We enjoyed the drinks get together which launched the Achfary show last night and there were some fascinating things for sale there I particularly liked some rugs/wall hangings made from recycled clothes. Sunday seems to come round so quickly signalling another week having gone by, is it an age thing?
Anyway I wanted to share with you some fascinating blogs today about high street retailers and comments from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
"BRC members take their
responsibility for the welfare of their own and their suppliers’
workers very seriously, especially with regard to the use of child and
forced labour".
The reality is that if brands had been taking these matters
seriously for the past ten years then a lot more would have changed.
The BRC also stated that - It's a myth that UK retailers source from exploitative, badly run
sweatshops. That would be unethical and unworkable. For example China
is producing shoes for the world on an unprecedented scale. That
requires safe, modern attractive factories, not the backstreets.
Standards in factories located in developing countries often surpass
those in Europe and America. To provide goods in the quantities, of the
quality and to the timescales UK retailers require, they have to. World
class facilities in Asia are delivering product to some of the most
demanding consumers in the world on the UK high street. Only the best
will do and this must be built on total trust in ethical and
environmental standards. Any factory which cannot compete on this level
will simply not be able to meet the standards demanded by BRC members
and their customers. Retailers work with the Ethical Trading Initiative
to ensure that high standards are adhered to. Suppliers are
systematically inspected . If they are not able to meet these standards
contracts are ended and business is taken elsewhere.
It is difficult to equate this statement with the truth when there are constant media stories about giant retailers buying garments produced from sweatshop labour which of course they did not know about!
We are buying a third more clothes than we were a decade
ago. Every year we buy around 2m tonnes, and about 1.5m tonnes end up
in landfill. The clothing industry is a close rival to the chemical
industry in its levels of pollution.
We recycle only a fraction of our wardrobes. And clothes
are now so cheap because we pay so little to the people who make them
in developing countries far from our gaze.
Something that would help is government legislation
- for example targets and indirect taxation - to make non-ethical
clothes less competitive.
In the words of Britain's first professor of
sustainability, Tim Jackson, of the University of Surrey: "All the
studies find that even people with strong pro-environmental values find
it very difficult to maintain those values. They struggle to lead the
lives they want to lead. That is where legislation can help."
So what is your opinion on this matter do post a reply and let me know I would love to hear from you.
Linda