure to consume is seemingly inescapable. Until now.

TAKE STOCK How many items of clothes do you have in your wardrobe?

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

How many garments, accessories and pairs of shoes have you bought in the last six months?

What is the most treasured item in your wardrobe?

What is the oldest garment you own?

C O NSUM PT I ON-p4

Consu mption by the nu mbers C ON SU MPT I ON-p7

does what we create justify what we destroy?

TONY FRY

What resources does the fashion industry use in a given year?

About 150 million trees are logged for viscose in textiles like rayon, Tencel and Lyocell7.

Dyeing textiles can use as much as 200 tonnes of water for every tonne of material produced8.

Creating plastic-based textiles alone, uses more than 342 million barrels of oil9.

The fashion industry may contribute to as much as 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions 10.

C ON SU MPT I ON-p11

everything we make returns to the Earth either as food or as poison.

production time is short

workers aren’t properly trained

many garments fail quality control

Fashion's Waste Problem

clothing is low quality

consumer buys new clothing often clothing is cheap

high volume of clothing in landfill

clothing is quickly discarded by consumers

CÉLINE SEMAAN

slow factory

C ON SU MPT I ON-p15

In the UK, 38 million items are bought each week and 11 million are sent to landfill11.

Extending the life of clothes by just nine extra months of active use would reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 2030% each11.

0

US Spending on Clothing & Accessories12 Global Average Temperature13

0.8 200

0.6 150

0.6

0.4 100

0.4

0.2 50

1994

2501

1993

1.2 300

1992

2019 2019

2018 2018

2017 2017

2016 2016

2015 2015

2014 2014

2013 2013

2012 2012

2011 2011

2010 2010

2009 2009

way

2008 2008

2007 2007

2006 2006

2005 2005

2004 2004

2003 2003

2002 2002

2001 2001

2000 2000

1999 1999

1998 1998

1997 1997

1996 1996

1995 1995

1994 1994

1993 1993

1992 1992

Billions $USD Degrees ˚Celsius

1.2

Are we 1

consuming 0.8

our

to Climate 0.2

Change?

0

6

Across

8

www.fashionrevolution.org/glossary

4

2 1

3

1. The practice of marketing environmental credentials with false or misleading claims.

3. ____ Fashion. Clothing that moves quickly from the runway to the high street, boasting low prices and low quality.

5. The measure of how long a product lasts in use.

7. The preoccupation of a society with acquiring products.

Down 2. The classification of unsold goods or materials, due to overproduction.

5

Answers on page 30.

In collaboration with: @entrylevelactivist

Want more?

7

4. Two words. The intentional design of a product to have an artificially limited life.

6. "Jevon's _______ ". The idea that increasing demand on a resource outpaces technological progress (for example towards sustainable production).

8. Two words. The discomfort experienced when a person holds opposing values, such as the desire for new clothes and the belief that consumption costs the Earth.

Okay, but make it

a timeline Clothing is protection from the elements and a veil for the social deviance of nudity. But fashion? Fashion is something else.

It’s a chosen position in the spectrum between conformity and self-expression. It’s a way of saying who we are without speaking a word.

Marketing is delivered in the form of media. Be it newspapers, TV ads, social media feeds, or product placement in movies, media gives us entertainment in exchange for our participation in capitalism. In 1964, Marshall McLuhan wrote, “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”

1960s

In 1954, Leon Festinger introduced the concept of social comparison.

He said that humans use downward social comparison, judging those they perceive to be lesser, to affirm their sense of self. Likewise, we use upward social comparison to frame our aspirational selves. This theory set the groundwork for influencer marketing15.

1950s

Business owners once believed that people would buy their products based on price and quality. In the 1920s, Edward Bernays suggested that products should be sold not by appealing to the consumer’s rationality, but to their emotions and desires. Marketing was born.

1920s

In the late 19th Century, American economist and sociologist, Thorstein Veblen introduced the idea of conspicuous consumption, a concept whereby the royalty and upperclassmen used fashion objects as symbols of their status14.

1890s Why do we consume?

What next?

On December 8th, 2019, a fire took hold of a school bag factory in Delhi, India, in a tragedy that took the lives of 43 people. Jennifer Ewah wrote on the tragedy, “Make no mistake, we are complicit in this constant tragic loss of life when we do not speak up against a fashion value chain that allows this...

We, the lucky few, who are purchasing rather than making the garments, are beneficiaries of a fashion system of injustice that is fuelling these disasters.”

2019

On April 24th, 2013, the Rana Plaza factory complex collapsed in Bangladesh. Killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring over 2,500, the tragedy has become an image of the consequences of modern consumerism.

Much has changed since Raza Plaza, the very disaster that gave birth to the Fashion Revolution movement. Yet the change isn’t happening fast enough, and it’s often outweighed by the pursuit of green and growth.

2013

The rise of social media and the smartphone has pushed consumption to a near inescapable force. Instagram, founded in 2010, has dramatically altered the way we think about self-expression. The average millennial is expected to take 25,700 selfies in a lifetime16, and 72% of Instagram users have purchased something found on their feed17.

2010s

The rise of ecommerce further drove mass-consumption. In the computer era, consuming clothes no longer requires one to take transportation, get dressed or even get out of bed. Net-A-Porter, widely considered the first mainstream fashion ecommerce business was founded in 2000 and saw its first profitable year in 2004.

2000s

Over time, marketing has become less direct and more embedded in our daily experiences. In 1982 the film E.T. was released, earning $1,000,000 USD from Mars Inc. to heavily feature Reece’s Pieces candy in the film.

1980s

Is it an impulse buy?

Have you wanted it for some time?

(a flowchart)

Sounds like an impulse buy.

Try to rent or borrow instead.

yeah!

no

:(

prob not

not e sur

Think of this as an exercise in styling. Find out and return to flowchart.

not yet...

Hmm... maybe think about it, do your research, and decide in a few weeks.

yes, and I approve!

y!!

Will you wear it again Does it work with after the occasion? things in your existing wardrobe?

Have you researched the brand’s human rights and sustainability approach in their supply chain?

ti ta ny wa

nope

yes!

a e y'r y w e ll th d ea an Ir t yes bu gy dod bit

an

yes

of course

Are you buying it for a specific occasion?

not really...

START HERE

You’ve thought it through!

Remember Loved Clothes Last.

Make-Your-Own Manifesto for a New Consumption Paradigm treasure self-expression pause

revolt

remake repair slow down

Creativity

thrift

Care swap Creativity

rewear

reinvent mend individuality

change the system

share keep

Fashion, to me, is about noun and noun

.

Fashion should be not only about consuming, but about verb and verb

ing ing. It’s

time for fashion to

respect solutional approach

(Use these words or come up with your own!)

and remember that #LOVEDCLOTHESLAST.

Crossword Answers: Across

Down

1. Greenwashing

2. Deadstock

3. Fast 5. Longevity

4. Planned Obsolescence

7. Consumerism

6. Paradox 8. Cognitive Dissonance

8. Yusuf, M. (2018) Handbook of Textile Effluent Remediation.

9. Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017) A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future.

10. UNECE (2018) ‘UN Alliance aims to put fashion on path to sustainability’.

11. WRAP (2017) Valuing Our Clothes.

12. United States Census Bureau (2020) ‘Monthly retail sales & seasonal factors 1992 – present: Clothing’.

13. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (2020) ‘Global land-ocean temperature index’.

References:

14. Veblen, T. (1967). The Theory of The Leisure Class.

New York, Viking Press.

1.

15. Festinger, L. (1954) ‘A theory of social comparison processes’.

The School of Life (2016) History: Consumerism.

2. Business of Fashion & McKinsey (2019) The State of Fashion 2019.

3. Laitala, K., Grimstad Klepp, I., & Henry, B. (2018) ‘Does use matter? Comparison of environmental impacts of clothing based on fiber type’.

16. Walden, C. (2016) ‘We take 1 million selfies every day - but what are they doing to our brains?’, The Telegraph, 24 May. 17. Keyes, D. (2017) ‘Instagram rolls out shoppable posts for more merchants’, UK Business Insider, 3 October.

4. Textile Exchange (2019) Preferred Materials Report.

5. Kirchain, R., Olivetti, E., & Greene, S. (2015) ‘Sustainable apparel materials’.

6. Euromonitor (2017) Global Consumer Trends.

7. Canopy (2018) CanopyStyle 5 Year Anniversary Report.

Written and designed by Bronwyn Seier, content co-ordinator at Fashion Revolution.

SDG 5 GENDER EQUALITY

Gender Equality and Exploitation in the GarmentMaking Industry

The making of clothes has been synonymous with femininity for centuries.

From the bustling Victorian seamstress to the keen eyes of ancient Chinese embroiderers, it’s a mental image that’s been normalised in popular culture.

As the global market for clothes has expanded and fashion has become the industrial powerhouse it is today, we’ve seen the gender balance change – “Even if certain fashion houses were created by women at their time, today they often have creative leaders who are men,” Julie de Libran, then the artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, said in a 2016 report.1 Way down at the other end of the supply chain, women still make up the majority of the workforce, with some studies suggesting that 80 per cent of garment workers employed worldwide are female.2 At a glance, this may seem positive – emblematic of the public shift in attitude towards giving women access to employment opportunities – but the truth is

largely rooted in exploitation. Many employers in the garment industry have abused popular cultural stereotypes that paint women as passive and flexible, something which makes them the “ideal employees”.3 It remains an irrefutable truth that “there wouldn’t be a fashion industry without the exploitation of women”.4

The Feminisation of the Garment Industry in the Global South So when did this cultural shift happen?

When did women become the foundation for exploitation in the garment industry? In an industry that has evolved to deliver goods quickly and flexibly for a Western market and is “under continual pressure to do so”5, the potential for exploitation is always brewing just beneath the surface. This is particularly apparent in the Global South, where 38 per cent of the clothes made are for European import in what has been referred to as a “buyer-driven chain”6.

This pressure demands a large workforce – and

naturally, the greater the need for workers, the more likely it is to become feminised.

Fashion Revolution has previously considered the opinion of Leslie T. Chang7, who argues that the globalised garment industry has had an empowering effect as women from poor backgrounds are able to find work and earn a salary, something which could not have happened even 50 years ago. “Just because a person spends her time making a piece of something, it does not mean that she becomes that […] What she does with the money she earns, what she learns in that place and how it changes her – these are the things that matter,” Chang says. While there may be truth in her argument, it also remains true that exploitation is prolific, and that just because a woman is working, it does not mean that it will lead to equality. This is particularly true when we consider that many employers actively seek women whose language and/or socio-economic backgrounds are too limited to work in other industries. In this way, gender crucially shapes the functioning of globalisation and its “durable inequality”8.

In cultures where women are typically seen as subservient or consigned to the domestic sphere, the workplace takes on a patriarchal structure, as environment is so often indicative of specific social and cultural context.9 Labour Behind the Label, interviewing a Bangladeshi factory worker in 2005, found that “women can be made to dance like puppets, but men cannot be abused in the same way. The owners do not care if we ask for something, but demands raised by men must be given consideration.

So they do not employ male workers.”10 Where male workers are employed, they are normally in supervisory or managerial roles, powerful positions that breed environments rife with gender-based harassment and violence. While violence is threatened or used against workers of all genders,11 women face unique difficulties in frequent and systematic sexual harassment and humiliation. They are forced to endure body searches, unwanted sexual advances in the face of losing their jobs and in extreme scenarios, rape.

In the best of circumstances, women can make themselves heard when speaking against adverse working conditions. But requests for better conditions and improved rights are often met with violence – as demonstrated in Cambodia in 2014,12 when four people died and many more were injured or received criminal convictions after workers protested against low wages in the garment industry. More recently, women protesting unsafe working conditions in an Ethiopian garment making factory were told simply to resign if they were unhappy – obviously something the vast majority could not afford to do. Older female workers and pregnant women are hit hardest by this lack of rights, often pushed out by employers because of perceived inefficiency and to avoid employers having to pay severance packages13 or maternity leave. This consistent silencing can leave women feeling they have little choice but to sacrifice their own sense of self-worth to preserve their safety and financial well-being.

Risk of Trafficking The West’s voracious appetite for clothes has led to other pressures, perhaps the most serious being a spike in undeclared subcontracting, informal work arrangements and low wages, all of which create an exploitative environment for workers of all kinds.14 While we know the most responsible brands are aware of the challenges in their supply chains, many have no idea what lies hidden in their factories. A 2016 report, “Corporate Leadership on Modern Slavery”, found that of 71 leading retailers (not just in clothing but across the high street in general) in the UK, “77 per cent believed there was a likelihood of slavery occurring at some stage in their supply chains.”15 Modern slavery is an umbrella term which covers a number of human rights issues, including human trafficking, slavery, forced servitude and labour exploitation,16 and it is widely considered to affect more than 40 million people around the world. Victims of modern slavery, who are often moved

across borders or county lines, face specific challenges. Unrecognised as workers in an official capacity, they lack legal protections and face impossible difficulties in demanding fair working conditions. They can be emotionally and physically abused, and the incessant demand from employers for “flexibility” means they often work night shifts and weekends – a hidden, invisible workforce. As with female workers, these workers are considered useful because of their perceived malleability – they are at a societal disadvantage and can therefore feel indebted to employers who abuse their vulnerabilities. Addressing this issue poses an ongoing conundrum: how can brands build the security of workers through formalisation of employment without undermining the competitive edge of an industry that provides employment for millions of workers?17

In the UK The exploitation of women and victims of trafficking is not merely something that happens “over there”; it is happening in the UK garment-making industry, too.

Leicester and much of its surrounding region once claimed to “clothe the world”, with “powerhouse manufacturers” producing clothes at such a rate that in 1936 it sent Leicester to second place in the League of Nations list of richest cities in Europe.18 Although its glory days ended when manufacturers moved overseas in favour of cheaper labour, the industry is re-emerging as a 21st-century garment making hub, as the demand from big fast-fashion labels leads them to source at least half their clothing from competitive factories within the UK. Astonishingly, a faction of this resurgent garment industry has become detached from UK employment law, with manufacturers, balanced between “retailers expectations and production costs”19, often choosing to grossly

underpay workers in order to continue making a profit. In “chasing cheap needle round the planet,” the wages of some garment workers in the UK have been cut to as low as £3.50 an hour20 (the minimum wage for an adult over the age of 25 is currently £8.21). This “perceived culture of impunity has created a bizarre micro economy where larger factories using machines are being outcompeted by smaller rivals using underpaid humans.”21

‘‘The exploitation of women and victims of trafficking is not merely something that happens “over there”; it is happening in the UK garment-making industry, too.’’

Undocumented migrants and those who do not have a legal right to work in the UK constitute the most vulnerable cohort of this workforce, as recruiters looking to cut corners actively seek employees who come from poor socio-economic backgrounds, have complex domestic circumstances or have poor English language skills.22 While those in senior positions such as supervisors or managers enjoy the benefits of more formal terms of employment, they are exceptions in this dark subsection of the industry.

Abuse of power is only exacerbated when we consider that there are still few women running or managing garment producing factories in the UK – something put down to “family… lack of mentorship and confidence [and] less aggressive pursuit of promotion”23 – but at its root, sexism and an outdated attitude towards putting women in the top roles.

How Can Change Happen?

Considering change and how we can implement it can seem overwhelming. In an industry so vast and riddled with inequality, it can be difficult to know where to begin to tackle the problem.

What is clear is that change needs to happen from the top down, with big brands taking measures to identify where there is risk of abuse in long and complex supply chains.

Some large companies have avoided corporate responsibility, relying on compliance auditing to attempt to improve conditions in factories – but evidence suggests this isn’t enough on its own.

Open compliance with auditors and the “fear of reprisal or shame and embarrassment”24 faced as a result of coming forwards is a proven disincentive for workers. They can feel afraid to speak openly against management, not wanting to say or do anything that might lead to the loss of their jobs.

Organisations such as BetterWork (which operates as a partnership between the UN’s International Labour Organization and the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank) are seen as the gold standard of auditors, due to the fact that they support their factory assessments with independent impact assessments based on input from workers gathered anonymously through surveys recorded in the local language. This approach encourages workers to share their concerns with a “greater sense of privacy and in a less intimidating environment than when responding directly to an assessment team member”25 – but it’s clear this isn’t an all-encompassing solution. Brands need to commit to hiring regional management that “implement[s] a clear human rights due diligence plan to ensure workers are protected from exploitation and can access work under equal conditions.”26 Research has found that in factories where managers remain disengaged from the factory floor, sexual harassment and workplace abuse is 4.9 per cent more likely to happen.27

Equally, management needs to outline clear parameters for safety against discrimination and sexual harassment, particularly for female workers. The spotlight is on all who “make claims to varying degrees about supporting workers’ rights to educate themselves as to the specific needs of women workers and to ensure that women workers’ voices are heard, respected and taken into account during any decision making and institution building initiatives” intended to improve working conditions. Collaborative initiatives such as HERproject, which partners with 49 global fashion brands as well as various farms, factories and local partners, equip businesses with workplace-based programmes designed specifically to empower women workers in global supply chains. Through workplace training sessions and guidance on strengthening management systems, HERproject helps female workers enhance their knowledge, confidence and self-esteem, and then pass those skills onto peers, families and communities,28 ultimately encouraging a new generation to make more informed decisions about employment.

But where does this leave the consumer? It’s clear that, although big brands have a lot to be accountable for, their push for increased labour is a direct result of pressure from the people purchasing the clothes. If you are buying a pair of jeans for £5, know that someone, somewhere along the supply chain is being exploited.

Educating yourself on how to be a responsible consumer and an active citizen is one of the most affirmative ways of instigating change.

Support the charities and movements that are providing information on how to better your purchasing habits. Buy responsibly and with integrity, investing in pieces that will last and, wherever possible, where you can confirm their provenance. Know that this can be a doubleedged sword, and that just because a piece is considered ‘luxury’ it does not mean it is doing any better in terms of gender equality that a more affordable equivalent.

Recognise the power of using your voice. If you are unhappy with the brands you buy from, let them know. If you believe the government could be working harder to improve legislation

for workers in the UK and beyond, appeal to your local MP. Join a protest, sign a petition.

Use your platform to propagate about the things you believe in. Raise your concerns with friends and family – you never know who you’ll inspire to rethink next time they’re at the till.

The circle of change can only get bigger the more people you inform.

While consuming new fashion of any kind will generally always be unsustainable for the planet, lobbying for change is showing brands that there’s an earnest demand for clothes with transparent ethics. We are not calling for the garment industry to grind to a halt, but rather to commit to hiring people on a long-term basis who are treated fairly and paid in accordance with national laws. After all, when vulnerable people have enhanced ability and agency to take charge of their own lives, combined with supportive work environments and relationships that create fair and dignified workplaces, they become powerful agents of change.29

For a full list of references visit bit.ly/37iTnPP

Written by Izzy Taylor, STOP THE TRAFFIK stopthetraffik.org Illustration by Tess Smith-Roberts tesssmithroberts.co.uk

Ode to the Women of Earth change, Alone, a woman is a root curling for e with spirit: aliv st But together, women are a fore t, pac a riotous power, the most timeless it. a call to act, to all those who hear Sturdy as crouched valleys, proud as hard-baked earth, there is nothing more natural th than a woman who knows the wor voice. of making the choice to raise her thorax, She is a force of nature, the world’s ax the global village’s throat, she a Lor ak, spe not speaking for those who can defying those who’d think us weak. ntain peak: In and of herself, she is a tall mou ue.

Unintimidated and undeniably uniq or small, we can fall Combined, in our daily actions, big re generations. in line to preserve the planet for futu We have the force of a hurricane, but we build instead of break.

We have the might of an earthquake but we strengthen instead of shake.

For all our sakes, we fight to make We take the world a cleaner, greener place. for ourselves a stand, answering the call not just but all who will follow in our wake.

We don’t sit, wallow or wait, because we know the planet’s fate is in our hands. We see that land, le, sea and sky has never been debatab it is sustainable. as le inab that a dream is only as atta we began it, nt, We don’t just imagine the moveme et, we plan it, for the good of the plan It . can we g women ran it, knowin , but progress. is not a question of just preservation In our daily decisions we women may give that which you can’t borrow: ay the will to rise, even if just for tod us tomorrow. g for the eyes who will be watchin

Written by Amanda Gorman, Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States amandascgorman.com

SDG 8 DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Decent work and a growing economy

Cheap fashion and new wealth

The fashion industry has ballooned in recent years, creating a lot of jobs, particularly for women, in countries with developing economies. But with exploitative labour conditions and unsafe factory working environments, being in work doesn’t necessarily mean decent work, or a safe and happy life with fair wages. Using Bangladesh as an example, this piece will look at how our demand for clothing has changed the country and its communities.

The garment industry has been instrumental in propelling Bangladesh to become the second largest textile producer in the world, creating new employment opportunities for a predominantly female workforce, with access to income and a subsequent change in attitudes towards employment, marriage, technology and contraception. While there have been progressive changes within the community, the garment industry has also given rise for new kinds of exploitation, putting people in unimaginable danger.

The fashion industry hasn’t just created wealth; it has localised it. More than 95 per cent of garment factories in Bangladesh are owned by local companies or families rather than foreign investors, in turn feeding the national economy. But although production is controlled by locals, demand is generated by Western retailers’ need for cheaper labour, and shoppers’ desire for cheaper clothes.

The term “fast fashion” is thrown around a lot right now, but the ease with which we can buy a bikini for £1, or jeans for a tenner, means something isn’t right.

It’s extremely tempting to ignore this, but supply chains are complicated, and along each step of the chain there’s potential for exploitation.

Each garment goes through many pairs of hands before it reaches yours. Fibres are grown, farmed and harvested; fabric is spun, woven and processed; garments cut and sewn in factories; and then traded, transported and sold. At every stage of this journey, the demand for low cost brings the potential for someone to be exploited.

Human trafficking and forced labour, exploitative working hours and poor, dangerous conditions are rife across the garment industry. The business you’re buying from probably doesn’t even know the extent to which the exploitation is taking place.

Our demand for fashion has grown scarily fast, and is not sustainable – for either people or the environment.

If the bubble bursts, what happens next?

2

3

Fast fashion as a new invention

Fashion and growth While Bangladesh has become synonymous with the garment trade, such labour practices are definitely not a problem that is unique to that country. A 2018 US Department of Labor report found evidence of forced and child labour in the fashion industry in Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam and other countries, as well as in Bangladesh. What these places have in common is an environment (cultural or legislative) where exploitation is low risk to those who want to take advantage.

The rate at which clothing is bought, replaced and disposed of creates a culture in which producers are encouraged to focus on high speed and low cost.

The truth is, here in the UK, we’re buying clothes at a volume which has never been seen before.

How did we get here?

4

It was only in the 20th century that any woman apart from those in the uppermost echelons of society would own more than one or two outfits.

Most people, no matter how wealthy, would wear, wash and mend their clothes. But when clothing rations lifted in the wake of the Second World War, buying habits changed forever – wartime austerity was over, and the need for low-cost, durable clothing went away with it. Make-do-and-mend was out of date, and as people became more prosperous into the 1950s and ’60s, quantity over quality became the trend.

In the decades that followed, we saw the rise of the high street, with new styles for each season, and a bloating of the fashion world on an industrial scale.

But it is only in the last few decades that clothing has become so disposable. Elizabeth Cline, the author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, found that seasons of two to four collections a year are a thing of the past.

“There are no seasons,” she says. “Fashion is just this constant churn of new styles now.” A recent report estimated that on average, each British adult will buy 972 items of clothing in their lifetime that they will never wear.

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How did the industry change to support this?

Making clothes is a labour-intensive industry, and with increased demand, factories moved to developing countries to deliver at a lower cost.

Labour is cheaper in the developing world, and laws and regulations for well-being are more lenient.

Let’s be clear: the price you pay for a garment is not solely related to its quality. Predominantly, the price is based on what a consumer is willing to pay, and costs for materials and labour are reverseengineered from there. It’s up to us to demonstrate that we value fair, decent work, so that better pay and conditions have the chance to follow.

Specific to trafficking Demand for cheap labour means that human trafficking will happen. People are promised employment, an opportunity for a better life, and are then exploited. Where there is a demand for such labour, traffickers use the promise of a good job and a better life to lure people in vulnerable situations into a life of exploitation.

The secrecy and complexity of the supply chain means that trafficking is prevalent, and hiding just below the surface. The Global Freedom Center estimates that apparel is one of the top industries plagued by human trafficking.

Unsafe working environments The growth of the industry has happened at such a rate that enormous numbers of people are forced to work in unsafe environments. We are beginning to see change: shocking headlines and public outrage following high profile cases like the recent fire at the Nandan Denim factory in New Delhi that killed seven people (“Burned India Denim Factory Had Single Door Reached by Ladder,” reported Associated Press) are forcing brands to take responsibility.

After the Rana Plaza clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, in which more than 1,100 workers died, over 220 retailers and brands signed up to the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety. Inspections and improvements to buildings were commissioned, including structural reforms such as fire doors, and a renewed effort to inform workers of their rights. But enforcement, particularly at a legal level, is often weak. According to the Accord’s quarterly report in February 2020, more than 84 per cent of garment factories inspected still did not have fire alarm and smoke detectors properly installed or verified. There is still a long way to go. The onus cannot only be on the consumer to shop wisely. It is the responsibility of big brands and retailers who are using these factories to be aware of the human cost of their work, and to ensure that they are doing their utmost to influence policy reforms. Retailers and governments must work together to build an industry where workers are protected, and fairly paid.

Minimum wage & decent work

There must be a complete economic and social systems change, where we place value on work and pay what it is worth. We call on brands to slow down production, pay workers fairly, and improve health and safety conditions for everyone who is part of the industry. Beyond minimum wage, we need to push for a realistic living wage. This is the only way forward.

100

5,863 Bangladeshi taka

8,929 Indian rupees

7,085 Indian rupees

Equivalent US Dollars

150

1,166,900 Cambodian riel

0

Uttar Pradesh India

Dhaka City Bangladesh

Minimum wage Living wage

All living wage rates calculated using the Anker Methodology via ISEAL Alliance and Wage Indicator Foundation. This information is based on accurate rates at the time of research (Jan 2017) and may not reflect accurate current rates.

50

Phnom Penh Cambodia

Garment Worker Case Study, 2017 Transport 120

$266

Food & household items 1,950

Overtime Bonus 4,037 Equivalent US Dollars**

Clearly, this is a system that isn’t working. And those who are the most dependent on wages are the most vulnerable. A sudden drop in demand for clothing, or an overnight removal of the industry would leave millions unsupported.

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Data taken from Garment Worker Diaries, originally published in Jan, 2017 in ‘Money Fashion Power’ and was accurate at that time.

And enforcing a minimum wage brings its own complexities: if factories cannot afford to pay the workers, then businesses fold, factories close and income is lost. In 2019, 20 factories in Bangladesh closed because employers were unable to cover the costs of minimum wage workers. Roughly 10,685 workers lost their jobs. It’s a difficult situation, and in one way is something to be applauded because the factories are complying with the law to pay their workers properly. Progress is never simple.

250

617,585 Cambodian riel

In 2018, the minimum wage in Bangladesh was raised to 8,000 taka (about US $94) a month, but the Fair Wear Foundation suggests that this is not enough for garment workers to meet basic needs such as food, housing, utilities, medicine and sending their children to school.

16,460 Bangladeshi taka

Monthly minimum wage vs. living wage in 2017

6120

Home Savings* 7,800

Bank deposit & insurance premium 700 Rent 2,500

Home savings deposit 3,480 Salary 8,100

Medical expenditures for son 11,132

Money in

Money out

In Bangladeshi Taka (BDT) ** 1 US Dollar is equal to roughly 78 taka. The prices of goods in Bangladesh are lower than in the US, and 1 US Dollar allows you to buy $2.75 worth of goods in Bangladesh.

* Dark grey on the graphs show where the garment worker had to dip into her savings or find extra money to cover her basic essentials

Employment and gender BRAC, one of the largest NGOs in Bangladesh and India, has done a huge amount of research into Bangladesh’s changing environment and economy. It found that the advent of the garment manufacturing industry has actually increased employment opportunities and options for the better, especially for women and girls living in urban areas in Bangladesh. Indeed, the number of adolescent girls working and/or studying is increasing. As a result, their aspirations, needs and desires are also changing and challenging existing norms, which has, among other things, led to “a shift in traditional marriage arrangements”.

Where women have access to income and employment, other opportunities follow. Women have more choices around marriage, contraception and relationships. It seems, to an extent, that women in Bangladesh are experiencing a wave of feminist empowerment as a result of the garment industry.

Mobile phone ownership is also increasing globally, which brings access to technology and all the benefits that brings, but according to Girl Effect, an NGO founded by the Nike Foundation in 2004 with the aim of improving the lives of adolescent girls, young men in developing countries are 1.5 times as likely to own a mobile phone as their female counterparts. Access to all the benefits technology brings are given to boys and men. In fact, in certain parts of the world, there’s a stigma attached to owning a phone in certain parts of the world.

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“People say that the girl who touches the phone is a bad girl,” Rosni, 16, from Bangladesh, says.

But of course, access to a mobile phone not only increases connection with others, but it can also increase safety.

There’s a lot to think about when we talk about women’s access to employment. We don’t only need more women in the top jobs, we need more women in employment all over the world. Globally, women are twice as likely to be unemployed as men. So if suddenly, overnight, every person boycotted the fashion industry entirely, what would happen to the newfound agency that comes with employment?

“Where women have access to income and employment, other opportunities follow. Women have more choices around marriage, contraception and relationships.

It seems, to an extent, that women in Bangladesh are experiencing a wave of feminist empowerment as a result of the garment industry.”

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Not all doom and gloom The garment industry is by no means Bangladesh’s only source of wealth or economic growth. Amongst others, finance and tech are also growing, and as a result, conditions in communities are changing.

According to the UN, in recent years, Bangladesh has seen wide improvements in health, education, infant mortality and life expectancy.

Seven years on from the Rana Plaza disaster, BRAC is working in Bangladesh to create locally-grown solutions for women in the garment industry. It delivers projects to develop skills and leadership for women in garment factories, giving women access to healthcare, childcare and financial services. It is upgrading conditions, including by providing clean water and sanitation, in slum communities that have high concentrations of garment workers.

It is remarkable, life-changing work and should be replicated and scaled-up.

Industry and tech As technology improves, many factory jobs are becoming automated. What does technology upgrading in the fashion industry mean for women in countries like Bangladesh? The Centre for Policy Dialogue suggests that technology and AI might take away jobs in the apparel sector in Bangladesh as well as in other developing and developed nations across the world. The first to be removed are the “lower skilled” ones rather than management, something that will impact women disproportionately.

Image: Adidas ‘Speedfactory’ automated shoe manufacture

The goal should be to construct an industry that works sustainably for everyone. Sustainable not just in environmental terms, but culturally too. We should be aiming to create factories that support their workers, and an economy that protects the poorest.

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Conclusions We have an incredibly long way to go – the work being done by BRAC and others in the field is not yet able to disrupt the systemic issues. Every person has a role to play in this. From your buying habits, to putting pressure on brands and governments, to supporting NGOs to help scale their work, there are actions you can take.

None of this is easy. We need a huge economic shift, as well as a change in behaviour from within the fashion industry. Right now, fast fashion is winning. We spend a lot of time hearing about how damaging it is: it’s polluting, it’s exploitative, it’s harmful to people and the planet. We need a sustainable replacement. The term “sustainable” is defined differently by different people – for many it has environmental overtones. But one definition that we like is: “an activity that can be continued indefinitely, without doing harm.”

The solution isn’t as simple as closing down the industry overnight, or shutting all the factories down. There’s a reason why the Sustainable Development Goal No 8 isn’t just “work and a growing economy”. Economies that grow unchecked are detrimental to poorer communities – they increase the division between rich and poor.

The race to cheap industry means that poorer communities and women are often the first to suffer.

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What’s needed is a systemic disruption of the fashion industry in economic terms: a call to arms for every person, no matter what their role is.

Together, we can take on the traffickers, the retail giants and governments to fight in solidarity with those who need us.

Fashion should not have a human cost.

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For a full list of references visit bit.ly/37iTnPP

Written by Lizzy Jewell, STOP THE TRAFFIK stopthetraffik.org

Clare Press, presenter of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast and political economist Raj Patel discuss the roots of capitalism and its effect on the world today.

Reducing Inequalities

“Capitalism is a system that doesn’t pay its bills.” - Raj Patel Have you heard the one about eight men controlling half the world’s riches? Hysterical, right? Alas, it’s no joke. Oxfam notes that figure in its report “An Economy for the 99 percent”, going on to argue that it is “The very design of our economies and the principles of our economics [that] have taken us to this extreme, unsustainable and unjust point.” Other estimates suggest that the number of billionaires who own half the dough is 26, but either way, it’s a pretty bleak picture of the gulf between the haves and havenots. And it’s growing.

Sustainable Development Goal 10 is Reduced Inequalities. “Income inequality has increased nearly everywhere in recent decades,” the UN warns. “The richest 10 per cent have up to 40 per cent of global income, whereas the poorest 10 per cent earn only between 2 and 7 per cent.”

While the levels of income inequality vary geographically – they’re lowest in Europe and highest in the Middle East – this ugly trend is global. Everywhere, the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer.

What to do about it? Political economist Raj Patel says we must go back, way back, to understand the roots of the problem and so find a solution: colonialism and the patriarchy are to blame. Clare Press meets the persuasive academic, who argues that someone (or something) always pays the price for too cheap. Listen to their conversation in full on Episode 102 of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast.

Clare Press: You co-authored, with Jason W. Moore, a book called A History of the World in 7 Cheap Things. It’s essential reading, all about colonial frontiers and their perpetuation; the exploitation of nature, labour and energy; and how the patriarchy and capitalism drive it all.

Raj Patel: The seven things are: nature, work, care, food, energy, money and lives. We are showing how capitalism is a system that doesn’t pay its bills and in all of these seven ways, capitalism cheats and exploits. As we say in the book: “Cheap is a strategy, a practice, a violence that mobilises all kinds of work – human, animal, botanical and geological – for as little compensation as possible.”

CP: I once heard you say it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

RP: It’s a line that [the British cultural critic] Frederic Jamieson once said. We are bombarded every day with images of what the apocalypse might look like, whether it’s zombies or some sort of Mad Max future, or nuclear holocaust. It’s easy to go to the movies and watch such things.

What is very hard to see, however, are different ways of being with each other that aren’t about exploitation. Name the last book or film you saw that was about that!

CP: I can’t.

RP: Ha! You see? Because we live in a world where we are told again and again that capitalism is the only show in town, and increasingly we’ve come to believe it. Our imaginations are our most subtle jailers… We are trapped in thinking that there is no alternative. Part of my work is to look at how the bars of this prison are put

together, but also to think about real, existing examples of doing things differently – whether it’s fashion or fair trade coffee. You buy fair trade coffee because the alternative is the exploitation of children in the unethical coffee supply chain; that’s not going to change the world but it is a reminder, a promissory note if you like, of how the world might be different. It’s a systems problem. The system allows us to exploit children via our purchases.

CP: When I think of the history of capitalism, I think the industrial revolution is when we got into this mess. But your book takes it right back to colonialism.

RP: Christopher Columbus is a useful embodiment of these seven cheap things. Before he sailed the ocean blue, he was involved in trade from Madeira to Genoa. Madeira was transformed by Portuguese colonists into the first big industrial food commodity producer, and that commodity was sugar. Madeira literally means the island of wood, and when the colonisers first saw it, it was covered in trees. They turned those trees, that cheap nature, into fuel – cheap energy – and used it to process sugar cane.

In the 1460s, ’70s and ’80s the Portuguese brought slaves from North Africa to work on the sugar plantations – cheap labour. They brought families over, because those slaves needed cheap care. Women were also a source of new slaves. This process involved the utter dehumanisation of an enslaved people. And it didn’t take long to burn through this island.

CP: Could you talk us through the idea of the powerful white man on one side, and on the other, everything else?

RP: One of the most important divisions in the modern world is nature on one side and society on the other.

It’s an odd binary. Every civilisation has some relationship to the things it eats and the things it kills, and the way it’s connected to the web of life, but the idea of society vs. nature is one that is particularly useful for capitalism. It allows the idea that nature is somehow “out there”. So nature is indigenous people, and all their crops and the wildlife and the fish and the fauna and the flora, and all of this is fair game! One of the original terms for indigenous people from the Spanish colonists was naturales – naturals. OK, so who is part of society if not them? Mainly white men. Then it’s propertied white men. Then the working class. Then, occasionally, women. Possibly slaves. Possibly people of colour. The general expansion of who is in and who is outside of society doesn’t happen naturally. There’s nothing enfolding here that’s magic.

CP: And we’re still living with the legacy.

RP: The modern Columbus would be a man who is able to sweet talk bankers into giving him scads of cash, and promise them new frontiers, which he will colonise. He will then bring back precious resources, and he’ll pay his workers very badly, and fall afoul of unions.

CP: Give me an example?

RP: Elon Musk. What does he want to do? He wants to colonise Mars!

He even uses the term colonisation! Capitalism is always about finding new frontiers. Whether it’s Madeira or the New World or Australia, the hunt is always on for the new frontier that you can exploit and turn into money. Madeira was organised as a very intensive factory – we often think of factories as things with machines like looms in them, but the fields where they grew sugar cane, ploughing the furrows and planting those crops were very much about a system of intensively managed industrialisation and productivity. Sugar was a luxury commodity just like silk was, and the chains of trade connected from Madeira all the way to China. Those circuits of exchange have been very important in 2000 years of history.

CP: The first mechanised factory in the world opened in England in 1721, a silk factory owned by John Lombe in Derby. It used water power from the River Derwent, and employed about 300 people. Fashion is deeply embedded in the industrialisation of work, and in the story of capitalism.

RP: And the history of fighting back. You’ve heard of the Luddites, the English textile artisans who protested wages cuts and industrial efficiencies threatening their livelihoods in the 19th century? Although they have been mis-characterised as people who hated technology, in fact they were just savvy fashion workers. They smashed the looms not because they hated technology, but because they wanted to be paid more. They were just organising for dignity and good wages in the fashion industry. To be a Luddite was something to be proud of – it’s about workers reclaiming their ability to organise. If you have to smash a machine in order to get the boss to pay attention, so be it.

CP: Fast forward and it’s the same old story of fashion exploiting workers, and the rich getting richer while the poor… don’t. I asked you earlier, how much you reckoned of the retail price of a T-shirt goes to a garment worker in Bangladesh.

RP: You told me it was 4 per cent. It really struck me that many people working in the fashion industry were, a generation ago, working on the land. What’s happening is the concentration of land in the hands of a few people, compromising the ability of people being able to farm properly. Factor in climate change – Bangladesh is so low-lying we are already seeing more people moving to the cities as a result, and the government trying to increase the ease of doing business there…

CP: There are four million garment workers in Bangladesh, and very few of them earn a living wage.

RP: We can’t make the transition to a just economy unless we take down the 1 per cent, [which an Oxfam survey found to own as 82 per cent of the world’s wealth1] unless the 1 per cent are made to pay, otherwise no one is going to do it. All along the way, people have fought back, whether its indigenous people, women’s rights advocates, the civil rights movement in the US or ecologists defending space from the mining industry, whatever it is, there has always been resistance. We have often been made to forget that… I think the climate emergency is making itself felt in such a way that it’s not a conversation that can be avoided. Workers and unions are realising [that latestage capitalism] has been a shit deal. We don’t want an economy of Uber drivers and service workers; we want and demand better.

CP: Do you see an end to capitalism coming?

RP: I think the answer is always pessimism of the intellect, and optimism of the will. The oil companies are not going to give up easily; and you’ve seen the power of big food, the titans of the fashion industry resisting your calls for sustainability. But at the same time, you see what people who organise can do, and how we can make transformations. This is an important time of possibility.

Curious?...Find out more in A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature and the Future of the Planet by Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore (University of California Press) References 1 https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/ our-work/inequality/an-economy-forthe-one-percent What are those little bits of stuff in the paper there?

The paper this piece is printed on is made from a combination of out-of-circulation bank notes (mostly from the UK) and recycled paper.

SDG 1 NO POVERTY

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Glamour, designer clothes, travel, status and wealth. We can only imagine a day in the life of a supermodel. From magazines to Instagram, images of beautiful people look back at us, inviting us to dream of what life could be. However, we only see those who have achieved success in an industry worth an estimated $2.4 trillion. As beautiful young people in London, Paris and New York grace the catwalks, wannabe models across the world watch in awe. Aspiring models are any gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background. Besides beauty, what they fundamentally have in common is the hope for a better life.

Where hope exists, so does the opportunity for others to make a profit by taking advantage.

Through our work at STOP THE TRAFFIK, we know that exploitation thrives in situations where people lack opportunities. Where vulnerability and hope co-exist, there is a perfect breeding ground for exploitation to happen.

Exploitation in the Fashion Industry 2

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When we talk about exploitation and the fashion industry, models may not be the first people who come to mind. We read shameful statistics about clothing production from the UN’s International Labour Organization, which estimates that 170 million children are engaged in child labour, making textiles and garments to satisfy the demand of consumers in Europe and the US. News stories – like the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory that collapsed in Bangladesh, killing at least 1,100 people and injuring more than 2,500 – shock the world. Stories such as these make us aware of the

poor conditions faced by workers in the clothing industry. Organisations like Fashion Revolution work tirelessly, campaigning for systemic reform with a focus on the need for greater transparency in the fashion supply chain.

What is less commonly discussed is the darker side of the modelling industry.

The #MeToo movement played a part in shining a light on how models are exposed to sexual and verbal harassment at work.

What is not mentioned is the link between the modelling industry and the world’s fastest growing crime, human trafficking.

What is Human Trafficking?

To understand how this could be present within the global modelling industry, we need to understand human trafficking, what it is, and the various ways it can manifest itself. At its core, human trafficking is the act of recruiting, moving or harbouring a person, either by use of force, deception or coercion for the purpose of exploitation and financial gain.

When people think of human trafficking, scenes from Hollywood movies like the 2008 blockbuster Taken may spring to mind. A retired CIA agent played by Liam Neeson travels to Paris intent on saving his daughter, who has been kidnapped by a child trafficking ring. Although such movies help raise awareness of human trafficking, they can also unintentionally peddle myths and misconceptions which hinder the process of eradicating it.

One common myth is that people who are trafficked are always taken by force.

Although true in some cases, in reality, traffickers use tools like deception and manipulation to lure unassuming victims into handing over their freedoms.

Usually, a process of grooming occurs by establishing a friendship or relationship. Trust is gained and false promises are made, before exploitation happens. Even more complex is debt bondage, a control method used to keep people trapped in a trafficking situation long-term. People are forced to work to repay a real or perceived debt incurred through their travel or employment.

Often the debt grows at a rate they are unable to meet, and they have no hope of ever being free of it.

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Through our research at STOP THE TRAFFIK, we have found that poverty is one of the largest contributors in fuelling human trafficking. Poverty can incorporate many elements beyond the experience of homelessness or starvation. Lack of access to health services and education also play their part. Lack of social or economic opportunities can create insecurity, uncertainty and even marginalisation from the community through discrimination. The constant stress of those experiencing poverty on any level deprives them of feeling that they are connected to the global community.

The media’s bombardment of glossy and glamorous images flaunting the aspirational Western lifestyle can only enhance feelings of isolation for those experiencing poverty. But these images also conjure the desire for a better life, and here is where traffickers enter the story. Traffickers prey on people in poverty. They make false promises to those seeking a way out. Traffickers know people will accept offers of work, seeing it as an opportunity to improve their own lives and support their families. Across the world, vulnerable young people fall into human trafficking when the promise of a successful modelling career proves too tempting to resist.

Human Trafficking and the Modelling Industry Colombia In 2018, the arrest of the glamorous model Liliana del Carmen Campos Puello made headlines across the world. A Colombian Instagram star, she was arrested for allegedly recruiting underage girls to work in a sextrafficking ring. At least 250 minors were reportedly lured to Cartagena on the Columbian Caribbean coast in the course of one year. Campos Puello apparently targeted young girls from poor backgrounds allegedly helping them with documentation and funding their

expenses under the guise that they had modelling opportunities. On arrival, they were stripped of their documents and belongings and forced into prostitution.

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Campos Puello used her Instagram profile to flaunt her rich, alluring lifestyle.

In one photo she poses surrounded by money, a Louis Vuitton bag in the background. In another image, she is lounging on a boat in a bikini. She employed her social media presence as a marketing tool, selling young girls the dream. While we don’t know the exact details of the girls who fell prey to her deception, we do know that Campos Puello was specifically targeting those from poorer backgrounds1. Along with aspirations to model and experience the lifestyle associated with a model’s, the young women were perhaps looking for an opportunity and a way out of the poverty they feared facing for the rest of their lives. Even though Colombia is among one of the world’s emerging economies, more than three out of 10 Colombians experience poverty. This, along with rising unemployment rates and continuing internal conflicts that cause mass displacement, can mean

that many communities across Colombia experience some form of instability.

Campos Puello used manipulation and deception to make a profit from a young girl’s hopes for a better future.

Ethiopia From Colombia to Ethiopia, there are similar stories of aspiring models falling prey to trafficking. But model Delina Cleo is determined to tackle exploitation within the fashion industry. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, Delina moved to London and began her modelling

career aged 17. She has modelled for international brands including Adidas, L’Oréal, Bobbi Brown and Blackberry, as well appearing in Cosmopolitan and Glamour magazines, and on TV for Channel 4 and the BBC. When we spoke to Delina, we learned that the work she is proudest of is establishing the first international modelling competition held in Ethiopia and the accompanying TV series Hidden Beauty of Ethiopia. For Delina, the project is more than propelling new models to the dizzy heights of fame; it’s about informing young girls about exploitation, empowering them to be more aware and educated in the subject so they can make informed, safe choices.

For her TV series, Delina interviewed and collected stories from women in Ethiopia who had been exploited. She remembers the story of one young girl was trafficked from rural Amhara in the north to Addis Ababa. She was offered a role in a movie but was told she would have to finance that role and contribute funds to the film production. Although she was from a disadvantaged background, her family sold their house so she could achieve her dream of becoming a model or an actress, in the hope the investment would pay off. However, the reality was not what she was promised. She had been tricked. She was sexually abused by members of the fake production team.

The film was never made and was never intended to be.

“They are promised modelling jobs, but it’s not a modelling job, it’s something else,” Delina says. “People are selling people.

People are being sold, and girls are being used and abused, all in the name of the modelling fashion industry. They hope to be a star, a supermodel, in a magazine or in the fashion show of a big designer.

There isn’t much being done to tackle trafficking in the modelling industry.”

Although Ethiopia experienced periods of widespread famine in the 1980s and was rated the third poorest country in the world in 2000, it has made significant progress out of poverty. There is still much to be done. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports that poverty is still a challenge in Ethiopia as over 22 million people are living below the national poverty line2.

Delina agrees that there is an undeniable link between poverty and being susceptible to fake offers of modelling work. “Some girls just want to be models… They see amazing magazines and beautiful girls, they want to have that life, and live that dream, but I don’t think you would fool a girl who comes from a wealthy family background,” she says. “It’s definitely connected to poverty and their family background. They often desperately want to change their family’s life.”

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Delina believes that through education and awareness things can change. She encourages aspiring models to ensure they do their research and educate themselves about the risks before accepting an offer of a modelling job.

She works with the modelling agency Linden Staub (see page 12) to bring awareness to Ethiopians about how girls can protect themselves from modelling scams, exploitation and trafficking.

“There isn’t much knowledge for them to understand between the right modelling industry and the wrong modelling agency.

It’s not even modelling. It’s putting yourself into something wrong. They need to understand there are lots of scammers.”

“They are promised modelling jobs, but it’s not a modelling job, it’s something else.

People are selling people. People are being sold and girls are being used and abused, all in the name of the modelling fashion industry.”

hoping to make their dreams come true.

Although it is clear the girls’ dreams of modelling are influenced by the beauty and glamour of the industry, what is also addressed is the lack of opportunities they face otherwise, living in cramped one-bedroom apartments with their families in some of the most isolated areas of Russia.

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Russia 5,000 miles away, 12 per cent of the population of Russia is living below the poverty line. Poverty, along with economic instability, lack of employment and large variations in the country’s development levels, is only contributing to the rising level of vulnerable communities throughout the country.

It is against this backdrop that young girls in remote areas of Russia dream of an opportunity to make it as a high-profile fashion model. For a BBC documentary in 2015, Reggie Yates visited Siberia to meet young aspiring fashion models.

The documentary followed them through stages of casting as they competed for the attention of international scouts,

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Reggie meets a former model, Valeria.

Scouted aged 14, she travelled the world modelling for 10 years. She shares with Reggie the realities of sending young girls across the world on modelling contracts. “You are alone, in another mentality and another world. No friends, parents, you are a child. If you put on weight, one centimetre or more, then your contract is finished.” We learn that girls are pressured to find a way to make the money, which is when modelling can turn into escorting, with men paying to spend time with models.

“The girls think they are models but it can become prostitution,” Valeria says.

“Some girls are scared because they are told they won’t get their passports back to travel home.”

“The girls think they are models but it can become prostitution.

Some girls are scared because they are told they won’t get their passports back to travel home.”

This is a stark example of what human trafficking looks like in the modelling industry. What can the industry do to keep models safe?

Poverty and Trafficking of Models – Final Thoughts

The Responsibility of the Model Agent Linden Staub is a modelling agency addressing these issues. With an office in London and a scouting office in Yekaterinburg, Russia, they aim to bring “honesty and integrity to the world of modelling”. They believe that it is the responsibility of the agency to protect models. Esther Kinnear-Derungs, co-founder of Linden Staub, learned about the blurred lines of modelling and escort agencies when setting up the office in Russia. “When we started our office there, the whole point, apart from business, was to educate people,” Esther tells us. “When we have young models who are offered work abroad, we ensure they do it in a safe environment and work with well-established agencies.

Otherwise girls are just sent there, they have no clue, they don’t speak the language, so it’s horrific.” Esther feels strongly that some agencies do not do enough to protect young models. She believes they should all protect models and act as a safe environment where models feel comfortable to raise concerns without the fear of losing opportunities or not being hired again. “It’s important to create a safe place for each model,” she says. “It should be at every shoot, it should be at every fashion show.

“I strongly believe if you educate people that gives them power. Education, knowledge is power. That is the core of our business.”

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The International Labour Organization estimates that at any given time 40.3 million people are in modern slavery globally. But no one knows the true figure. Human trafficking is a hidden crime that takes place all around us.

Some people might be too scared or ashamed even to report themselves as victims. Others might not know they are victims. There are currently no figures of those trafficked and exploited in the modelling industry but we know it’s happening. The stories from Colombia, Ethiopia and Russia clearly show that people are being bought and sold in the name of modelling. Beautiful young

women have put their hopes in the hands of another person, only to be abused. These countries experience varying levels of poverty and economic instability, weakening the resilience of communities. It’s against this backdrop of uncertainty and poverty that people are willing to trust others with their dreams, and traffickers identify a financial incentive.

From the world’s top brands and designers, to global modelling agencies, to dedicated followers of fashion everywhere, everyone has a part in the fight against human trafficking.

References

1 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liliana-del-carmen-campos-puello-accused-of-beingtop-colombian-pimp-mztgskxg8?wgu=270525_54264_15823039296635_129877b251&wge xpiry=1590079929&utm_source=planit&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=22278 2 “Implementation of the Third United Nations Decade for theEradication of Poverty (2018 – 2027)” UNDP Ethiopia, April 6, 2018

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Written by Amy Cuff, STOP THE TRAFFIK stopthetraffik.org

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The ILO estimate that at any given time, an estimated 40.3 million people are in modern slavery globally.

But no one really knows the true figure.

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Model advice

If you are thinking of taking a modelling job, it’s important to do your research and ask questions to ensure that you avoid scams, exploitation or even human trafficking.

Check that the agency is legitimate Every UK modelling agency should be a registered company listed with Companies House or the BFMA (The British Fashion Model Agents Association).

Find out if they’ve got an actual office using Google Maps.

A legitimate modelling agency will never ask a model for money.

Research the modelling scout Check that they are representing a legitimate agency - you can check with the agency if the scout is a member of their staff.

Read your contract and ensure you understand it Ask questions about salary and people to contact.

If the job is in a different country, or the contract is in a language you don’t speak, ask for advice.

Make sure you know how to spot a fake website

Use social media to help with your research

Anyone can steal photos and build a website pretending to be an agency.

Check their social media channels – are they verified accounts?

Check the domain age to see how long the website has been active. A website which has only been created recently could be a sign of a scam.

Working with children If you’re under 16, the law in the UK says you need a chaperone.

SDG 6 CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

SDG 6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Being able to predict the next season’s most popular shade by the colour of the rivers is no joke. But some brands are taking environmental and social goals seriously and working with NGOs and local communities to take stewardship of local water resources, making water sanitation and hygiene a priority.

Dirty water secrets: a double whammy You might admire the elegance and functionality of a piece of cloth and never know its dirty water secrets. Although cotton’s thirsty nature is out in the open in the sustainability discourse with these often-quoted stats – it takes 2,720 litres of water to make one cotton t-shirt and about 7,000 litres for a pair of denim jeans – the truth is that water consumption in fashion production delivers a negative whammy, both on quantity and quality.

That’s because the conventional textile wet processing methods (including spinning, dyeing and finishing) not only require a high quantity of water, but also pollute as the water is contaminated by unfixed dyes and chemicals, and is further released into the waterways.

100-150 litres The estimated water requirement of processing a kilogram of fibre, whether cotton, polyester or any other material

The numbers tell the story in a much scarier manner.

It is estimated that processing (postfarm stage) a kilogram1 of fibre, whether cotton, polyester or any other material, requires 100-150 litres of water.

Another stat2 from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests that “worldwide, the fashion industry is responsible for dumping 300-500 million tonnes of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other waste into waters each year.”

A telling remark about the fashion industry’s toxic waste water was made by Fashion Revolution’s creative director, Orsola de Castro, in the 2016 documentary RiverBlue; “There is a joke in China that you can tell the ‘it’ colour of the season by looking at the colour of the rivers.”

300-500 m tonnes of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other waste are dumped into waters each year by the fashion industry

Industrial solutions In 2011, though, there was a paradigm shift in the conversation around chemical management that was triggered when Greenpeace launched its campaign Detox My Fashion. The aim was to address the widespread use and discharge of chemicals into water bodies in countries such as China, Indonesia and Mexico.

Leading suppliers and companies including Inditex and Adidas were urged to take responsibility. It seemed to work. Seven years on, Greenpeace reported3 that the 80 fashion brands and suppliers which committed to eliminating 11 priority groups of hazardous chemicals from supply chains by 2020 had shown significant progress in their efforts. (Although, it added that 85 per cent of the textile industry is still not doing enough, and called for legislative measures.)

The majority of the signatory brands removed polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) from their products, drew up lists of chemicals banned from the manufacturing process (Manufacturing Restricted Substances List) and published wastewater data and supplier lists. Additionally, as per the Greenpeace report, brands have collaborated with suppliers beyond tier1 manufacturers (who provide products directly to a company), especially as the bulk of water pollution is caused further

up the supply chain. Brands, which seek to establish long-term supplier relationships, provide training and technical assistance.

The sportswear giant Nike has partnered with its Mexican knitted fabric supplier Vertical Knits, and through innovative water recycling and manufacturing process improvement, has managed to slash its freshwater usage4 by about 85 per cent to 20 litres per kg of fabric. Similarly, Levi’s has entered into an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to equip its suppliers with water-reduction measures5. The IFC is working with 42 suppliers and mills in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey to implement appropriate renewable energy and water-saving interventions at their denim mills.

In fact, when it comes to watermanagement issues, denim companies have been a frontrunner, with investment in research and development. Levi’s leads by example. More so because finished denim (distressed, bearing washes or dyeing patterns) is created with water. In 2011, it introduced its water<less techniques6 that reported average water savings of 28 to 96 per cent7 by using elements such as ozone and reducing the number of denim baths in the washing process. Currently, two-thirds of Levi’s products are being made using 21 such finishing techniques which it has also made available as an open source.

Innovation could save us

for traditional dyeing machines, but in the long run delivers a lower operational and environmental cost.

Some startups are also working to reduce water usage and remove hazardous chemicals from the dyeing process. UKbased Colorifix offers bio-dyeing solutions wherein a colour is identified from nature.

Through DNA sequencing the colour gene is transferred into a bacterial cell, which, by means of a fermentation process, then creates the colour. This colour is then transferred onto fabric. By this method, Colorifix promises a non-toxic dyeing process as no heavy metals or acids are used, and water usage is 10 times less than with conventional dyeing methods. The four-year-old startup is keen to push for the adoption of natural pigments at an industrial scale; and is currently preparing to launch trials with H&M (an investor in Colorifix) and textile manufacturers such as Arvind Ltd in India.

The use of water in textile production needs not only to be reduced but also reused and recycled. Here, a noteworthy example is once again Levi’s who, as we were going to print, were in the final testing phase to use recycled water at their manufacturing facility8 in Cape Town, South Africa, through a link-up with the city’s water treatment officials. The company is responding to a call by public officials for businesses based in the city to use treated effluent for commercial use, thereby protecting the supply of drinking water.

Pushing the agenda for water-less dyeing is the Netherlands-based DyeCoo. In 2009, the company launched a carbon-dioxide (CO2)-based technology for polyester fabrics. In this process, the fabric is dyed with pressurised CO2 instead of water.

No chemicals are needed to dissolve the dyes and hence pure dyes are transported deep into the fibre. Dyecoo’s patented equipment is being used by the suppliers of Nike, Ikea and the outdoor apparel brand Peak Performance. The investment cost for CO2 dyeing machines is higher than

All such measures align with the Sustainable Development Goal No 6, which is aimed at ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.

And fixing fashion’s footprint is critical if there is any hope of achieving that aim – annually, fashion and textiles production uses one-tenth of all water used industrially. Moreover, if the status quo is maintained, fashion’s water consumption will double by 2030.

Doubled by 2030 fashion’s water consumption will double by 2030 if the current status quo is maintained

Collaboration is vital Jocelyn Whipple, a sustainable fashion specialist, offers her perspective on efforts to reduce water pollution. “It has been a long road over the past 30 years with the initial thrust coming through manufacturers, NGOs (agricultural and labour) and smaller brands which have pioneered and invested in addressing the issues. Mainstream brands have initially focused on philanthropic and corporate headquarter CSR targets before moving to fix issues at the supplier’s end. In almost all cases there is competition for the same water sources and there is an urgent need for collaboration.”

Collective action is the underlying theme for the work done by WWF, HSBC and the NGO WaterAid as they have undertaken several textile-focused projects since 2011. While seeking shared solutions to water challenges, they follow the “water stewardship” approach, which means thinking beyond one’s supply chain and collaborating with other businesses as well as government agencies, other NGOs, communities and academic institutions to protect the use of water in a manner that is sustainable and economically beneficial.

WWF is doing this through its water-management projects that adopt a macro approach and operate throughout a river basin. For instance, in China9, WWF runs a programme in the Taihu Lake

basin. This area accounts for 37 per cent of China’s textile production and is home to nearly 10,000 textile printing and dyeing facilities. Here, WWF partners with HSBC, Tommy Hilfiger, Target, H&M and industry bodies such as China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) among others to conduct water stewardship training for textile mills in the region and drive multi-stakeholder dialogue for good water governance in the basin.

WWF Turkey10 is doing something similar, and has partnered with H&M in Büyük Menderes river basin. This river basin accounts for 40 per cent of national leather production, 60 per cent of all Turkey’s textile exports, and 14 per cent of its national cotton production. In 2018, WWF and H&M launched its “Cleaner Production in Textile” initiative that guides textile companies to adopt processes that use less water, chemicals and energy. WWF runs similar basin-centric projects in India, Vietnam and Pakistan.

So, while the water stewardship strategy is mostly driven by environmental goals, the social goals are as critical. Contaminated waste water from mills and laundries affects the well-being of the workers in the supply chain and the surrounding communities in those regions.

In 2018, HSBC and WaterAid11 launched a three-year programme to provide essential water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in apparel factories and nearby

communities in Bangladesh and India.

Through such projects, they are building a case for brands to invest in WASH, by evidencing business benefits such as increased worker productivity and lower absenteeism.

Few brands are explicitly supporting WASH. But PVH Corp, in partnership with WWF, is running clean water for a local community initiative in Ethiopia while for US company Gap Inc12, India is a critical location for promoting WASH education and services, alongside a target to conserve 10 billion litres of water by the end of 2020 through sustainable manufacturing practices.

60 per cent of all Turkey’s textile exports are based in the Büyük Menderes river basin as well as 14% of its national cotton production and 40% of its national leather production

40 per cent shortfall in fresh-water resources can be expected by 2030

We need to act now Nonetheless, the reality remains grim. A 40 per cent shortfall in fresh-water resources by 2030 plus a rising population has the world moving towards a global crisis. Recognising the growing challenge, the UN declared 2018 - 2028 as Water Action decade.

Around the same time in 2018, the German non-profit Drip by Drip launched with the commitment to tackle water-usage in the textile industry. Through an initiative titled the “Blue Lab”, it has co-developed five fabrics that consume up to 96 per cent less water compared to conventional cotton, and which will soon be available to buy from its project partner, the Portuguese textile company Tintex.

Aurélie Rossini, a project manager at Drip

by Drip, says: “We believe that water is a fundamental human right. And water is scarce. That’s why our mission through the Blue Lab is to develop alternative, less ‘thirsty’ materials to relieve the pressure that the global fashion industry is putting on local water and sanitation systems in water-stressed regions.”

Unfathomable as it may seem, how we shop and how we use our garments in our wardrobes has a direct correlation with the growing water issues in textile-producing nations. Each one of us has a role to play in mitigating this crisis.

What can I do?

Right now, you can join the Drip by Drip campaign to install biosand filters, which can provide clean water for up to 500 people for 10 years, for areas affected by the textile industry’s waste water in and around Dhaka in Bangladesh by donating at betterplace.org. visit bit.ly/2QD4Ynx

For a full list of references visit bit.ly/37iTnPP Written by Molshree Vaid @mollvai

This piece is printed on Shiro Alga Carta, which is made from destructive algae blooms from the Venice Lagoon. Pollution in the Adriatic Sea resulted in the lagoon becoming swamped with thousands of tonnes of algae. This reduced the natural oxygen level in the water, which in turn killed fish. 50,000 tonnes of algae is collected each year, the equivilent of 30,000 trees.

it ourWhat we do about So, what can iversity of can the fashUn the h done by selves? Researc temperthe ion industry whether changing tergent/ Plymouth looked at de of do about it? e us the cycle, or number ature in the washing the Several methods ca to n make a difference nd that conditioner would fou be used on synthe we r, ve we tic clothing. Ho changt of fibres coming off materials which wil tha g nce suggestin l rewas no clear evide duce the release of re effect. the ful ing an me y an microfibres conditions gave during its life. These ing sh wa the r: ing ve include brushing, lawe ys we all can help, ho ser and ultrasound cutting, material coat- There are other wa ings and pre-washin use a g the fabrics.

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It continues to surprise peoSewage treatment plants (where ple that even washing our clothes all our used water ge ts filtered and can add to the problem. But if we treated) are currentl y between 65- all start making changes, this is 90% efficient at a problem we can fix.. filtering microfibres, with only the most advanced systems capturing 90%. Research and innovation into improving the efficiency of capturin ces for sustainable developg microfibres in sewage treatment pla ment.” We need to stop this plastic tide, nts is essential to prevent microfib otherwise there will be more plastic res escaping into our environment. in the sea than fish and this will have long-lasting and devastating This article Improving and devel effects on marine ecosystems. was kindly contributoping commercial washing machine ed by Imogen Napper, Research Fellow Words filters that can capture microfibres Defra Microplastic Research at Plymby Imogen will also give an additional level of filt outh University. To find out more about bres escaping into ou ration to prevent mi Napper r oceans. However, su crofich filters, like those de

by Wexco, are curre Imogen’ s work, please visit the Plymouth veloped ntly expensive and rep ortedly difficult to ins Illustration by need to see microfib University website and read her published tall. We re filters being devel Jesse Zhang oped in all washing ma as standard, which is papers on microplastics. chines likely to require gover nment legislation.

Plastic.

It is a fantastic material: Why are problem versatile, durable, cheap. microplastics a ent and us? m on vir en e for th In the last 100 years plastic plastic pieces that y tin are Microplastics Why is this an issue? has revolutionised our society. are less than 5mm in length. Thereary.are cond se d We make over 300 million tons of an ry ma pri , Look around the room you are two sources plastic every year, and 8 million tons of that is predicted to go into our oceans. are microplastics in right now, take note of all Primar y sources Due to the tiny size of microplastics, they de to be that ma en be ve ha t tha the materials that make the can be ingested by marine animals, many of , microbeads size (for example objects there. I bet the main in cosmetics or plastic glitter). which end up as our food. Once ingested, they can cause gut blockage, physical injury, changstic comes Secondar y micropla one is plastic. Now, look es to oxygen levels in cells in the body, altered of plastic ms ite r ge lar m fro feeding behaviour and reduced energy levels, ented (for at your clothing. Does it that have fragm which impacts growth and reproduction, affecting s fragce pie c sti pla , ple exam surprise you that the lyethyl- the balance of whole ecosystems.. Due to this, the mented from a po balance of whole ecosystems can be affected. same material that g). ba er rri ca ene makes mechanical In my opinion, the biggest threat is the amount of plastic entering the oceans every day, which is about parts for planes, singleone Do our clothes rubbish truck of plastic a minute . Our oceans are use water bottles, and add to microplastic turning into a big plastic soup. We need to turn the tide on plastic entering the environment food package wrappers in the oceans? When we wash our clothes, and they are so that we can stop destroying oceans, could be used to make swishing and swirling around in now, their wildlife and our health in the future. the washing machine, fibres can the clothes you SDG 14 sets out to “conserve and suslose off our clothes and go into tainably use the oceans, seas and mawear? the waste water. The waste water rine resour then goes to a sewage treatment facility. As the fibres are so small, a majority can pass through filtration processes and make their way into the marine environment .

Up to 700,000 fibres can come off our clothes in a typical wash. Think about how many times you wash your clothes in a week, a month, a year. Then multip ly that for your street, town, city, countr y. It is a huge amount of tiny microplastic fibres potentially entering our oceans. Fibres can also come off our clothes even when they are not being washed.

For a full list of references, visit: bit.ly/37iTnPP

Dear Agony Aunt I want to help the planet and buy less stuff – and I know fashion has an enormous environmental impact, but some of my friends say that buying less is bad for garment workers who rely on a brand’s orders for work and, often, overtime. What’s the deal?

asked

by email ✉

answered over leaf 👉

Orsola says...

In the majority of our present fashion supply chains, we are missing love and respect.

Considering that the fashion industry produces approximately 150 billion garments per year (and there are 7.7 billion people on the planet, so that equates to 20 items of clothing per person), it goes without saying that a lot of stuff is designed to be wasted even before it gets a chance to be consumed. down production, and they or high end, are not slowing t is Brands, whether high street m to – and the way to do tha d and clear that we want the won’t unless we tell them lou ption. by slowing down our consum This doesn’t mean we have to stop buying: blanket boycotts could indeed compromise the position of innocent supply chain workers, and brands themselves are super used to boycotts, so much so that they factor them into their accounting forecasts.

What is more powerful is to show brands that you care about the things you buy – beat their relentless marketing by refusing to buy in excess, because you are prepared to keep your purchase for a long time, and will look after it. ne?

The hem of your dress has come undo and one new a buy to n tatio Resist the temp ad inste ded men s your ng invest in havi . (or take the time to mend it yourself) And tell the brands you shop from – write a letter, sending them a picture of your beloved clothes. Here’s a template that you could use:

mass production is the Fashion brands insist that , but we do not need result of consumer demand these clothes, and we and do not have room for all e become enslaved should let them know. We hav buying and throwing of by this accelerated rhythm ce, because we are away as if it had no consequen kick the habit and to is wer ans addicted to it. The from being clothes to slow down, and to switch keepers. wearers to becoming clothes

“Dear (insert Fashion Brand), This is the dress you sold me; it came apart after (xxx) wears. But I love it, I wore it with love, and it reminds me of stuff that happened to me when I was wearing it. I don’t want to buy another to replace it with – I want to keep this one that is mine already.

If the garment workers who made it had been respectfully paid by the hour, and not by the piece, it would have been made with love, not pressure.

I want to buy clothes that are of better quality, and that afford a better quality of life for the people who make them.”

, Yours in hope

WRITTEN BY BELLA WEBB

The #TOGETHERBAND campaign was launched in April 2019 by Cameron Saul and Oliver Wayman. It is a shining example of how businesses can put the UN’s Global Goals into action. The TOGETHERBAND is a simple bracelet that amplifies complex conversations. It comes in 17 colours, representing the 17 Global Goals, from hot pink for “Reduced Inequalities” (Goal 10) to lime green for “Life on Land” (Goal 15). Purchases come in pairs, so customers can wear one and share the other and 100 % of proceeds from each sale are used to spread the word about the Global Goals and fund life changing projects with the UBS Optimus Foundation.

His father founded Mulberry, but Cameron Saul has always been more interested in waste than in luxury leather goods. When he founded the Bottletop Foundation in 2002, his debut handbag design – a collaboration with his father – was made from discarded beer bottle tops and Mulberry’s leather off-cuts. Now, BOTTLETOP’s signature is a shimmering chainmail crafted from upcycled ring-pulls. Through charity donations, countless collaborations and total transparency, BOTTLETOP has upcycled the fashion supply chain too.

The TOGETHERBAND project unites the global goals and demonstrates how partnerships and collaboration can drive change. They’re off to a good start: in just 10 months, Cameron and Oliver have sold more than 60,000 bands and had 687 million online impressions.

“We believe it is only with cross-sector collaboration that the Global Goals will be achieved,” says Saul. Here, he tells us more about the campaign.

What sparked the idea for TOGETHERBAND?

SDG 17: PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Very early on with Bottletop, I received a surprise letter of support from the late Kofi Annan, who was the secretary-general of the UN at that time. Almost unbelievably, he had heard about BOTTLETOP and our campaign with Mulberry. Then, in September 2015, when the UN announced the Global Goals, I met Amina Mohammed, who is the deputy secretarygeneral. She was one of the chief architects of the goals and she loved our approach of engaging people in sensitive subjects through creativity and culture. Amina connected us to the UN Foundation and they asked how we could help spread the word about the Global Goals. So we set out to design something, because that is the essence of what we do: we design beautiful, sustainable products that can be a transmitter for story and message.

And you came up with the bands, smart. What are they made of?

The clasps are made from a metal called humanium, which was developed by a Swedish NGO called IM. They were working to address violence among young men in El Salvador, and illegal firearm metal was a byproduct of their community work. They wanted to give the weaponry a second life, at the same time rehabilitating the men by involving them in melting it down. The thread is made from ocean plastic, which is collected from the coastline around Costa Rica by Bionic.

So who actually makes TOGETHERBANDs? The bands are made by some extraordinary women in Nepal, who are supported by two amazing NGOs we partner with. Maiti Nepal specialises in rescuing women from highly sensitive human trafficking situations. They provide the women with a mixture of therapeutic, legal and housing support. Rokpa – which means “friend” in Tibetan – runs various programmes, but the division we partner with provides women with skills training and livelihood creation opportunities. The women who make the bands are part of a wider training programme which will see them become highly skilled technicians.

TOGETHERBAND.ORG

Why is it important to know who makes your products?

We’ve all become quite divorced from the sweat, love, energy and time that is invested into making the things we wear. This is fundamental to why BOTTLETOP exists: to acknowledge the people making our products, and empower them to live with dignity and provide for themselves.

You must’ve faced some tricky challenges, how have you overcome them?

We wanted to create a product that everybody could wear, irrespective of age, gender and culture. It also had to make an impact on as many of the Global Goals as possible. Creating a supply chain that was positive for people and the planet was a massive challenge. Then we had to build a credible campaign, so we needed the right endorsements. Building a relationship with the UN Foundation took a great deal of trust on their part, hard work on ours and time on both.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GOALS, GO TO SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT.UN.ORG/SDGS

Why is fashion so effective in talking about serious subjects?

Fashion can play a powerful role in helping people learn about issues that are otherwise difficult for the development sector to disseminate. It’s hard to engage people with flat information and statistics, because without personal histories and stories, it’s difficult to garner meaning. A product is a touchpoint. Our hope is that people will want to go further and understand the materials and the mission behind them.

People might think fashion only relates to Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), but it can advance every single goal, can’t it?

Absolutely. Goal 1 (No Poverty) speaks for itself in terms of the livelihoods we’re generating.

We provide full health insurance for the artisans we work with, which addresses Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being). Our use of recycled ocean plastics advances Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and we remove an extra kilogram of plastic from marine environments for every band sold.

Which of the Global Goals do you relate to the most?

Goal 4 (Quality Education) is a big one for me, because it links to how BOTTLETOP began.

When I was 19, I taught health education to young adults in Uganda. We were unpacking big subjects: sexual and reproductive health, HIV/Aids and unplanned teenage pregnancy.

I realised how important it was for young people to receive proper information they could trust and live by.

Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) has been at the heart of BOTTLETOP since we launched in 2002. We’ve always believed you can achieve bigger and bolder things in collaboration with others.

Goal 13 (Climate Action) has become increasingly important for me as I’ve learned more about the climate crisis and how all-pervasive it is for us as a human race. So those three. But I’m normally dripping with TOGETHERBANDs.

What has been your proudest moment so far?

I’ve had a few. There’s nothing more humbling than spending time with the amazing people who make our products, both for BOTTLETOP and TOGETHERBAND. We’re creating meaningful livelihoods for those people to be proud of, so they can support themselves and their communities. Any chance I get to reconnect with that makes me proud.

SDG 15 LIFE ON LAND

1

On a five acre piece of land in southern India, a regenerative cotton farming project is restoring the balance of nature and giving back more than it takes.

Written by Tamsin Blanchard Photographs by Ashish Chandra

“A little fact I learned that is mind-bogglingly scary is that we have 40 years of top soil left on the planet.”

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At the end of January, the designer Christy Dawn Baskauskas and her husband Aras Baskauskas, Christy Dawn’s CEO, travelled from Los Angeles to a farm near Erode in Tamil Nadu in southern India to help pick cotton for their next collection.

I joined them in the field via Skype. I could hear birds singing, dogs barking and the couple’s young son playing cricket in the distance. I could see the sparkling sunshine beating down on the lush green fields of cotton and the makeshift shade they were sitting under on a pile of cushions with Nishanth Chopra, the founder of Oshadi, an artisanal textile weaving and fashion brand.

years, we have enough water to do that. And then we will figure out a water conservation system.”

As for the nutrient-rich worm juice, when Chopra began the project in the summer of 2019, there was not a worm to be seen. The land here had been inorganically farmed for 50 years and the soil was hard rock. “They were probably 5-10 feet beneath the earth because it was so hard,” Baskauskas said.

“These particular worms only live in the top six inches to a foot of the soil.” He points the computer camera into the compost heap and sure enough, it is alive with worms – a clear sign (along with the resident cobra and the dragonflies) that biodiversity is alive and kicking.

The cotton in question is part of a regenerative agriculture project set up by Oshadi and has been nurtured without chemicals, drip-fed using rain water from recent heavy monsoons which have provided sufficient water for next season’s crop too, and lovingly cultivated using worm juice and organic matter from the compost heap at the bottom of the field. “As we grow, we don’t want to take away the water that people drink or use themselves,” Chopra said. “For the farm, we want to make sure the water comes from beneath the soil, and for the next few

“A little fact I learned that is mind-bogglingly scary is that we have 40 years of top soil left on the planet,” Baskauskas said, picking up a handful of wriggling worms. “The way we treat the soil and the way we extract from it, we have 40 years of seasons in crops. And this is a direct answer to that: composting and worm bins to help build the top soil.

The planet is hurting. How do you heal the planet?

The earth is hurting, how do you heal the earth?

3

which is great, but then a lot of bad ones also follow, so you have to take care of the plants,” Chopra said.

“Once they grow they take care of themselves but the first two to three months you really have to take care of them, just like human babies.”

“Regenerative agriculture addresses so many issues,” Baskauskas said. “It doesn’t just address the improvement of the soil, the farmers, or the communities… it addresses a global issue in terms of climate change and drawing down carbon.

Christy and I have two little kids, what are we leaving them if we leave them a planet where they can’t breathe and they can’t drink clean water?”

This test project has a holistic approach to growing the cotton as well as ginning, spinning, dyeing and weaving it into cloth within a small geographical area (the ginning takes place just 40 minutes away from the farm, the rest is done close to where the cotton is grown). The aim was to grow 2,000 kilos – to be woven into 2,000 metres of finished cloth – of organic cotton which will be made into a “Farm to Closet” collection for Christy Dawn, its first fully traceable pieces of clothing.

Through the earth! The actual soil holds all the answers but we need to get our hands dirty.”

For Christy Dawn, this project has been an opportunity for the company to understand the relationship between nature and our clothes.

“We are so disconnected from nature and from these plants and that’s why we are able to extract from and rape Mother Earth because we have no relationship to her. So this project on a very personal level has been about getting into the soil, getting my hands into the soil, getting more intimate,” Baskauskas said.

selected from a local seed bank. Then a riot of weeds threatened to overpower the cotton shoots.

“Normally there would be three-to-five workers to spray the chemicals and they’d be done in a day.” The regenerative approach was much more time intensive but had to be done with care, and nitrogen-rich green gram plants sown in their place to keep the ground covered and prevent the earth from eroding. The green gram also stops the soil from drying out. The weeds were then fed to the cows whose dung was in turn spread on the fields.

“When you do a really good job of a cover crop you create a soil sponge, which holds much more water and allows for more absorption into the water table,” Baskauskas said. “This year we did a really good job and hopefully next year it’s a better job, and it’s more learning.”

Neither Christy Dawn nor Oshadi were experts in regenerative farming but they are both A-graders at making things happen and getting their hands dirty.

But it’s not all been easy. “You try to figure things out,” Chopra said. “We sewed the seeds and realised that with organic farming, they have to be sewn at a shorter distance. Because you don’t spray chemicals, the seedlings don’t grow as much – the plants are, like, two feet smaller than inorganic plants but with the same level of fruits.” So they had to replant the seeds – non-GMO long-staple Surabhi seeds

A grant from Fibershed, the NGO founded by Rebecca Burgess in 2010 to develop localised regenerative fibre systems to enhance both the earth and the local communities, has funded some of this intensive work. “A lot of good pests come, 4

“The regenerative farming has to be a cycle,” Chopra added. “The air needs carbon but not so much that there is global warming and greenhouse gases. Regenerative farming brings back the right levels of carbon in the air, by putting back into the ground what’s not needed.” As he has learned more about regenerative farming techniques, he has realised that this was just a new Western term for traditional farming techniques that have been practised in India for centuries. “This traditional farming in India has always been regenerative.

You create the ecosystem within the farm and you do things by yourself. So you learn from the people who have been farming for over 50 years.”

Both Christy Dawn and Oshadi had independently contacted Rebecca Burgess at the beginning of 2019. Christy Dawn wanted to find out how it could create a collection from field to closet; Chopra had asked for advice on how to convert five acres of unloved, infertile land into a regenerative cotton project. Burgess introduced them, and agreed to help support the project. “It was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Baskauskas said. “When you take a step towards healing yourself or healing others, the universe colludes in your favour in a major way.”

For Chopra, who grew up in this most heavily polluted area, crammed with textile mills and factories, and rivers filled with poisonous effluent, there was a real urgency to his mission to change the fashion and textile system from its very roots.

“I grew up seeing the pollution and I just thought the change has to be both beneath and above the soil,” he said. “And creating a sustainable economy where there is no one single company controlling the entire supply chain – because that’s what went wrong, that’s why there is all this pollution. For me, it was more about changing the things I grew up seeing living in a textile town.”

It has proven to be a perfect match. As we talked, they excitedly showed me the cotton in its various stages of development, from the yellow flower to the fruit, to the fluffy boll of cotton. The plants looked bushy and healthy. “The fruit is super tasty,” Chopra said. “I don’t know if a lot of people know this but you can make cotton seed milk, it’s absolutely tasty.

I wish we could make half of it as a milk, but I don’t think Aras would be happy,” he said, laughing.

The five-acre project was a pilot to test different techniques. “Now the cotton is pumping out,” Chopra said. “We really took care of it, we took care of each plant, and the famers can see the level of income we are getting, and everyone has been wanting to work for us and clear their own farmland.” In March 2020, Chopra began work on a 65 acre farm using land that had previously been used for rice or left uncultivated. 50 acres would be for Christy Dawn and the remaining 15 acres for his own fashion label, Oshadi.

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He had seen rivers of dead fish and the local population suffering from chronic diseases. If you are using your bare hands to work with chromium sulphate, it’s not hard to see the connection with cancer. “People are dying from contact with all these toxic chemicals. I grew up seeing that. I kept thinking about this industrialised way of doing things and I thought maybe if I start really small and create a small impact, that’s good enough for me.”

As their business grew, they realised they were in a position to change things. “We are using up the excess of an incredibly toxic system, so somebody has to step up and say, Hey, let’s make a new system,” Baskauskas said. “Just by starting, there is a profound revolutionary act in that. And the hope is that by starting this we inspire other brands and other farms to jump on board and take part in this Fibershed or start their own.”

Likewise, Christy Dawn and Baskauskas, who use deadstock material for their collections, felt that they could do more. “None of us are experts in this and often it is really daunting when we think of the scale of destruction caused by the fashion industry,” Baskauskas said. “It can be overwhelming and cause paralysis where people are so helpless. We both thought let’s start somewhere.”

Already local farmers in Erode are keen to stay involved, partly because they are being paid better and working under much healthier conditions, but also because they want to be part of the project.

“We are all supporting each other,” Baskauskas said, “and by us supporting the farmers with better wages and encouraging these more supportive holistic techniques, they want to support us more. It’s holistic, it’s about relationships – relationships with the earth, and relationships with the people.”

But by continuing to use deadstock, they worried that “we are going down with the ship, right?” For Dawn it was about getting more involved in her supply chain. “We are still contributing to the toxic chemicals and things that are in the fabric we are using – we don’t have any control over the fabrics we are using and how it’s been made,” she said.

Read Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists and Makers for a New Textile Economy by Rebecca Burgess with Courtney White (Chelsea Green Publishing)

Meet the Farmers Eswari and Kuppusamy have farmed their land for 50 years. Conventional farming, using pesticides and chemicals, regularly left them with lesions on their legs. Since working on the Oshadi project, they no longer work with chemicals. The soil is happy, the earthworms have returned and the dragonflies are back. There is a health for them physically as well as to the land that is tangible.

Eswari and Kuppusamy are more relaxed but also more productive and feel respected and invested in the work. Despite their lengthy experience and wisdom, this project is one of the few times they have been asked for their advice on best practice to farm the land. They know the weeds, local herbs and earth here better than most. Their pay and working conditions are so improved that their son Selvam is returning to work with them from Kerala where he had moved to find a better life with his family. With regenerative farming, it is a completely different approach that respects the farmers and honours their experience and knowledge. It’s still hard work, but when employed with respect and dignity, they are happy to do it.

On conventional farms there are two supervisors working on every four acres of land. Working here, Chopra and Regenerative Farm Head, Vaishali visit the farm just twice a week, because they trust that everything is being done.

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This collection of zines was published by Fashion Revolution and was created in collaboration with Durham University Charity Fashion Show (DUCFS) and STOP THE TRAFFIK. Editor: Tamsin Blanchard Creative Direction: Orsola de Castro & Emily Sear Design support: Bronwyn Seier Printed in London, UK by Duplikat. duplikat.co.uk Special thanks to: Chloe Smith, Megan Jamieson, Lizzy Jewell, Stevie Tyler, Stevie Jepson, Gloria Davies-Coates and all those who worked behind the scenes to make this zine what it is. Fashion Revolution would like to thank Ian Cook, Kathryn Holliday, Victoria Ainsworth and Nick Spensley. STOP THE TRAFFIK would like to thank Jack Nunn, Delina Cleo, Ifrah Arshad and Esther Kinnear-Derungs from Linden Staub, and BRAC for their expertise on the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. DUCFS would like to thank their 2020 executive committee, who have worked tirelessly to expand their platform and continue the legacy of their success. They would also like to thank the models, presenters, reps and volunteers for their contribution, enabling the show and 2020 campaign to become a reality.

This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union.

Its contents are the sole responsibility of Fashion Revolution and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

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, FS: n C o i U s clu from D n o c In word l a n a fi Action Required has been an incredible experience for DUCFS, and a resource we hope will inspire reflection, education and change. The overwhelming feeling when reading is one of empowerment and possibility, inviting readers to engage with a global issue in a positive light. Whether offering vulnerable individuals the necessary tools to understand trafficking risks, educating households on caring for their garments or urging individuals to reconsider the necessity of their purchases, Action Required is a vital resource in the collective movement towards change. It highlights the importance of empowering workers, consumers, activists, corporations, governments, and beyond, to catalyse widespread action. As Esther KinnearDerungs notes in Amy Cuff ’s piece, No Poverty, education is power, power and this is what we hope Action Required will offer readers. We cannot change our actions without the tools and knowledge to do so, and it is only through sharing this with others that we can incite lasting change. Everyone has their part to play, and everyone has something unique that they can offer in this movement. This project has inspired those involved with DUCFS to make our own small changes in everyday life. As students, it’s easy to think that our individual efforts won’t be felt, as we do not have the voice or resources to bring about significant change alone. This campaign has proven otherwise; whether reconsidering your shopping habits or reposting a useful article online, if you can encourage one person to do the same, then you’ve succeeded.

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