#WHOMADEYOURCLOTHES baiga

It all goes back to the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century.

For the first time, each and every product could be mass-produced by large machines, with the help of laborers who, due to financial difficulties, hunger and despair, would accept any kind of job to survive. That is, greater efficiency, greater quantity produced and at a lower cost, obtaining guaranteed profit.

The actual modern capitalism begins. The GDP rises, the rich get more powerful and take advantage of the poor to achieve their ambitions. Factories and industries grew and proliferated and had them children, men and women working for them, some up to more than 16 hours a day, round the clock. With the evolution of the times, trade unions have been created in the most liberal countries (and with them, workers’ advocacy movements, for the unprotected class) against factory owners.

Centuries have passed and mindsets have evolved. The human being, with all its differences, has become more protected, in the sense that there has been a great development in favor of equality among genders, ages, race, religion, sexuality and many other distinctive traits.

The industry has progressively eradicated excessive work hours, the use of child labour and very low wages. Unfortunately, this still a reality only for Western and more liberal countries .

Countries like Indonesia, India, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh, among many others, have never left this era. Ignorant and desperate, thousands of people still suffer from ill-treatment, poor hygiene, low wages, hard and unpaid work, just to be able to eat and / or feed their families.

Don’t these countries speak to you? You ‘’carry them’’ with you every day. It’s all forgotten, ignored and scorned so that mass-production companies such as “ready-to-wear” may have clothing in stores at a low price.

It’s high time these mentalities changed and the facts that we’ve missed, hidden by the media, surfaced. Truth has shocked society and allowed minds to open up to reality, voices have been heard and movements, companies, foundations have taken the initiative to put an end to these injustices.

Many are the brands which hide (or try to hide) the scandals regarding the origin of their products, but several have already been discovered and disclosed. Many of these brands, which are recognized and followed worldwide, have their image and prestige (which are so important to their customers) questioned, forcing them to change all their marketing and communication strategies.

In Nike’s case, for example, all of its sporting goods result from the subcontracting of labor in Taiwan, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, only the design and marketing being carried out at its headquarters in the United States of America .

“The scandal of the discovery of the exploitation of child labor in the third world has disappointed the public opinion and the image that most people had of the brand, filled the newspapers’ and magazines’ pages, accusing them of hypocrisy,” states the article in the newspaper Público, which tells the story of Nike.

H&M and Next have admitted to having found that child labor (refugee children from Syria) was used for the production of their articles from one of their suppliers in Turkey.

One of the most striking moments in the history of factory work exploitation was the case of Rana Plaza, on April 24, 2013. This building in Bangladesh collapsed and in it 1138 people died and 2500 were injured, mostly women (according to the website ‘’Fashion Revolution’’). This event became emblematic and the reason for the creation of several foundations, having been considered the 4th biggest disaster in production industry. Why? Because this building produced for well-known brands and companies such as Primark and Benetton. The quality of the building and the security systems were minimal or nonexistent, which led to it collapsing.

“In the absence of basic standards of health and safety at work, these workers have become victims of systematic violations of human rights, suffering, while others get rich, to make fashionable clothes for faceless consumers,” reports a source for Open Democracy.

©THE New York TIMES

Since that day, and in honor of the victims, Fashion Revolution, a non-profit company created in 2013, fightss for a future with greater transparency from the companies in the fashion world. It exists in more than 100 countries around the world and asks everyone to question where their clothes come from, so that we do not let the lives of those people be forgotten, but become the reason for a change instead.

Fashion Revolution aims to change the world, exposing the scandalous facts and poor conditions under which people create clothes for these brands. These poor conditions translate into workers not having the basics, working in unfavorable and unthinkable environments and, moreover, being abused, both physically and verbally. These large companies are only focused on making profit at all costs without being aware of the damage they cause.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center has been a pillar throughout this war. It is represented in 18 countries, such as Australia, Brazil, China and Colombia. It aims to make a difference in the lives of people who have been victims and those who are most vulnerable to abuse. It seeks to support and strengthen movements for human rights without being associated with governments, religions, politicians or any economical interest. The Business & Human Rights Resource Center proposes to represent both the business and the victim sides in discussions with the goal of reaching an agreement. It brings to the attention of society cases that go unnoticed, and forgotten victims, releasing and spreading this precious information to the whole world.

We live in a world where consumers are driven by their trust in brands, notably North American (59%), Japanese (60%), British (57%) and German (54%). This new type of consumer believes that brands are a powerful force for social change, even more so than governments.

“The study also found that consumers have the same probability of expressing purchase intent after seeing a value-based communication (43%) as after a product-focused message (44%),” says a report from Grande Consumo magazine.

It is important that, given these realities, companies are always on good terms with their consumers and that they are consistent and transparent about their values and how they want to come off as. We, as consumers, must question and wonder what happens “behind” everything we buy. We live in a world where we have all kinds of information as close as a click and we cannot ignore reality, because we all have the power to make a difference.