Written by Deimantė Radišauskaitė
Human rights violations. No formal work contracts. Under-paid wages. Toxic working conditions. These are just a few of the many problems people face while working in the garment industry. And although a lot of organizations have tried to tackle these problems, they still exist. But at least we made some progress. And one of the biggest contributors to a better future is the Clean Clothes Campaign.
The Clean Clothes Campaign is a global alliance dedicated to protecting and improving the working conditions for garment workers in factories worldwide. Step by step, this global network has made some huge initiatives that helped to change the face of the garment industry to a better light. Here are some of the 4 best practices and initiatives made by CCC.
#PayYourWorkers campaign
Millions of global garment supply chain workers haven’t been paid their total wages or have lost their jobs without adequate financial compensation during and since the pandemic. And so, this campaign has been created to urge brands to end wage theft for garment workers in the global supply chain. And it’s actually been successful! Victoria’s Secret has provided $8.3 million owed in severance to Thai workers who sewed their lingerie. Indian supplier to UK fashion brands agreed to pay £3m in unpaid wages. What an achievement!
The Good Clothes, Fair Pay campaign
This year a new campaign has launched intending to collect one million signatures from European citizens to support the European Citizens Initiative (ECI), which calls for concrete measures to ensure workers in the garment industry are paid a living wage. The campaign is expected to run for one year. If successful, the proposal discussion is waiting with the European Commission!
The #PayUp campaign
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, brands and retailers started to cancel their orders to secure their cash flows. The total value of cancelled orders is estimated to be $40 billion. But the #PayUp campaign helped recoup around $22 billion in cancelled orders. It helped ensure garment factories could continue to operate and preserved hundreds of millions of dollars in worker wages.
#GoTransparent
This campaign has launched a minimum global transparency standard to convince fashion brands to publicise their production locations. Many brands responded to it, including Adidas, ASOS, H&M, Lacoste, Lindex, Nike, and others. It is a great initiative for consumers to know where their clothes are made and who made them; it is a vital step in improving working conditions.
In short, these 4 initiatives are just a few of which the Clean Clothes Campaign has done for a better garment industry! These outstanding campaigns prove that change can be done if the right actions are taken. Indeed, there is still a long way to go until the problems that garment workers face are entirely solved. But steps were taken. And we are on the right path!
For more information:
Website: Clean Clothes Campaign_WEB
Instagram: Clean Clothes Campaign_Insta
Facebook: Clean Clothes Campaign_Facebook