- Record: found
- Abstract: found
- Article: found
Can fashion ever be fair?
Abstract
The recent global economic crisis has highlighted the vulnerability of millions of women in apparel supply chains worldwide. Despite decades of activism and a plethora of corporate social responsibility and ethical labelling initiatives, there has been little evidence of progress toward greater equity in the fashion sector. Why can’t we make fashion more fair? This article explains historically rooted causes of inequity for Black and Brown women in apparel supply chains and details the rise of Fair Trade initiatives intended to use market forces to improve existing practices and support alternatives. Attempts to use consumerism and market forces to drive social change raised deep questions for social movement actors regarding first principles. Notwithstanding years of effort, Fair Trade apparel has failed to achieve any significant market penetration. Yet the sector as a whole is experiencing overlapping shocks of digitisation, climate change and pandemic-exacerbated disruptions to supply chains. Social movement actors are also targeting the sector with new demands for social and economic justice. This may provide opportunities to redesign our thinking around Fair Trade and what constitutes fairness in fashion.
Content
Author and article information
References
AFL-CIO. (2013). Responsibility Outsourced: Social Audits, Workplace Certification and Twenty Years of Failure to Protect Worker Rights. Washington, DC: AFL-CIO, April.
S. Amin (1974). Accumulation on a world scale: A critique of the theory of underdevelopment. New York: Monthly Review Press.
A. H. Amsden (1989). Asia’s next giant: South Korea and late industrialization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
G. Anderson (2021). Amazon is America’s biggest clothing retailer and there is no close second. Retail Wire, 18 March 2021 (accessed at https://www.retailwire.com/discussion/amazon-is-americas-biggest-clothing-retailer-and-theres-no-close-second/).
B. Athreya & B. Campbell (2014). No access to justice: The failure of ethical labeling and certification systems for worker rights. In J. Bair, M.A. Dickson & D. Miller (Eds.), Workers’ rights and labor compliance in global supply chains (pp. 226–244). New York: Routledge.
J. Bair, M.A. Dickson & D. Miller (2014). Workers’ rights and labor compliance in global supply chains. New York: Routledge.
S. Beckert (2014). Empire of cotton: A global history. New York: Vintage Books.
A. Canning (2020). What’s fair? A new guide to fair trade labels. Fair World Project 9 September (accessed at https://fairworldproject.org/a-new-guide-to-fair-trade-labels/).
E. Chenowith (2021). Civil resistance: What everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford University Press.
X. Cirera & R.W.D. Lakshman (2017). The impact of export processing zones on employment, wages and labour conditions in developing countries: Systematic review. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 9(3), 344–360. (doi: [Cross Ref])
L. Compa & D.M. Trubek (2005). Trade law, labor and global inequality. SSRN Electronic Journal. (DOI: [Cross Ref])
I. Copestake (2020). Four founders on why sustainable fashion must include racial equality. Vogue, 20 August (accessed at https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/four-founders-on-why-sustainable-fashion-must-include-racial-equality).
M. Dalla Costa & S. James (1975) Women and the subversion of the community. Bristol: Falling Wall Press, 1975.
J. DeAcetis (2017). How Indochino developed a successful model online and at retail. Forbes, 10 July (accessed at https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephdeacetis/2017/07/10/how-indochino-developed-a-successful-model-online-and-at-retail/?sh=7f32c03a3086).
E. Dirnbach (2014). Truth in labeling: Toward a genuine, multistakeholder apparel social label. In J. Bair, M.A. Dickson & D. Miller (Eds.), Workers’ rights and labor compliance in global supply chains. New York: Routledge.
T. Dublin (1979). Women at work: The transformation of work and community in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1826–1860. New York: Columbia University Press.
Fairtrade Foundation. (2017). Sustainable cotton communique. 23 May (accessed at https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/media-centre/news/sustainable-cotton-communique/).
D. Frank (2005). Bananera: Women transforming the banana unions of Latin America. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
H. Franzese (2014). Providing direct economic benefit to workers through fair trade labeling of apparel: The Fair Trade USA Apparel and Linens Pilot Project. In J. Bair, M.A. Dickson & D. Miller (Eds.), Workers’ rights and labor compliance in global supply chains (pp. 282–301). New York: Routledge.
L. Graceffo (2021). Garment workers win historic victory in effort to transform fashion industry. Truthout, 20 March (accessed at https://truthout.org/articles/garment-workers-win-22-billion-in-historic-victory-against-wage-theft/).
W. Greider (1997). One world, ready or not: The manic logic of global capitalism. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Human Rights Watch. (2021). Break their lineage, break their roots: China’s crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. New York: Human Rights Watch, 19 April.
International Labor Rights Forum. (2010). Missed the goal for workers: The reality of soccer ball stitchers in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand. Washington, DC: International Labor Rights Forum, June.
International Trade Union Confederation. (2017). Just transition: A report for the OECD. Brussels: Just Transition Centre, ITUC, May.
D. Jaffee & P.H. Howard (2010). Corporate cooptation of organic and fair trade standards, Agriculture and Human Values, 27, 387–399 (DOI [Cross Ref])
Just Style Magazine . (2020). Issue 6, June (accessed at https://juststyle.nridigital.com/just-style_magazine_jun20/from_the_editor).
H. Kimeldorf, R. Meyer, M. Prasad & I. Robinson (2006). Consumers with a conscience: Will they pay more? Contexts, 5(1), 24–29.
J. Kisner (2021). The lockdown showed how the economy exploits women. She already knew. New York Times Magazine, 17 February (accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/magazine/waged-housework.html).
G. LeBaron & J. Lister (2016). Ethical audits and the supply chains of global corporations. SPERI Global Political Economy Brief No. 1, University of Sheffield, January.
R. Locke (2013). The promise and limits of private power: Promoting labor standards in a global economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
M. Micheletti (2003). Political virtue and shopping: Individuals, consumerism and collective action. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
M. Mookerjee (2019). Do we still need Fair Trade? Journal of Fair Trade, 1(2), 1–5.
J. Nash & M. P. Fernandez-Kelly (Eds.). (1983). Women, men and the international division of labor. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
D. Newman (2019). Stitchfix: A useful case study for retail’s digital transformation. Forbes, 9 September (accessed at https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2019/09/09/stitch-fix-a-useful-case-study-for-retails-digital-transformation/?sh=65bd314b7d4c).
B. Powell (2014). Out of poverty: Sweatshops in the global economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (doi:[Cross Ref])
M. Quigley & XC Opal. (2006). Fair trade garment standards: Feasibility study. Report prepared for Transfair USA, July (on file with author).
I. Robinson, R. Meyer & H. Kimeldorf (2014). The strength of weak commitments: Market contexts and ethical consumption. In J. Bair, M.A. Dickson & D. Miller (Eds.), Workers’ rights and labor compliance in global supply chains (pp. 207–225). New York: Routledge.
E. Rosen (2021). Fashion trends are often recycled. Now more clothing can be, too. New York Times, 29 March (accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/fashion/sustainability-clothes-environment-technology.html).
The Economist . (2013). Clothing firms in Bangladesh: Accord, alliance or disunity? 13 July (accessed at https://www.economist.com/business/2013/07/13/accord-alliance-or-disunity).
US Customs and Border Patrol. (2020). CBP issues detention order on cotton products made by Xinjiang construction corps using prison labor, US Customs and Border Patrol media advisory, Washington, DC, December (available at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-detention-order-cotton-products-made-xinjiang-production).
D. Von Drehle (2004). Triangle: The fire that changed America. New York: Grove Press.
Worker Rights Consortium. (2011). Report of Visit to Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills Pvt. Ltd. With Fair Trade USA Delegation on September 19, 2011. , Washington, DC: Worker Rights Consortium.
Worker Rights Consortium (2020). Hunger in the Supply Chain: Findings on Workers’ Access to Nutrition During COVID-19, Washington, DC: Worker Rights Consortium, November.
T. Wu (2016). The attention merchants: The epic scramble to get inside our heads. New York: Penguin Books.