Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
93% of brands surveyed are not paying garment workers a living wage
Garment workers in Bangladesh earn as little as 33 cents an hour
During the COVID-19 pandemic garment workers lost an estimated $11.85 billion in wages
Garment workers often work 14 to 16 hours a day specifically in peak seasons
Forced overtime is a standard practice in factories for 65% of major supply chains
The Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 killed 1134 garment workers due to structural negligence
Approximately 80% of the world's 75 million garment workers are women
One in seven women garment workers in Bangalore has been forced to commit a sexual act at work
The gender pay gap in the fashion supply chain can be as high as 60% in some regions
Approximately 11% of children in the world are engaged in child labor many in fashion supply chains
One in five pieces of cotton apparel worldwide is linked to Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang
160 million children are in child labor globally with the textile industry being a major employer
Silicosis a deadly lung disease affects thousands of workers sandblasting denim
43 million tons of chemical inputs are used in textile production annually affecting worker health
Tanneries in Hazaribagh Bangladesh put workers at 90% risk of skin or respiratory diseases
Forced & Child Labor
- Approximately 11% of children in the world are engaged in child labor many in fashion supply chains
- One in five pieces of cotton apparel worldwide is linked to Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang
- 160 million children are in child labor globally with the textile industry being a major employer
- The Sumangali scheme in southern India traps thousands of young girls in bonded labor
- State-imposed forced labor dominates the cotton harvest in Turkmenistan
- Uzbek government forces over a million citizens to harvest cotton annually though reforms are slowly starting
- In the Global Slavery Index fashion is listed as the second highest risk category for modern slavery
- Child labor has been found in the sequin sewing industry in home-based centers in India
- North Korean forced laborers have been documented working in Chinese garment factories
- 58% of major companies cannot identify where their raw materials come from increasing forced labor risks
- Migrant workers in Malaysia paid recruitment fees equivalent to 3 years of salary binding them to factories
- Children as young as 12 have been found working in leather tanneries in Bangladesh
- Forced labor generates $150 billion in illegal profits per year much of it in manufacturing
- There are virtually no checks on child labor in the informal subcontracting levels of fast fashion
- Syrian refugee children have been identified making clothes for British brands in Turkey
- Brazil has a 'Dirty List' of employers that includes fashion brands involved in slave labor
- 71% of fashion companies do not disclose their approach to assessing modern slavery risks
- Evidence of prison labor being used for garment production has surfaced in Vietnam
- Debt bondage affects 50% of migrant garment workers in Thailand
- The US bans cotton from Turkmenistan and Xinjiang explicitly due to forced labor prevalence
Interpretation
Fast fashion's bargain labels mask a brutal ledger: one in five cotton garments may be linked to Uyghur forced labor, children as young as 12 and millions of migrants are trapped in bonded, state or prison labor while firms hide behind opaque supply chains and illegal profits of roughly $150 billion a year.
Gender & Discrimination
- Approximately 80% of the world's 75 million garment workers are women
- One in seven women garment workers in Bangalore has been forced to commit a sexual act at work
- The gender pay gap in the fashion supply chain can be as high as 60% in some regions
- 60% of female garment workers in Bangladesh report using intimidation or violence to reach production targets
- Routine pregnancy tests are required for hiring in factories in export processing zones in Mexico
- 90% of female workers in Lesotho reported gender-based violence in Levi's supplier factories
- Women are disproportionately represented in low-skill roles while 80% of supervisors are men
- Verbal abuse is reported by 74% of female garment workers in Vietnam
- Many female workers in Indonesia are fired upon becoming pregnant to avoid maternity pay
- In Tirupur India predominantly female workers are recruited into Sumangali schemes that restrict marriage
- Less than 2% of major brands have a specific strategy to address gender-based violence
- Sexual harassment is cited as a primary reason for high turnover among female workers in Cambodia
- Female garment workers in El Salvador have reported managing menstrual cycles with scraps of fabric due to bathroom restrictions
- 44% of female workers in Myanmar reported feeling unsafe at their factory
- Home-based workers who are 90% women earn 50% less than factory workers
- Reports indicate an increase in sexual demands for wages during the Covid-19 payment crisis
- In Turkey Syrian refugee women are paid significantly less than their male counterparts in textile shops
- Age discrimination affects women over 35 who are often deemed 'too old' for fast fashion lines
- Only 3% of supply chain leadership positions are held by women despite the workforce being female-dominated
- Widows and single mothers are often targeted for the most precarious department roles in India
Interpretation
If fast fashion were a garment, its seams would be stitched with women's rights violations, because the women who make the clothes are routinely underpaid, harassed, coerced into sexual acts or pregnancy tests, fired when pregnant, corralled into low-skill roles with almost no chance of leadership, and forced into degrading survival strategies while brands largely look the other way.
Health & Environmental Hazards
- Silicosis a deadly lung disease affects thousands of workers sandblasting denim
- 43 million tons of chemical inputs are used in textile production annually affecting worker health
- Tanneries in Hazaribagh Bangladesh put workers at 90% risk of skin or respiratory diseases
- Garment workers exposed to synthetic fibers report a 30% higher rate of respiratory issues
- The life expectancy of a tanner in Dhaka is less than 50 years due to chemical exposure
- 27 million workers suffer from work-related diseases in the industry globally per year
- Bisphenol A (BPA) a chemical linked to infertility is found in the blood of receipt-handling retail workers
- Prolonged standing leads to musculoskeletal disorders in 60% of assembly line workers
- Noise levels in textile mills often exceed 90dB causing permanent hearing loss in 20% of staff
- Cotton farmers suffer from acute pesticide poisoning at a rate of 3 to 10% annually
- Workers in viscose production are exposed to Carbon Disulfide causing madness and heart attacks
- Heat exhaustion causes fainting in hundreds of Cambodian garment workers every year during summer
- Due to fiber dust byssinosis (brown lung disease) persists in cotton spinning mills
- Less than 15% of textile workers in developing nations are provided with proper PPE like masks
- Chromium VI used in leather tanning is a known carcinogen affecting groundwater and workers
- Mass fainting episodes are reported in 1 in 5 Cambodian footwear factories
- Eye strain and vision loss affect 40% of embroidery workers due to poor lighting
- Anemia is prevalent in over 50% of female garment workers in Bangalore due to poor nutrition
- Formaldehyde usage in wrinkle-free clothing is linked to myeloid leukemia in textile workers
- Microplastic inhalation is an emerging threat with workers inhaling thousands of fibers daily
Interpretation
Fast fashion may sell us cheap clothes, but those bargains are stitched with profit and pollution as millions of workers suffer poisoned lungs, shattered hearing, chronic pain, infertility and shortened lives from toxic chemicals, dust, heat and a shocking lack of basic protections.
Wages & Poverty
- 93% of brands surveyed are not paying garment workers a living wage
- Garment workers in Bangladesh earn as little as 33 cents an hour
- During the COVID-19 pandemic garment workers lost an estimated $11.85 billion in wages
- Only 2% of the retail price of a typical pair of jeans goes to the worker who made them
- In Ethiopia some factory workers have earned a base pay of just $26 a month
- Less than 10% of workers in the global fashion supply chain are paid a living wage
- 77% of brands in the UK do not report on the living wage gap in their supply chains
- In Myanmar the minimum wage for garment workers was set at approximately $3.50 per day before recent political instability
- 96% of fashion brands do not disclose the number of workers in their supply chain paying union dues
- Bangladeshi garment workers' minimum wage covers only 48% of the basic cost of living in a slum
- Over 50% of garment workers in Bangalore India have accrued debt to meet daily expenses
- European fashion brands refused to pay for $16 billion worth of goods during the start of the pandemic impacting worker wages
- A living wage in Cambodia is estimated to be over $500 while the minimum wage sits around $200
- In Vietnam the minimum wage meets only about 37% of a living wage benchmark
- 99% of fast fashion workers in Los Angeles earn piece-rate wages often resulting in sub-minimum wage pay
- Fashion CEOs earn in 4 days what a female garment worker in Bangladesh earns in a lifetime
- Inflation in 2022-2023 effectively cut garment worker real wages by over 10% in major production hubs
- Wage theft in the garment industry amounts to millions of dollars annually even in developed nations like the US
- Major brands often demand 5% to 10% price reductions from suppliers year-over-year forcing wage suppression
- 85% of garment workers in Indonesia surveyed reported having to borrow money to buy food
Interpretation
Fast fashion sells us cheap clothes while stitching its profits from poverty: CEOs earn in days what garment workers in places like Bangladesh and Cambodia eke out in lifetimes, as brands hide unions, cancel orders, demand price cuts and leave millions trapped in pennies, debt and lost wages.
Working Conditions & Rights
- Garment workers often work 14 to 16 hours a day specifically in peak seasons
- Forced overtime is a standard practice in factories for 65% of major supply chains
- The Rana Plaza collapse in 2013 killed 1134 garment workers due to structural negligence
- In the past decade over 1500 large-scale fires have occurred in garment factories globally
- Only 12% of garment workers have access to a formal trade union
- 60% of factories in Delhi informal settlements operate without fire extinguishers
- Short-term contracts are used to employ 80% of workers in some Asian hubs avoiding benefits payouts
- Approximately 260 workers died in the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Pakistan due to barred windows
- Workers in 35% of surveyed factories are denied bathroom breaks to maintain production speed
- Retaliation against union leaders occurs in 20% of supplier factories for global brands
- In Cambodia over 40% of union leaders have been fired or suspended since the pandemic began
- 90% of workers in the fast fashion supply chain have no sickness insurance
- Factory lines are often set 20-30% faster than standard time measurements allow causing burnout
- Millions of home-based garment workers have no legal standing or employment contracts at all
- In 2020 major brands cancelled $40 billion in orders leaving factories unable to pay workers
- 50% of sourcing managers admit to switching suppliers if production time is too slow encouraging unsafe speeds
- Factory lockdowns during protests in Bangladesh have led to thousands of arbitrary dismissals
- Migrant workers in Thailand often have their passports confiscated by factory owners
- Subcontracting to unauthorized factories occurs in roughly 30% of standard production orders
- Only 55% of global brands publish a code of conduct that applies to second-tier suppliers
Interpretation
Fast fashion's runway of bargains is stitched with blood and broken lives as workers toil 14 to 16 hour days, forced overtime is standard in 65 percent of major supply chains, more than 1,134 people died at Rana Plaza and roughly 260 at Ali Enterprises amid some 1,500 large-scale factory fires in the last decade, only 12 percent have formal unions while 90 percent lack sickness insurance, short-term contracts and $40 billion in canceled orders have wiped out pay, and basic safety, bathroom breaks, passports and any real accountability for subcontractors are routinely denied while brands too often look the other way.
References
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