![]() When suppliers are treated fairly and paid quickly, they can pay their workers properly and invest in making their factory a safer and better place to work. In effect, fashion retailers are using suppliers in developing countries to subsidise their business. While factories are waiting to be paid, they have to pay interest on loans to cover ongoing costs such as material and wages. Many retailers pay suppliers up to 6 months after receiving the products. The way the brands buy in clothes causes job losses, poverty wages, excessive overtime, and unsafe conditions for the people who make our clothes. Retailers routinely make excessive demands on supplier factories including last-minute changes, faster delivery times and discounts on previously agreed prices. ![]() That has drastically improved the abusive way supermarkets bought in food from suppliers with knock-on benefits for the people who grow our food. In the early 2010s, Traidcraft won the campaign for a similar watchdog for supermarkets. That regulator would be called the Garment Trading Adjudicator. In March, an important group of MPs told the government to set up a new regulator to help clean up the fashion industry. The watchdog would make sure garment retailers buy in from their suppliers fairly and properly. It’s vital that together we tell the government that we’re watching, that we care, and that we won’t stop until they set up the Fashion Watchdog. We all know that the garment industry must change. ![]() But the government's ministers for Business are still on the fence. The watchdog would make sure retailers treated their suppliers properly. ![]() The good news is that the UK government is weighing up a plan for a Fashion Watchdog that offers a way out of this vicious circle. ![]() Unless fashion retailers change the way they do business, we’ll never see an end to poverty wages and unsafe conditions for the people working in garment factories. The shock of Covid only made it worse with millions of garment workers laid off and some forced to work despite being sick. Unfortunately, UK retailers are some of the worst offenders. Too many fashion retailers cut corners to squeeze out profits, at the expense of the people who make our clothes. It’s time to clean up the fashion industry – for good. ![]()
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