A Fast-Fashion Horror Show: Why COVID-19 is Catastrophic for Garment Factory Workers in South Asia
By Fiona McKenzie Johnston
The temporary closure of High Streets and malls throughout Europe and North America is causing financial hardship that some brands will never recover from. In the UK, as of 5 April, Laura Ashley, Cath Kidston and Debenhams are all on the verge on calling in administrators or have already done so. But the knock-on effect stretches far beyond Western shores: arguably those hit hardest are the garment-factory workers in South Asia, in countries including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam - all countries that lack the level of welfare state we have in the West. It’s where most of the clothes available to buy on our High Streets are manufactured - or were, until about three weeks ago.
Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of garments in the world, after China. At the time of writing, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (the BGMEA) website is reporting $3.02 billion dollars of cancelled or suspended orders, affecting 1110 factories and 2.19 million workers. Buyers are citing force majeure, even for orders that are packed and shipped, leaving the factories – who pay for materials and manufacturing costs ahead of invoicing – unable to grant their workers severance, and often backpay. While eco-led groups have been crying out for an end to the fast fashion cycle, never was it to be at the expense of the workers. The hope was for gradual transition – not sudden death.
Adaption is key at this time – everywhere for everyone - and the BGMEA is working with factories to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for healthcare personnel and support workers in Bangladesh (as Fashion Roundtable is working to urgently secure end-to-end PPE solutions for workers in the UK, mediating between the Government, British Textiles Consortium and Emergency Designer Network.) They are also aiming to provide them for export, but that will not plug the cash gap. Aside from anything else, medical grade, World Health Organisation (WHO) standard fabric has to be imported, factories have to be retooled with specialist machines, and a sterile factory environment has to be maintained. The BGMEA states “This will require at least 6 months or more for any Bangladeshi factory.”
Until then, says Dr. Rubana Haq, President of the BGMEA, Bangladesh is looking at “A social chaos we cannot afford. . . Our workers’ lives will be at stake.” If no action is taken, poverty, malnutrition and ensuing illness are predicted to overwhelm. Additionally, explains Dana Thomas, author of best-selling Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion – and the Future of Clothes, the 2020 situation in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries reflects Victorian Britain: “Women and children flood the cities to work in factories, while the men stay home and tend farm. That’s why the majority of factory workers are women from rural areas.” Unemployed, facing eviction and starvation, what are workers to do but return home? Even if they are potentially taking COVID-19 with them. India is currently seeing an exodus from cities to villages on a level unmatched since Partition.
“The best solution would be for brands to man up and shell out the dough,” states Thomas. The good news is that some are, including H&M, Next, Marks & Spencer and Tesco who have all vowed to honour their orders. Among those being slower to make that commitment are Primark, Matalan, C&A, and, according to a Telegraph report, the multi-yacht owning Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, i.e. Topshop.
Fashion Revolution, whose aim is to “unite people and organisations to work together towards radically changing the way that our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed, so that our clothing is made in a safe, clean and fair way” have drafted a template letter that can be used to write to these brands, urging them to pay.
According to Dana Thomas: “If there is one thing COVID-19 has taught us, it is that our global world is truly interconnected – that someone sick in China can cave economies worldwide. It has also taught us that the only way to battle it successfully is to be united, as a global community. That means businesses need to take care of those they contract – especially companies that profit so grandly from the output of such workers. Millionaire and billionaire shareholders of public companies that are cancelling orders can surely agree to guarantee the $95-a-month salary of the workers in Bangladesh who make their clothes during this interim, especially since those workers produce for several companies. Joining together to help one another is the only way through, and that includes ALL along the fashion supply chain, from boardroom to the factory. It’s called humanity. Now is the time to embrace it and show it.”
And, for those of us in a position to, we can help with cash donations to non-profit organisations who are providing support to garment makers. Fashion Revolution recommends the AWAJ Foundation and Goodweave International. It’s worth remembering that these organisations exist because - regardless of COVID-19, and despite the many fashion brands who have in recent years taken greater responsibility for their supply chain - there are still South Asian garment factory workers who are or were earning below what is defined by economists as a living wage, in sub-standard working conditions, and with no maternity or sick pay. Fashion Revolution themselves formed in response to the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh that caused the death of 1,134 workers and injured more than 2,500.
When this immediate COVID-19-caused financial crisis is over, it is more important than ever that we must always, in the words of Livia Firth of Eco-Age, endeavour to “use our purchase power as a vote.” And we must, as a global community, work towards a moderated and ethical fashion model where a situation such as this one cannot arise again.
Here is a Youtube video of Dr. Rubana Huq, President of the BGMEA's appeal to Western brands.