On this edition of Your Call we discuss the far-reaching implications of the fast fashion industry, starting with a conversation about the new documentary Fashion Reimagined, which follows a designer on her pursuit to build a sustainable fashion brand.
Then we turn our attention to the workers who produce the clothes we buy. The fashion industry is plagued with worker exploitation, both in the US and abroad. In Bangladesh, workers are paid about 33 cents per hour, while the average wage in sweatshops in India is barely 58 cents. According to the Garment Worker Center, approximately 85 percent of garment workers in Los Angeles do not earn the minimum wage and are instead paid between 2-6 cents per piece.
How can we push the industry to become more sustainable for the environment and for the workers who make clothing production possible?
Guests:
Becky Hutner, filmmaker, director and producer of Fashion Reimagined
Sarah Newell, director of transnational strategies for the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network, former campaign coordinator for the International Labor Rights Forum
Daisy Gonzalez, campaign director for Garment Worker Center, a worker rights organization leading an anti-sweatshop movement to improve conditions for tens of thousands of Los Angeles garment workers, and co-leader of the 2021 effort to pass California's Garment Worker Protection Act
Web Resources:
The Film: Fashion Reimagined
Evening Standard: We are all racing too fast, Mother of Pearl’s Amy Powney on her new documentary, Fashion Reimagined
The Guardian: Child labour in the fashion supply chain: Where, why and what can be done
The Guardian: Supply chains and forced labour after Rana Plaza
Mercury News: Some California ‘sweatshop’ garment workers paid as little as $1.58 an hour, says report