A textile worker in Bangladesh earns around 30 euros a week for 40 hours work; he pays 32 euros a month to rent his five square metre hut in the slums. For the production of one kilo of textiles, six kilos of chemicals are used – yet one still speaks of environmentally-friendly production. So what’s going wrong?
Journalist and book author Kirsten Brodde from Greenpeace and Mark Starmanns, initiator of NetzwerkFairemode, have got to the bottom of facts from the clothing production industry, which are usually swept under the table. Their article “Acht Fragen an das Lieblingsunternehmen” (“Eight questions for your favourite brand”) explains how fair and ecologically producing companies differ from those who aren’t. As well as the Fair Wear Foundation and the Fair Label Organisation, another forerunner is outdoor clothing producer, Patagonia. With its advertisement featuring the headline “Don’t buy this jacket” in the New York Times the label took the initiative and called on us to act responsibly and conscientiously towards our environment and to reduce consumerism.
Brodde and Starmanns inform us about social, ecological and economically practical solutions that are already being used and are demanding more fair fashion – especially in the interest of the consumer, who is being encouraged to demand more responsibility from their favourite brand.
You can find the Eight Questions article on the NetzwerkFairemode and Grüne Mode blogs. Definitely worth a read!
