Chanel 4 and dispatches have done it again; pointing out obvious flaws in our society we are unwilling to acknowledge. The programme called Dispatches: Fashions dirty secret aired on Monday and looked at high street fashion prices, and the consequences that come from that bargain. The most fitting response to the question “do you think this is the inevitable price of cheap fashion?” was about consumers sharing their part in it, “buying a shirt the price of a lunch clearly there’s a problem there.”
It followed an undercover worker in a factory in Leicester called Sammi Leisure Wear and was in clear violation of the health and safety act for this country. The programme absolutely obliterated New Look retailer and quite rightly as they use sweatshops to produce their goods. The average wage for the immigrant worker was £3, and lower if the immigrant was here illegally.
On our own doorstep is where the reality hits home as we are all aware that these cheap frocks come from factories abroad and we fool ourselves to believe that the poor wage given to them in their country will be enough for their means. They don’t have the ‘luxury’ of sky TV that we have to pay, so we need that garment and we need it cheap; therefore it could be seen as a win win situation. Well my friend went travelling to Cambodia (Southeast Asia) and found that the children’s mothers would chop off parts of their child’s limbs and send them out begging; as they got more money from begging than work in factories. These factories might not be used by UK retailers but John Hilary, director of ‘War on Want’ charity who has witnessed these types of factories says that the Leicester conditions are, “Certainly something we would associate more with the type of conditions you see in Bangladesh, India or China.” The conditions at Sammi’s were equally as poor as some in the developing world and that the fire exit was even “Locked”, not something we would even consider hearing about in this country. These companies using these sweatshops wouldn’t let their shops or their offices violate these regulations because they are under constant checks. It goes by the rule of what you can’t see won’t hurt you.
They get away with it because it gets lost under this supply chain and the people at the top are questioned about their company’s suppliers and it drops down and down and down to an outside supplier who on the surface has the right certificates, yet they have a drop down system as well. This is exactly how they get away with it because the work gets subcontracted to illegal textile manufactures that are unaccounted for. So much work for such a small manufacturer and no questions asked seems to be the case here. These sweatshops are making high street retailer clothing even ones under the arcadia group limited owned by Sir Philip Green (Owner of Topshop). They have their own code of conduct that talks a fair game about decent working conditions and also states, “This code applies to the manufacturer or any other person involved in supplying goods to our company.” So how do places like Sammi’s slip under the radar? Simply because it is all illegal and very hush hush. So Sir Philip Green gets knighted and becomes a Sir and the immigrants are invisible, and if your invisible you are not a threat to this ‘SIR’ govern society.
It seems like we are still living in this Marxist economy where we are all shying away from the rich exploiting the poor. The idea of the superstructure (the ones with the ideas) exploiting the base (the ones with means of production) should be a distant memory. As the UK’s border agency assistant director say, “People on the very top assume because they dealt with one company down that everything is okay.” We are living in a don’t ask don’t tell society and how is the consumer meant to know what goes on behind closed doors. We have too much trust in our government to do the right thing, yet I do believe we have a responsibility to have a better common sense when buying a cheap product to think where it came from. If we knew I would hope we would have the better judgement not to buy and save up for an item of clothing that would be more gratifying. I understand both sides of the argument but I do think it is possible for us to have cheap clothing that does follow ethical guidelines; especially when the workshops in this country give them nothing to live on.
These illegal manufacturers use illegal immigrants here on various visas. The most popular being a student visa, they live/work in the country illegally and are therefore left powerless. If they spoke up or try to sign on they would be caught and deported, so fear drives them to work for so little. It is a catch 22 situation with no clear answer. “The sewers are churning hundreds out by the hour” so that £3 for the hours work becomes hundreds/thousands within days of sales. The illegal immigrants realise they are being exploited and know they are powerless and if the investigation has to be in the fear of deportation. If conditions of living are the same in their country as in the UK then why have they got this fear of deportation? This is where the programme could have extended as it left questions in my mind as to where they stand; either pay the illegal immigrants a fair wage and let them live legally in the country or shut down these sweatshops and deport the workers as well.
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