[ad_1]
On Thursday, the Claw Institute for Civil and Human Rights organized a panel entitled “Labor, Exploitation and the Environment: Fast Fashion and the Global Supply Chain” with Professor Justin Nolan of the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Nolan is director of the Australian Institute of Human Rights.
Nolan’s research focuses on the intersection of business and human rights, particularly supply chain responsibility for human rights and modern slavery.
Panelists included second-year Notre Dame Law School student Alyssa DeSouza, Notre Dame sophomore Raleigh Kuiper and Notre Dame junior Brianna Chappell. The panel hosted guests in person at Jenkins-Nanovich Auditorium as well as on Zoom, allowing Professor Nolan to present from Australia.
Nolan began her presentation by sharing several shocking facts about the fast fashion industry. The world uses an estimated 80 billion pieces of clothing each year, a 400% increase from two decades ago, she said.
Nolan noted that the fast fashion industry is the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
The biggest concern in the fast fashion industry, she said, is the existence of heavy labor in the fashion supply chain. Clothes are often produced cheaply, which leads to poor working conditions for garment workers. This includes lack of living wages, forced overtime, forced labor, child labor, sexual harassment, health and safety concerns and lack of union access, Nolan said.
Nolan raised a question about managing supply chains, asking the audience if there was a difference between responsibility and legal liability. She said the answer is yes.
Nolan then presented a case study she did on the Veja sneaker company. The materials came from Brazil, and the shoes were made there, so Nolan went down to the Amazon forest to investigate. Veja understands that they make a deliberate effort to pay their employees in advance to ensure they have a steady income.
When asked what people can do about having fast fashion in their wardrobe, Nolan said: “We all have fast fashion in our wardrobe, so what we can do is try to wear it.”
Our use of clothing ultimately affects employee pay and wages, she said.
“Instead of buying 10 new things, you can buy two things that last a long time,” she said.
Nolan says we all probably have at least some exploitative pieces in our closet, so it’s just a matter of trying to wear them.
To close her presentation, Nolan explained that while there is a lot of bad news surrounding labor and environmental impact with the fast fashion industry, some companies are trying to do things differently.
“There is a lot of demand from consumers and people who love them. [the panelists] Companies that are making a difference are putting pressure on them to make a difference,” she said.
[ad_2]
Source link
