Employing current technologies would allow consumers to have "supply chain" information in real time at the purchase location

1. Using
Disruptive Technology
to REFORM
the Garment Industry
Julie Horwat
Danielle Masursky
Vanessa Harrington

2. Bangladesh

3. Bangladesh
• Created by British partition of India in 1947
• Formerly called East Pakistan
• War for independence in 1971
• Transitioned to democracy in 1991
• Unitary parliamentary republic
• Emerging economy
• Current population: 156 million

4. Bangladesh Garment Industry
• Estimated as many as 5,000 factories
• Employs an
estimated
15 million
workers in
factories and
related jobs

5. Bangladesh Garment Industry
• Fulfils a crucial role in
economy:
• Accounts for approx
76% of the country's
total exports
• Represents 10.5% of
the country's GDP
• Contributes 40% of its
manufacturing output
- M2 Presswire [Coventry], 2009

6. Bangladesh Garment Industry
• Has supplanted China as
preferred location for
textile plants, has the
lowest wages
• Helps keep clothing cheap
in the developed world
• Has boosted the fortunes
of chains including Wal-
Mart in the US, H&M and
Zara in Europe
- Washington Post, 2013

7. Bangladesh Wages
The minimum wage in the Bangladesh garment
industry is equal to about $38 a month

8. Bangladesh Wages
• Most are unskilled; jobs in clothing factories
are their only opportunity to escape poverty
• Workers can barely afford shelter, running
water, food for family, medical services
• People are hard-working – typically 12 hours a
day, 6-7 days a week
• Little prospect of improving their living
conditions

9. Bangladesh Garment Workers
• Industry anchors the
economy and sustains
millions of families
• However, has lead to
development
of massive slums, such
as Moakhali, where
50,000 garment factory
workers live in squalor

10. Global Race to the Bottom
Staff member, U.S. House Education and the
Workforce Committee:
• “The fashion industry has designed a system that allows
companies to easily move from country to country, from
continent to continent, whenever there is an opportunity
to cut costs."
• "Factories in the supply chain are pressured by this global
race to the bottom, and, to remain competitive, far too
often compromise basic labor rights by abiding poor health
and safety conditions, engaging in wage theft, and in
violent repression of unions.”
- US News & World Report, 2014

11. Citizen Protest
Despite protests by tens of thousands of citizens, gov’t
refused to raise minimum wage

12. Government Response
• Widespread gov’t corruption
• Suppressed protestors with rubber bullets and
tear gas

13. The Dilemma
Gov’t knows that if it raises wages, garment
industry will move to another country
This would
cause
economic
disaster

14. Corporate Responsibility
Retailers and apparel
companies
can make a difference,
and they will, if pressured
by consumers
“As long as we keep paying companies to be
unsustainable and unethical, they will be,“ says
Bruno Pieters, founder of Honest By fashion website
- NY Times, 2013

15. Trend Towards Consumer Activism
Socially
Responsible
Investing
Shareholder
Advocacy
Fair Trade
Movement

16. Corporate Responsibility
Consumers are increasing supporting companies
with ethical supply chains:
Fair Indigo, a fair trade only retailer, saw 35% rise in
revenue immediately after the 2013 factory collapse
in Bangladesh that killed over 1000 people.
-Business Insider, 2013

17. Corporate Responsibility
Knights Apparel produces
ethically made sports logo
apparel for universities
A response to pressure
from student activists!
(Recently purchased by Hanes)

18. Corporate Responsibility
• Alta Gracia was founded
in 2010 as a division of KA
• The only apparel
company in the
developing world that is
independently certified as
paying a living wage,
defined as the income
necessary for a worker to
meet all of their family’s
basic needs
• Manufactures collegiate
branded clothing in the
Dominican Republic

19. Transparency
“Transparency means that you disclose where
your products are being produced in a way that
lets independent third parties look into the
conditions of those factories, whether the
claims you're making are accurate or not,” says
Ben Hensler, general counsel to the Worker
Rights Consortium
- US News & World Report, 2014

20. Transparency
The idea of an industry policing itself and
offering consumers an educated choice is nothing new
Motion Picture Association
of America
• 1968 the MPAA begins its
movie rating system
• 3 party oversight by the
Nat’l Ass’n Theatre Owners,
MPAA, Int’l Ass’n Film
Importers & Distributors
Cosmetics Industry
• 1996 Coalition for
Consumer Information on
Cosmetics began assigning
the Leaping Bunny logo to
cruelty-free cosmetics
brands

21. Food Industry Solutions
• As a result of pressure from consumers, food
producers and retailers are embracing
transparency - offering information to
consumers about where food originates

22. Whole Foods Market
Produce Ratings
• Responsibly Grown
– Pesticides
– GMO’s
– Bee & Butterfly
– Farmworker Health & Safety
Meat & Seafood Standards
• Animal Welfare and Meat
Quality
– Antibiotics & Hormones
– Quality of Life

23. Chipotle
• Has positioned itself as
a leader in
“sustainable” food
sourcing
• Marketing strategy
since 2001 touts “food
with integrity”
• It’s stock has been
trending upwards for a
decade while other fast
food chains struggle

24. Garment Industry Solutions
Many NPOs are developing standards for
sustainable and fair industry practices
Follow the models from
other industries, especially
food “supply chain” transparency,
to present information to consumers

25. Solution: Consumer Empowerment
Information would be present without the
consumer needing to do their own research
Shopper in an interview said that if someone
told him his jeans were made in a sweatshop by
8-year olds, he wouldn't buy it, but how is he
supposed to take the time to trace where his
pants were made?

26. Fair Working Conditions
• Quality auditing organization
• Measure and formally accredit best
employment practices worldwide
• Established in 2006
• Over 2000 site audits conducted

27. FWC Standards
• Earnings/Overtime
• Working Hours
• Under Age Workers
• Occupational Health & Safety
• Discrimination, Forced Labor, Discipline
• Collective bargaining

28. Earnings & Overtime
• Wages paid for a
standard work week
must meet the legal and
industry standards
• Wages must be
sufficient to meet the
basic need of workers
and their families
• No disciplinary
deductions

29. Working Hours
• Comply with the applicable
law
• No more than 48 hours per
week
• At least 1 day off for every 7
day period
• Overtime paid at a premium
rate and not to exceed 12
hours per week
• Overtime may be
mandatory if part of a
collective bargaining
agreement

30. Underage Workers
• No workers under the
age of 15
• Lowered to 14 for
countries operating
under the ILO
Convention 138
Developing-Country
Exception
• Remediation of any
child found to be
working

31. Discrimination, Discipline,
Forced Labor
• No discrimination based on
race, caste, origin, religion,
disability, gender, sexual
orientation, union or political
affiliation, or age
• No forced labor, including
prison or debt bondage labor
• No lodging of deposits or
identity papers by employers
or outside recruiters
• No corporal punishment,
mental or physical coercion or
verbal abuse

32. Occupational Health & Safety
• Provide a safe and
healthy work
environment
• Take steps to prevent
injuries
• Regular health and safety
worker training
• System to detect threats
to health and safety
• Access to bathrooms and
potable water

33. Collective Bargaining
• Respect the right to
form and join trade
unions and bargain
collectively
• Wlaw prohibits these
freedoms, facilitate
parallel means of
association and
bargaining

34. • Founded by a group of leaders from global
apparel and footwear companies
• Recognize that addressing the industry’s
current challenges are both a business
imperative and an opportunity
• Seek to lead the industry toward a shared
vision of sustainability

35. The Higg Index 2.0
• Developed for apparel and footwear products to
assess both environmental and social/labor
performance
• Spans the apparel life cycle - materials,
manufacturing, packaging, transportation, use,
and end-of-life
• Helps organizations standardize how they
measure and evaluate environmental
performance across the supply chain at the
brand, product, and facility levels

36. The Higg Index 2.0

37. Technology-Based Solution
Aggregate existing audit systems and metrics
– Fair Working Conditions Standards
– Higg Index criteria used to evaluate
– Fair Trade Certification
Empower consumers to
make sustainable choices

38. Technology: QR Code
App-based access to “life cycle” information
about intended purchase: consumer scans
code and life cycle information is displayed

39. Technology: Bar Code Scanner
Price check-style
scanners located in
stores: consumer
takes product to
scanner and scanner
displays life cycle
information

40. Technology: Google Glass
Google Glass or similar technology displays
life cycle information about purchase

41. Technology: Corning Glass
Interactive glass
screens adjacent to
product would
display life cycle
information

42. Technology: Websites
The same life cycle
information about
shoes and clothing
would be available
on retail websites

43. SUMMARY
By helping consumers vote
with their dollars:
– Pressure
corporations to
provide a living
wage
– Ease poverty
conditions in
Bangladesh
– Improve working
environments

44. CONCLUSION
“There is much to be done at all steps of the
fashion supply chain. If end consumers like us can
gain a better understanding of our T-shirt’s
production cycle—the sustainability of its fabric and
the working conditions of its farmers and sewers—
we can put pressure on these corporations to help
us make a more informed and conscious decision
about our clothes. The more transparent the entire
production process becomes, the more claims to
ethical and sustainable practices will become
sought after attributes of the printed T-shirt we see
on the shelves.” (de Jesus & Kay, 2012)

46. REFERENCES
Clifford, S. “Some Retailers Say More about Their Clothing Origins.” The New York Times
9 May 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/business/global/fair-trade-
movement-extends-to-clothing.html
Fritsch, P. "Bangladesh Stares into the Abyss." Far Eastern Economic Review 166.47 (2003): 46-
9. Retrieved from: http://www.readabstracts.com/Business-international/Bangladesh-stares-into-the-
Abyss-Indias-creeping-caste-entitlements.html
Greenhouse, S. “An Apparel Factory Defies Sweatshop Label, but Can It Thrive?” The New York Times,
18 July 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/business/global/18shirt.html
D’Innocenzio, A. “It’s Incredibly Difficult to Prove That Clothing Is ‘Ethically Made’” Business Insider.
Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/hard-to-find-ethically-made-clothing-2013-5
De Jesus, J. & Kay, T.. “Ethical Style: How Is My T-Shirt Made?” GOOD, 9 Feb. 2012. Retrieved from:
http://magazine.good.is/articles/ethical-style-how-is-my-t-shirt-made
Landauro, V. “Teens in Sweatshops.” Junior Scholastic 106.8 (2003): 8. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/202831510?accountid=14214
“Prospects for the Textile and Garment Industry in Bangladesh.” M2 Presswire [Coventry] 27 Apr
2009. Retrieved from:
https://www.textilesintelligence.com/tistoi/?pageid=3&repid=TISTOI&issueid=135&artid=1414

47. REFERENCES
Schneider, H . “Changes to Bangladesh garment industry grind ahead, but slowly.” Washington Post 26
Nov2013. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/changes-to-bangladesh-
garment-industry-grind-ahead-but-slowly/2013/11/26/088e66a2-56d9-11e3-ba82-16ed03681809_story.html
Sneed, T. “Why Cleaning Up the Fashion Industry Is So Messy” US News & World Report. 16 Jul 2014.
Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/16/efforts-to-clean-up-fast-fashion-supply-
chains-face-a-tough-road
Clifford, S. “Some Retailers Say More About Their Clothing’s Origins” NY Times. 8 May 2013. Retrieved from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/business/global/fair-trade-movement-extends-to-clothing.html
Johnson, L. (2013). Walmart app users spend 40pc more than average shopper. Retrieved from:
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/walmart-app-users-spend-40-percent-more-than-average-
shopper
Motion Picture Association of America. (2015). Film ratings. Retrieved from: http://www.mpaa.org/film-
ratings/
Whole Foods, I. (2015). How our rating system works. Retrieved from
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/responsibly-grown/produce-rating-system

48. REFERENCES
Pantsios, A. “Chipotle Proves Sustainable Food Sourcing Is Profitable” Ecowatch . 6 Feb 2015.
Retrieved from: http://ecowatch.com/2015/02/06/chipotle-proves-sustainable-food-sourcing-is-
profitable/
Leaping Bunny. (2014). About us. Retrieved from: http://www.leapingbunny.org/about.php
Alta Garcia. About us. Retrieved from: http://www.altagraciaapparel.com/about.html
Knights Apparel 2.0. What we do. Retrieved from: http://www.knightsapparel.com/