At
Nukleus we are always looking for new ways to incorporate
sustainability and transparency in our work. A recent trip to the UK
provided us with some interesting learnings on pre-loved garments and
labels.
In
London, one sustainable fashion approach which has been popular with
a select few locals for decades is now becoming
mainstream...‘charity’ shops selling second hand donated garments
to raise funds for (and the profile of) that organisation.
Bargain hunting at Oxfam |
Price-wise,
the only outlet which even comes near to charity shops, is the
classic ‘made in an unregulated sweatshop in the Third World by
people paid barely enough to live on’ chain.
We
won’t promote them by naming names. However, following a vegan
lunch on Oxford Street, with time to kill before a meeting, we
decided to explore the chain’s huge new outlet across the road.
The
first surprising thing was the sheer size of the store, three massive
floors of cheap and sometimes quite nice looking items. Customers
were stuffing laundry size shopping bags with, it appeared, three of
everything in each colour. Snatches of excited conversation in a
global medley of languages demonstrated that both tourists and locals
were thrilled to be buying as much as they could carry. One
big-capped gangsta-style youth told his girlfriend ‘You buy
whatever you want’ with a touching pride that, here, at least,
money was no object.
A
dark-haired woman was trying on cardis in front of a mirror. She made
the GBP20 (RM 100) item look stunning. The shop floor was awash with
customers carting armloads of clothes to the changing rooms.
Uniformed staff with serious faces and the focussed air of people who
have been well-trained, strode among the racks of clothing,
itemising, re-hanging, organising, pushing huge trolleys of clothes.
Above
us, a vast flat-screen TV beamed the latest corporate offering,
smiley attractive people, happy, glossy and well-styled, with a
soundtrack of corporate chimes to encourage us to buy. A far-cry from
the less happy, less smiley and definitely not styled workers who’d
produced the garments to be consumed by those who already had more
than enough, but who love a bargain at knock-down prices.
The
atmosphere was intense. The colours muted and bang on trend. From
funky to edgy, from classic to retro chic... reindeer or Santa suits
for less than a fiver (RM2O). Dozens of styles of cute woolly hats
and gloves - with ears, smiley animal faces, plain, decorated.
Cardigans, dresses, skirts, tops, suits, shoes, jewellery...a
cornucopia of consumption. But where does this stuff come from?
As
part of our venture into global markets, Nukleus has become aware of
labelling issues. While in Malaysia and some other Asian countries,
labelling the country of origin is not necessary, in many other
marketplaces, like Taiwan, it is mandatory. We like this transparent
approach, as it enables consumers to make a more informed choice
about the product they’re purchasing.
Checking
a few labels on the shiney superstore garments, it was interesting to
see that there was no ‘manufactured in‘ information - just
Spanish and UK contact details. Which is odd, as a quick check of the
company website is full of stuff about how great they’re being to
the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster, which killed and injured so
many workers producing their products. Lots of happy smiling workers
here in the professionally made videos.
Universes
away from the crushed bodies and ruined lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
in the pre-Christmas feeding frenzy of happy shoppers in London’s
Oxford Street, it was hard to imagine that this company, and many
like it, has the blood of so many workers on its hands. And that this
exploitation continues.
A
friend commented, ‘Yeah, that chain is fine if you want cheap s**t
that falls to bits after a couple of washes, but charity shops give
you better quality for cheaper prices.’
Manager volunteer at Children with Cerebal Palsy |
She
was right. In Oxfam, brand name clothing jostled for space
with jewellery for a couple of pounds (RM10). In the Children with
Cerebral Palsy shop a quick search produced a Marks & Spencer
belt for a pound (RM5). The manager, a volunteer, assured me that all
the money went to the charity. “I decided to help out because the
charity is just down the road from where I live. The work they do for
the children is amazing.”
And
that is really part of the sustainable fashion equation, isn’t it?
Helping create community and values, giving back, and an attitude
which recognises our common humanity, and the need to behave in a
responsible way to sustain life on this planet. And knowing where
things come from and how they are made.
Is
is possible to be sustainable with a few glossy videos and
image-management CSR projects, when the fundamental operation is
built on cheap female labour in one of the poorest countries in the
world? Is this \ really about workers’ empowerment...or reputation
management, created and delivered by armies of PR professionals on a
minimum wage of GBP60,000 (RM300,000) a year? Plus bonus. Plus perks.
Three
years ago, visiting one of the chain’s outlets in west London, we
noticed a few small signs on the walls explaining how well their
overseas workers were treated. Two years later came Rana Plaza. Now
the signs are nowhere to be seen, while the labels are strangely mute
on the country of origin, and the website has a whole section on
ethical trading, asserting : (brand) was
shocked and deeply saddened by the events in April, when the Rana
Plaza building, near Dhaka in Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1,132
people. The building housed several factories, one of which produced
for (brand).
Sourced
from the cheapest possible location by a well-paid army of garment
industry professionals. Did they really have no idea what was
happening? And now, suddenly they know and care? But they don’t
say where the garments come on the labels. Why? And is this
exploitative game something anyone with values would choose to play?
Nukleus
will shortly be including country of origin labelling in future
products to ensure greater transparency and compliance with
international regulations.