Sarah Kent, the sustainability editor at BOF, dives into the critical issues plaguing labor in fashion, revealing alarming cases of child labor in India and slavery in Taiwan. She discusses how exploitation is entrenched in socio-economic systems, making change challenging. Kent emphasizes the necessity of transparency in supply chains, as brands struggle to trace their cotton's origins. The conversation also touches on the responsibilities of major fashion brands and the impact of consumer choices on ethical practices, advocating for collective action to combat these systemic issues.
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insights INSIGHT
Recurring Exploitation
Recurring labor exploitation scandals plague the fashion industry, despite efforts to address them.
These incidents aren't isolated; they reflect systemic socio-economic issues and often only gain attention through investigations.
insights INSIGHT
Ethical Cotton's Dark Side
Child labor persists even in “ethical” cotton fields, highlighting failures of current watchdog systems.
These systems prioritize protecting brands from liability rather than safeguarding workers.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Indian Cotton Fields
In India, children as young as six work in cotton fields, exposed to toxic pesticides, often in supposedly organic or ethically sourced operations.
The fragmented supply chain, with small family farms and seasonal laborers, makes oversight and regulation difficult.
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The revelation this year of child labour in India’s cotton fields and modern-day slavery in Taiwanese garment factories is the latest scandal concerning worker treatment in fashion’s supply chain. New abuses keep emerging despite efforts by brands, manufacturers, activists, and governments to set clear labour guidelines. Watchdog groups try new tactics to combat the problem, but they face systemic forces far beyond fashion.
Sustainability editor Sarah Kent joins executive editor Brian Baskin and senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young to discuss the problematic labour dynamics underpinning the fashion system.
Key Insights:
Persistent abuse in fashion’s supply chains is not merely about isolated incidents but reflects deep-rooted socio-economic challenges. In India’s cotton industry, for example, many farmworkers come from extremely marginalised and impoverished communities where exploitation is a norm rather than an exception. Families often work together under hazardous conditions, with little oversight or recourse. “So you're not just dealing with an issue of exploitation that is coming from the [fashion] industry, you're dealing with a culture that is ingrained in the way that community works – and that is a very difficult, complicated thing to try and manage, ” explains Kent.
Transparency in supply chains remains critical. Despite decades of advocacy, many brands struggle to verify the origins of their cotton. The global cotton supply chain’s complexity—where materials pass through multiple suppliers and traders—makes tracing raw cotton back to its source extremely difficult. “The traders will have been getting the cotton from ginners who will have got raw cotton from … maybe hundreds of thousands of small family farms aggregated it, ginned it, sold it onto a trader who then sells it up through the supply chain. So by the time it even gets to a spinning factory, tracing it back to the farm where it came from is really, really difficult,” says Kent.
In Taiwan’s textile industry, systemic issues like excessive recruitment fees burden migrant workers, yet change is stalling. Despite growing awareness and repeated calls for reform, manufacturers have little incentive to alter longstanding practices without coordinated industry action and regulatory intervention. As Kent notes, “Without other brands operating in Taiwan coming together and trying to do the same thing, the industry as a whole isn't going to move.” And without regulatory shifts, manufacturers have little reason to remove recruitment fee burdens from workers.
Consumer trust in ethical claims is vital for brands that present themselves as responsible. However, when ethical certifications and claims are diluted by inconsistent practices and opaque supply chains, consumers quickly lose faith. This erosion of trust can undermine efforts to promote responsible consumption. “If consumers lose trust in what is meant to be a signifier of doing better, then you risk people not caring at all,” Kent warns. “No one's going to pay more for a product that promises to be more responsible and more ethical when it's when they don't believe that it is.”
The Business of Fashion Podcast