Despite decades of undercover investigations into and analysis of the UK’s textile industry, and parliamentary reports on human rights abuses and sustainability, the latest evidence of factories in Leicester that may have been paying workers well below the minimum wage suggests that we are far from solving these injustices.
Today’s global networks for sourcing garments were established in the 1980s and 90s, when production was sent offshore to countries with lower labour costs, putting brands firmly into the driving seat and intensifying competition among suppliers. Brands can contract with hundreds of suppliers across different countries and have the flexibility to switch or abandon them very quickly.