Reflective:
The change I want to see is I want to improve the labor rights and working conditions for the Fashion Industry.
The ethical fashion problem is a very important part in the whole fashion industury supply chain processing, but also very easy to be ignored. This is also belonging to Sustainable fashion concept. When I choose the sustainable fashion topic, I found it is too big to talk about. then I started to thinking about how to narrow down.
I did lots of research on the whole supply chain of the Fashion industry, to find out the unsustainable problems. Then I found I’m quite interested in the ethical part.
Through my research and interview, I’ve found that the situation of unfair, unethical, harmful working conditions not only happened in the developing countries, also happened in the developed countries such as in Italy.
How to change the situation? After primary and secondary researches, I’ve found that we can use ESG investment method to solve the Ethical Fashion problems.
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) refers to the three central factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business.
Analysis of these criteria are thought by some to help to better determine the future financial performance of companies. (Wikipedia,2021)
The fashion industry also need to create a database for the consumers and investors review the ESG data for each company and their suppliers. It will help the investors to decide which company to invest and also will help the consumers to choose brands when they purchasing.
Then I interviewed the founder of Sancho’s (award winning Ethical Fashion Retailer based in Exeter UK), she told me that In the past two years, she has gradually transformed the brand into sustainable and ethical fashion brand. She choosing the suppliers carefully. She is a black lady herself, Her suppliers treat their employees strictly in accordance with labor rules. Even though the cost of doing sustainable/ethical fashion is going up, her business is attracting more and more environmentalists and a lot of new customers who are not familiar with sustainable/ethical fashion, it helps to change the minds of consumers. Business is getting better and better. In the case of the epidemic last year, the sales volume did not drop, but grew rapidly on line, and the sales volume was four times that of the same period of the year before. below is the link of online shop of Sancho’s.
Then I interviewed Mr. Lam, Director of Swire Group, ESG Expert in Hong Kong. He provided some suggestions on “How Labour Rights May be protected for the Fashion Industry?”
Genral Assessment:
1. Does the country of operation have labour protection laws for mandatory insurance, minimum wage, minimum worker age and maximum work hours?
2. Is there legislation for equal opportunity (gender, age, ethnicity etc), forced labour, and prison labour?
3. Assess country performance of the labour situation.
Own operation:
1.Is there sufficient resource allocated to the management for the enforcement of labour protection?
2.Is there a code of behaviour to govern the performance of local management team?
3. Is labour rights included in the Key performance Indicator (KPI) of the local management?
Outsourced operation:
1. apply points 1 – 3 for own operation
2.regular assessment (once every 6 – 12 months) of the labour rights performance of the target outsourced company
Supplier assessment:
1. requires self certification of compliance to labour laws, based on formatted questionnaires from my company
2. employ auditors to assess the performance of the supplier based on their input
Contracting:
1.State clearly requirement on Labour protection, among other points
2.penalty or reward based on service level agreement
After the research and interviews, I realize that media is also an important tool in moving the world towards a more sustainable more ethical stage.
The fashion icons, should use TV, websites, magazines, personal platforms and other ways to publicize the importance of sustainable/ ethical fashion. Followers’ mindset can be influenced by these icon people, especially the young generation.
Putting ESG thinking at the heart of investment process, it will helps to Mitigate risks. Improve returns.
India has witnessed around 300,000 farmer-suicides over the past two decades (Philpott, 2015; Mishra, 2014). Biotech opponents attribute the majority of these suicides to the monopolization of the cotton seed sector. Suspected links surfaced 3 years before the seed’s commercialization by Monsanto (Shiva, 2011b; 2013a; Shiva et al. 1999; Stone, 2010a; 2011b; 2013c; 2013d; 2014b; Jahnbegloo, 2013). They characterize this distressing phenomenon as ‘genocide’, averring that such suicides were unheard of prior to the commodification. These opponents argue that the 2002 introduction of Bt. cotton dramatized the situation (Navdanya, 2012; Shiva and Jalees, 2006; Shiva, 2013b). Holding transgenic seeds responsible, they dubbed them “Seeds of Suicide, Seeds of Slavery, and Seeds of Despair” (Shiva and Jalees, 2006, p. 281; Shiva, 2013c). Huge media coverage and a parliamentary committee report have intensified the debate. The Acharya report attributes the increase of farmer-suicides after 2002 to Bt. cotton cultivation (Ministry of Agriculture, 2012; Sainath, 2012; Malone, 2008). Similarly, Daily Mail and The Guardian journalists and the award-winning documentary Bitter Seeds also link Bt. cotton cultivation with farmer-suicide. This linkage was alleged also by Charles, the prince of Wales (Malone, 2008; Faife, 2012; Lean, 2008). These allegations have been criticized by others for their lack of scientific rigor, especially the lack of transparency in their methodology (Herring, 2006; 2008; 2014; Stone, 2011b)
Behind the mirror of high-end fashion –
Italy leather company which is a big supplier for many famous brands