The global apparel supply chain that powers the multibillion-dollar university logo gear is both fascinating and complex. But consumers may not think about how overseas garment workers are treated when they purchase a new T-shirt with their alma mater’s logo on it.
Lee interviewed a Honduras worker struggling with poverty-level wages, former child workers now fighting for better pay and treatment in Bangladesh and other experts and advocates to give us an insight into present-day conditions.1.
2. Poverty wages aren’t a new problem – but COVID and inflation have made them worse.At the onset of the pandemic in spring 2020, brands canceled orders en masse, backing out on about $40 billion in orders. Workers ultimately paid the price of those actions, said Jason Judd, executive director of Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.In Bangladesh, garment workers earning a minimum monthly wage of 8,000 Bangladeshi Taka – or $72.
They’ve made their apparel licensees adhere to manufacturing codes of conduct that forbid things like child labor, unpaid overtime, harassment and more. Some have required that their licensees uphold specific building safety standards in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. 4. Brands and retailers are part of the issue, universities say.The intense market pressures of the global apparel industry have squeezed workers for decades, since overseas apparel production started ramping up in the 1980s and 1990s as brands left the U.S. in search of lower labor costs and higher profit margins. Instead of running their own factories, brands have increasingly outsourced production to outside suppliers.
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