Would you buy cheap child-sweatshop made clothes? Poll results/discussion

earthgirl

Its hard to know what to think and do for the best. I agree that I don't think boycotting Primark is a great idea - but what else can we do to send the message to companies that consumers will not buy products that have been worked on by exploited children? If Primark know that we will not buy products that have been worked on by children - and that it will affect their profits - they will put more effort into making sure that the factories employ MORE adults to do the beading etc.

If children were not doing this work their lives would be worse short term - a lot worse - but surely the long term solution is to eradicate this practice. As a consumer there is not much I can do to improve their lives, it has got to come from government and big corporations.

It really bothers me that I might be condoning this so I will be buying from charity shops, and then I know that the money will be going to a positive cause.

frogman_2

Someone in my family works in the textile industry as a designer and liaises with the retailers in the UK and the manufacturers in India. Fortunately, the manufacturer in India has very high standards; excellent working conditions & pay (i have been there myself) but the buyers & retailers haven't got a clue!

The retailers never confirm orders until it's too late to meet the lead time; they ask for numerous samples to be made without any payment; they pare the quotes to the bone while they 'enjoy' markups of 200-400%. Of course, they have overheads and if they don't sell the range within the first 4 weeks, everything has to be marked down by 25-50% to get rid of it. But that still leaves them with a very healthy profit.

If there I could help in this situation, I would insist that retailers have an ethical trading policy with their suppliers - fair rates, reasonable lead-times and a more sustainable policy on sub-contracting work.

There is one thing that we consumers can do; only buy what we need NOT just whatever we want, use the things that we do buy for a reasonable time and bear in mind that we should pay for the quality & craftsmanship that may go into the products.

We are all responsible for a fairer world and we should find out how best we can do that.

supersmith

I feel very confused about this as someone who has bought a lot of clothes from Primark. The very cheap prices do seem to be a reason why they are putting so much pressure on their suppliers in India who have to produce the clothes for Primark at an extremely cheap rate. However, we do not know that other high street shops are not paying the same to their suppliers to make their clothes, and are just charging the consumer in Britain much more.

I want to find out more about other high street shops policies, how do we do this?! It seems from the Primark example from the BBC documentary that they promised ethical credentials that they were not living up to. Guess that programmes of this type highlight to the large companies though that this is an issue for consumers who want to know more/see where their clothes have come from.

killarney

Yes, so go to companies who are certified to be fair!

killarney

Incidentally, what Primark did was the worst of all worlds. Just dropping their supplier meant that they left the most vulnerable people in the world without any work at all.

What they should have done is what the ethical companies I've already mentioned do, which is to work directly with the suppliers to make sure that they follow ethical principles ALL THE TIME. Instead of dumping them, why not use their money to go to India and develop a way of caring for those vulnerable people by setting up a community development project which they could then work in.

And what is more - they have dumped garments which they say will be destroyed, which is a terrible waste of resources and materials. And does no good at all.

We've seen this so many times. High street fashion stores - cheap and expensive - who get caught out, throw up their hands in horror at the fact that the suppliers THEY apparently trusted were actually using kids. Then they just walk away from the problem which dumps the kids in a worse condition (probably starvation) and then still don't properly check out new suppliers, and so it continues.

Buy less, buy better, make it last.

Or, even if you can't afford to buy everything ethical, why not just buy one piece from these companies. That way you are still supporting them and it's all part of the Starfish Principle.

DavidMiles_2

I've been back in this country for 3 years after spending 5 in Colombia, and about to move to Bangladesh. One of the things I've found hardest to do in the UK is buy clothing, shoes, anything of that sort. I can only afford the cheap stuff and I know most of it is cheap labour, meaning I simply can't stomach it. I'd rather wear rags, to be honest. I've bought almost no new clothes at all over the 3 years here, and only shoes when I have no choice. Going to Primark and seeing the hordes attacking the cheap piles of clothing is sickening, I have to leave the shop without buying anything.

I'm looking forward to living in Bangladesh where I will know where the clothes come from, who made them, and will know the money I pay goes directly to the maker. If I pay extra because I'm a useless haggler or can't stomach bargaining for a 10p reduction, then so be it. I think we in this country take far too much for granted and take advantage of far too many people in general, and am looking forward to it being the other way around again

scenicavalon

Okay. So you stop buying, along with the rest of the misinformed people. Primark etc. stop sourcing amongst these poor people. You salve your conscience by not buying and can go away feeling good about yourself and the contribution you have made to fighting world poverty. You fool. Youv'e taken the simplistic route out of this dilemma. Now these poor people have to find another source of income as you have cut off the best local option available to them at that time. Now they have to go scavenging again opening themselves to other more heinous forms of exploitation. But you feel good 'cause you have lifted yourself out of the equation, feeling pleased you took this stand. Better to tell Primark etc to up the price and pay better. Just think what 5p per garment extra would do for these people.

outtoplaythesystem

Sweat shops are not a cause of widespread poverty and suffering they are a symptom. To not shop at Primark would castigate the very people we hope to help because the shops shut down, the workers are made redundant without a nice pay packet and have resort to worse alternatives (which is another point that they chose to work in those shops) such as prostitution. The other problem is the slavery that goes on in some of these shops. This is undoubtedly wrong but it is not the sweat shop owners themselves but the economic conditions that the countries exist that force these people into such conditions. So to attack sweatshops is to divert attention from the bigger problem of global poverty- To dislodge a system and provide no alternative can be worse than the original system itself. I view it as fine to buy from those stores so long as we lobby government and worldwide economic agencies to reduce the restictions that keep these countries in poverty and reduce the internal corruption.

xgingerx

Does anyone honestly think that us paying more for garments guarantee that this extra money will get passed onto the Manufacturer and onto the workers ?
I think not, what it will mean is that the greedy high street retailers will have better margins and make even more money. They are already scewing the factorys to the penny. I happen to work in the industry and would point out that the way Primark treated the factorys concerned by just dropping them and cancelling all the orders is an absolute disgrace, and for this reason alone I wouldnt spend another penny on them, these already poor people in India are going to endure further hardship, what they should have done is take some responsibility and work with the factories to show them the way forward. After all the factories get paid little and made primark millions !
I could go on but I will leave it at that, just my opinion

SaraW

Why so aggressive scenicavalon? You haven't given an alternative to help the exploited labourers. You say "tell Primark etc" but the only way they will listen is if sales drop. Sure this will probably work better if coupled with letters but letters alone will make no difference.

Obviously every option the consumer is faced with here has its downsides, but the most ethical way to shop that I can see is to use sites such as those suggested above by killarny above. It may be a little more expensive, but surely having to buy fewer clothes is a reasonable price to ensure the people who made the clothes were paid better. Plus you can guarentee that if Primark goes "ethical", the prices will go up to ensure their profit, at least until better standards of production become the norm. And anyway, we are all here to save money, what better way than to buy less??