Thursday, May 30, 2013

Many clothing retail companies have began to introduce new green factories in order to be more more environmentally friendly.
M&S as an example openend one in central Sri Lanka in 2008.
It includes :

Energy saving devices e.g. solar panels
Waste reduction processes
Healthy working environment

It is made with mainly eco bricks and uses 40% less electricity and saves up to 50% of water a normal garment factory would use. It also provides a holistic medical centre for all 1300 of its workers.

This is all part of M&S PLAN A initiative.

http://plana.marksandspencer.com/

This is something i believe everyone should aim to do in the near future no matter the expense.

Rana Plaza Bangladesh

This is considered the deadliest garment factory incident in history with the death figure at 1,127 with approximately 2,500 injured.

There were 5 garment factories operating inside. Its backlash was immense with mass protests in the streets asking for much safer working conditions and the death penalty for the owner. The Pope referred to it as a catastrophe and said it was 'slave labour' as many of the people who died inside were on a wage of 38 euros a month!
It had massive implications on the brand Primark who have to pay massive compensation for the incident as well as take huge amount of negative publicity. Another impact on the fashion industry is that all retailers are now being urged to sign up to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety agreement as mass speculation over the structure of the building is now being investigated thoroughly as extra floors were added without any building permission or regulations.

THIS INCIDENT HAS INCREASED PUBLIC AWARENESS TO THE TREATMENT OF WORKERS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY.

But this should never of happened if more interest was taken before hand!

Bamboo

Bamboo is a textile that has recently been used due to many reasons. It is easily blended with other types of fabrics such as cotton, hemp and even spandex to produces garments such as swimwear.
It is:

Fast Growing
Grown in diverse climates
Re-harvested with no damage to the environment
Grows quickly/densely
Minimises Co2
Produces 35% more oxygen than normal trees
Slows deforestation
Biodegradable
No pesticides needed
Barely uses water

Although it may seem like the perfect sustainable fabric. There is one small criticism and that is it offer no uv protection and this can be seen as a hinderance when sold as a clothing garment.

But still i believe bamboo to possibly be the MOST SUSTAINABLE FABRIC IN THE WORLD.

Hemp

'Hemp is one of the most environmentally friendly and versatile natural textile plants on Earth - and one of the first textile plants in history.'
I believe it to be one of the best fabrics within the textile industry although its not widely used.

No Pesticides/Herbicides

Incredibly tough

Uses very little water

'UV protective and anti-bacterial and produces 250% more fibre yield per acre than cotton'

This is a fabric for the future and is something that should be looked into by all clothing retail providers.

Recyclable Polyester

Polyester is made when petrol is refined and turned into man-made fibres.
Recyclable polyester to an extent is ethical. This is because it turns recycled plastic into fabric instead of all those empty bottles and containers going into landfill for the future generations to deal with.
By using recycled polyester we use less energy in the production of the fibre.

There has been incidents when people have built homes on old landfill sites and died because of it. This is due to increased methane in the air which could cause the house to blow up at any time.

Water

Water is massively overused within the textile industry due to the massive amount of wastage with cotton farming using the most water out of any fabric.
Approximately 10,000 litres of water is used in the production of only ONE pair of denim jeans. In China polluted water causes 75% of diseases from which over 100,000 die annually.
But the textile industry isn't the only place to focus the blame. Us as consumers can play our part through the amount of washing we do especially at high temperatures. Drying also is a massive contributor.

Pesticides

Nearly $2.6bn worth of pesticides are sprayed on cotton fields each year.

Effects.

Birth Defects
20,000-40,000 deaths annually
Childhood Brain Cancers
Autism
ADHD
Kills Animals

This raises numerous questions. Why spend £2.6bn a year and kill/affect so many people? Why isn't it banned? Why doesn't this get into the media but the X Factor does?

Personally i believe those figures and facts to be shocking but yet i still do buy clothes from retailers that definitely support the use of pesticides.

How do we prevent these things from happening? Is there an alternative solution?

FACTS

In the US the textile industry is the 5th largest contributor to Co2 emissions.
In the developing world (Asia, Turkey), countries are more dependant on the textile industry and therefore is even bigger.
Todays textile industry is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases on earth due to the size and scope of the industry as well as the processes of & products that go into manufacturing.
Estimated annual global textile production of fabric is 60bn KG.
Annual Wastage is approximately 1074bn KWh of electricity and 6.9 trillion litres of water.
The fashion industry is an international business with the production of a single garment often involving at least 3 different countries.

Problems of a Third World Textile Factory Worker

It may not be the case in all third world textile factories but for the majority of the workers there are many problems that they face on a daily basis. The majority of textile manufacturers are women and unlike many MEDC's women play a different role in society and it is fair to say they are not treated as equals, with many of the factory owners being greedy, egotistic 'slave drivers'.

Some of the problems a factory worker may face :

Long Hours - No Breaks
Rape
Harassment
Unsafe e.g. 2013 Savar Building Collapse
Child Labour
Hygiene
No employment contract
No unions etc.

There is a massive difference between the terms minimum wage and living wage. Minimum wage is the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement as living wage is whats enough to cover basic need of that individual and their family. THEREFORE the obvious problem is that the minimum wage implied by certain countries is not enough to cover a basic living wage!

Approximate Price Breakdown for Jeans

VAT 17.5%
RETAILER 50%
BRAND NAME 25%
TRANSPORT/TAXES/DUTY 11%
PRODUCTION 13%
WORKERS 1%

This shows us that although the world is supposedly becoming a fairer placed based on equality. It is definitely not when you look at the above statistics. This is an example of EXPLOITATION that takes place all the time. IT NEEDS TO STOP! Retailers take advantage of this in order to maximise their profits and with the help of the media and the people this could all CHANGE.

Asia Floor Wage Alliance

This is a group that was set up in order to increase the wages for the workers in the textile industry within Asia. It may come to shock you that workers in Asia are paid the least in comparison to else where although most garments are manufactured in countries such as Bangladesh, India and China. The organisation was set up to fight poverty, develop economically with decent labour standards and improve the lives of workers who are mostly women.

Minimum Wage for the Garment and Shoe Industry in Cambodia

Minimum Wage for the period October 1, 2010 to 2014
Sr No	Categories	Monthly Minimum Wage (In USD)	Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) (In USD)	Total Minimum Wage per Month (In USD)	Exchange Rate	Total Minimum Wage per Month (in Riel)


1	Apprentice			30	4200	126000
2	Probationary	50	6	56	4200	235200
3	Regular	55	6	61	4200	256200

Fairtrade

'The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards.'
The organisation was set up in 1992 in order to create justice and sustainable development at the heart of trade structures and practices.Its main aim is to help the poor and disadvantaged in third world countries when it comes to both food and textiles along with other areas of industry. 'Fairtrade contributes to sustainable development for marginalised producers, workers and their communities'.

ISSUES

Working Conditions
Exploitation
Fairtrade
Sustainable Production
Enviroment
Animal Welfare

Sustainable Fabrics

Sustainable fabrics are those that have a much lesser affect on the environment. Therefore manufacturing processes that minimize the use of water, dyes, chemicals, energy and waste. Sustainability is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to come. It has become something that is of high importance nowadays and this is shown by Baroness Young mentioning it in the House of Lords very recently. It is a subject that i also feel strongly about and I believe that it is something that many people don't notice. Therefore it is good that it is finally being analysed at a political level and we can only hope that through this more and more media attention will be focused around the problems with ethical and sustainable fabrics.

Ethical Manufacturing

Ethical Manufacturing is when there is a clean and safe working environment for all employees who are paid the actual minimum wage and who aren't forced into working extremely long hours due to the threat of losing their jobs. There have been numerous instances when employees have been overworked and therefore their health has been put at risk. Nowadays its something that a lot of major retail companies take seriously as it is part of a persons human rights to be looked after by their employer as well as the fact that large companies dont want to be affected by bad media as it can have an affect on the companies reputation as well as their sales.

Ethics & Sustainability