Syrian refugees expolited in Turkey making fashion clothes for the west.

syrian kids

Would this stop you buying brands like Zara? (this is about British companies but the same exists for French companies)

That's a sad news. I'm shocked however, unfortunately, I'm not really astonished... We all know that fast fashion companies such as Zara, Primark, Asos, Mango... produce their clothes in poor working conditions. Actually, with the production of our clothes now being done so far away, like the Fashion Palace in Dhaka city, Bangladesh, or in Syria, we’ve forgotten the human price for such cheap clothing. And this is a real issue, since even if we are aware about these working conditions problems, we won't stop buying fast fashion brands because of the cheap clothes. So, to resolve this issue, factories should produce in good working conditions and consumers should agree to pay a fair product with a higher price. But we still have a long way to go !

I think the only way that happens is if people make an ethical stand and stop buying these brands.

Yes I agree with you, but the question is : Where are we going to buy our clothes ? For example, as students we look for clothes with affordable prices, and only fast fashion companies do it. Moreover, even some more prestigeous brands such as Nike, the Kooples, Topman... produce their products in foreign countries, where we aren't able to see what happens in their factories. I think we need some transparency about the working conditions, manufacturers should put on their tags if the item production respects good human working conditions.

Second hand shops.

Cool, cheap and "green".

What a good answer ! Moreover it's trendy to have vintage clothes. It could be THE solution.

I had not seen this news. There had been the same scandal with Nike footwear production. I find it unfortunate, but unfortunately we do not have many alternatives. As a student, I do not have money to buy organic clothing. If prices were lower I will buy. I think, in my scale, not to buy a lot of clothes and do not increase this consumer society already very present.

I have never bought anything from Zara, Primark, Asos, Mango, Nike, the Kooples, Topman.. However i totally agree with Maxime

MAXIME S wrote:I think we need some transparency about the working conditions, manufacturers should put on their tags if the item production respects good human working conditions.

However i don't think people will ever

Admin wrote:make an ethical stand and stop buying these brands.

. I think some buyers do not really care about the people who have worked hard to make the clothes and shoes they are going to wear. Only two things are important for those people: quality and price.  Nowadays people do their best to spend less money, i mean " they do not buy less stuff". They buy even more and more stuff, spending less and less money AND THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY FOR THAT! So companies are using a foreign labor force to offer cheaper products to people and to obtain more revenue (China, Taiwan, Syria). Through time a lot of companies have been accused of exploiting their labour force, we know that this exists and that some individuals are suffering from it every day, but that's it ! I personally think that in some ways every company exploits its employees. People just do not want to know where their clothes come from: "the less people know, the better " I know what i have just said sound a bit pessimistic, but this is the way i see things...

I think you could be right. We don't want to know and then we don't have to fail to make the correct ethical choice.

It's absolutely unacceptable that children work in those conditions... It's not the first time that I heard that.  It's always the same brands who make working children in those conditions (Mango, Zara, Asos...). Those brands try to reduce the price of clothes, so they "hire" children because they cost less money. I do not think this problem is going to stop because these brands are very popular in Europe or elsewhere ...

I join the opinion of everyone, but unfortunately the only way to stoper this practice is to trivialize buying these brands .. Or that sanctions against companies that fall is heavy. As said Elise or maxim we are in a society where unfortunately we want everything cheap, and one way for companies to lower their prices is to reduce personal costs. Large companies have no scruples.

I think that every person must to work in same conditions and human conditions and we can change this type of exploitation with important sanctions or with a decrease of number of consumer. But I don't think that actions will be really efective because for this campanies, the low coast of production is a big advantage.

Yes, I agree with you Ekrem. We have to organize sanctions because nobodody must work in those conditions... I also think that sanctions won't be effective because those companies are so big. They have a lot of money and maybe it's not a problem for them to pay fines.

If nobody buys fast fashion clothes, what will happen? The fast fashion companies will make less money, or even go bankrupt. And these poor persons will get less income or even out of work. Therefore, they have to find another way to make a live, in other words, to find another factory to be exploited. So, stopping buying fast fashion clothes isn't a good solution.

MU Jiejie wrote:If nobody buys fast fashion clothes, what will happen?  The fast fashion companies will make less money, or even  go bankrupt. And these poor persons will get less income or even out of work. Therefore, they have to find another way to make a live, in other words, to find another factory to be exploited.  So, stopping buying fast fashion clothes isn't a good solution.

So why don't we employ children and refugees at a euro a day to work in factories in France then? That would considerably improve France's competitivity.

The state (by laws) have to force brands to visit each year their factories and complete and submit a form or reference plants. There are many cases of this type, it's not new. Recently there was another scandal with zara which Indian children were printing their clothes (labor is not expensive at all), moreover they were handling chemicals without protection. The same for apple, a substandard building collapsed killing hundreds of workers.

Morais.Cécilia wrote:The state (by laws) have to force brands to visit each year their factories and complete and submit a form or reference plants. There are many cases of this type, it's not new. Recently there was another scandal with zara which Indian children were printing their clothes (labor is not expensive at all), moreover they were handling chemicals without protection. The same for apple, a substandard building collapsed killing hundreds of workers.

and yet this generation adores Apple products and would almost (maybe that should be literally) kill to have them

In my opinion, the ethical standards can not overcome the company's desire for profitability and the customer's pursuance of inexpensive products. The only way that we can prohibit the abuse of labor is introducing relevant policy,laws and regulations to severely punish those unqualified factories.But i think that we can‘t deny the creativity and the value of these brands because of their abuse of the labor force. "Stop to buy it" isn't a good solution.

This week, I saw an scandal article about Zara.
"Manhattan woman sues Zara after finding dead rat sewn into dress"

For the moment, Zara did not reply about it.
But this article questionned me about my purchasses in this companies..
And unfortunately, I agree with Maxime. If I stop buying clothes in this companies, How will I get dressed ?
In small towns, there are no second hand shops.. The only solution is to make your own clothes.

Yvanilde Panont wrote:
And unfortunately, I agree with Maxime. If I stop buying clothes in this companies, How will I get dressed ?
In small towns, there are no second hand shops.. T

M1 classes could become interesting.

Ahahaha John! You peeping Tom (i found that word funny in a dictionnary but idon't know if it really exists aha)
I'm shocked by what you said Yvanilde! Zara is a famous company so it's a shame things like that could happened! I can understand the fact they want to make profits and then stay flourishing because it is one of the leaders in the pretàporter market but wow. That's scary. I'm also mad and sad because i wanted to work for this company as a product manager...