sweatshops alive and well

nobody@vox.com(liberal provocateur) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:38:42 -0700

A guardian investigation has found UK shops using sweatshop factories in India and Bangladesh, thank goodness some of the media is capable of investigative reporting - even if they "provide balance" by including statements from companies denying everything. How hard is it to investigate it properly and verify things, or talk in more detail to NGOs who can verify things.

Anyway - it doesn't really come as any surprise - UK businesses don't care a jot about their suppliers working conditions, Nestle is even trying to replace the phrase 'corporate responsability' with 'shared values', which almost sounds identical to 'shareholder value'.

I noticed yesterday that I actually 'buy british' when it comes to clothing, entirely by accident, living in cornwall we tend to dress in 'surf wear', i.e. fat face and animal, as well as local surf brands like Gul, Flying Dodo, etc. Most of these clothes are bit more expensive, but they tend to be fairly well made, aesthetically pleasing, and coincidentally not made by pregnant mothers in appalling working conditions.

The other thing I noticed in the story was that, M&S used the same suppliers as Matalan, I remember a story told at one of my old jobs where somebody from the trade was working for Marks and they noticed that matalan or somebody had the same product at a much cheaper price, they asked where they copied it from - turns out they both bought the same bog standard stuff from the dirt cheap producer in the far east, a reminder that the rag trade is full of sleazy shysters who will sell low quality tat, but with a 'premium brand', at huge margins.

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Liberal Provocateur

sweatshops alive and well