Takeaway Thoughts From A Breakfast Meeting
I was at a breakfast meeting this week where the subject of child labour came up and especially in relation to the promotional clothing side of our industry. We all seem to forget that if we can buy a pair of jeans from a food retailer for £10 that someone, somewhere has produced these for a tiny fraction of this cost. I read a book recently about how many people in the world live on $1 a day and the forces that not only drive this but keep people at this level of subsistence. When presented with a ‘bargain’ we really do need to question such items from an ethical and fair-trade point of view. Many of the world’s leading retailers and brands do actively work to help enhance the living standards and working environments of their suppliers. Collectively we can all help by being prepared to pay that little bit more.
