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Cleaning the Closet: Toward a New Fashion Ethic

Success of clean clothes movement in Europe can be replicated

One of the most important social movements of the past decade has been the coalition of labour, student and religious activists opposing the exploitation of garment workers around the globe. The Gap, Nike, K-Mart and others have been exposed and embarrassed by their labour practices. Students have demanded that their college’s insignia clothing not be produced by sweated labour, and more than 90 institutions have complied.

Most American consumers now believe that the workers who make their clothing should be paid decently, and surveys indicate they are willing to pay somewhat more to achieve that goal. To date, however, the industry response has been inadequate. While some progress has been made, far more energy has gone into winning the PR battle than has been devoted to substantive reform. Companies remain opposed to free association in unions, which is the only true long term solution to abuse.

Nevertheless, the principle of what Europeans call “clean clothes” is making headway. In Europe, major clothing retailers have committed themselves to codes of conduct that ensure reasonable working conditions, free association, and other labour rights. For example, the British chain Marks and Spencer has joined the Ethical Trading Initiative, which is a government sponsored initiative bringing together NGOs, unions and businesses. Next, another British chain, works with Oxfam on ethical trading.

Indeed, the successes of the European clean clothes movement are worth looking at, particularly for extending beyond labour rights into environmental impacts. In 1996, the Dutch company C&A, instituted rigorous controls over its suppliers, monitoring more than 1,000 production units annually, to guarantee labour conditions and environmental impacts. It uses the Eco-Tex label for environmental certification, and many of its own brands sport it. Marks and Spencer has begun an organic cotton design project with the Royal College of Art. The German company Otto Versand, the largest mail-order business in the world, has perhaps gone farthest in terms of environmental sustainability. It has reduced paper use in its catalogs and packaging; its mail-order facility uses wind and solar power; and it is moving to incorporate sustainability throughout its product lines. Otto subsidises the production of organic cotton in Turkey and India, and last year offered 250,000 organic cotton products. The company has reduced the use of harmful chemicals in textiles, and has certified that 65 per cent of its clothing passes a strict “skin-test” for dangerous substances.

In the late 1990s, Otto worked with Century Textiles (India’s largest textile exporter), to phase out azo dyes. The company has also introduced its Future Collection, which is oriented to production ecology through conservation of energy and water resources. To encourage consumers to adopt a long term perspective, the company offers a three-year replacement guarantee for all their clothes.

To be sure, the shift to just and ecologically sustainable clothing is not simple. The price of organic clothing is currently high, putting it out of reach for many consumers. But activist pressure can help solve this problem, as the European successes are showing. And the US market is already increasing. Nike and the Gap have begun to use some organic cotton. If one or two major US companies commit to a substantial program of organic cotton use, demand will grow and prices will fall. And even a high-priced company such as Patagonia has made some accommodations for affordability - all its clothes carry a no-questions-asked indefinite replacement guarantee and the company operates a number of discount outlets. The successes of the European campaigns suggest that comparable progress is possible on this side of the has signed on to SA 8000, an international social and environmental standard. US manufacturers and retailers are sensitive to the need to maintain their public image. “If we can educate consumers and mobilise activists, we can “clean” the American closet. Doing so would be a substantial step toward a sustainable, but also fashionable planet,” say experts.

Source: Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the Twenty-first Century, a compilation of essays edited by Juliet B Schor and Betsy Taylor (Beacon Press, 2002)