Australian fashion industry failing to ensure workers are paid a living wage says report

Geelong, Australia As many as 89 per cent of fashion brands sold in Australia fail to pay garment workers a living wage, according to the findings of Baptist World Aid Australia’s Ethical Fashion Report. The report – which was released last week – is the 10th of its kind and it reveals slow progress in […]
A Sustainable Life: Why secondhand markets and apps are not a solution to clothing waste

TRIONA FITTON and ALIDA PAYSON, in an article first published on The Conversation, outline what their research has found…
One killed in Bangladesh as garment workers clash with police over pay – police

Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters One woman was killed as police in Bangladesh used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing protesters as a demonstration by garment workers for more pay turned violent on Wednesday. The latest death was the third since protests erupted in the past week. On Tuesday, the government said that the minimum wage […]
Essay: 10 years after the Rana Plaza factory collapse, we are no closer to fixing modern slavery

MUHAMMAD AZIZUL ISLAM, of the University of Aberdeen, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation – at what progress has been made since the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013…
Analysis – “Sitting above a bomb”: Bangladesh’s missed fire-safety lessons

Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters A deadly fire at a container depot in Bangladesh has laid bare the dangers still facing millions of the country’s workers a decade after a series of tragedies in the export-focussed garment industry spurred a safety revolution. Intense scrutiny of Bangladesh and the major international clothing retailers that rely on it for […]
“How is there no money?”: Tunisian garment workers fight for unpaid wages in pandemic’s shadow

LAYLI FOROUDI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on widespread labour abuses in Tunisia’s garment industry…
Essay: When your clothes come from tragedy, and how remembering Rana Plaza can change that

In an article marking the eighth anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, BONNIE GRAHAM, ethical fashion coordinator at Baptist World Aid Australia, calls for your help in ending forced labour in the cotton industry…
Climate action in fashion, as big clothing brands back Bangladesh recycling scheme

Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation Major fashion brands, including H&M, M&S and C&A, are getting behind an initiative in Bangladesh that aims to use more recycled materials in clothing production and significantly cut planet-heating emissions from manufacturing by 2030. The Circular Fashion Partnership, announced this week, brings together more than 30 international brands, Bangladeshi recycling […]
Will Cambodia’s garment sector rebound after ‘horror year’?

Kandal Province, Cambodia Thomson Reuters Foundation Lon Vanna has been working around the clock for months but she doesn’t sew clothes anymore – she guards the machines in the abandoned garment factory in Cambodia where she once worked. Vanna believes the sewing machines are her only hope for saving her home and land, which she […]
EU €113 million in COVID-19 aid for Bangladeshi garment workers

Dhaka, Bangladesh Thomson Reuters Foundation EU countries will contribute more €100 million to a Bangladeshi welfare program to aid thousands of garment workers hit by job losses and pay cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Thursday. The EU is the biggest market for clothing made in Bangladesh, which saw billions of dollars in […]