XR Fashion Action, a global climate advocacy group has voiced the social injustices that garment workers are facing from fast fashion giants during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an Instagram post, the group highlighted the “humanitarian crisis” that is now unfolding in the industry that has long been laden with environmental and workers rights issues, and named the brands that have cancelled or held orders without payment to already vulnerable groups working in the exploitative garment sector located primarily in Bangladesh and across Southeast Asia.
In an impassioned Instagram post, XR Fashion Action is calling on a number of fashion giants to pay their supply chain workers amidst cancelled orders due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The group referenced a recent Forbes article that revealed the human cost of a number of brands that are now refusing to pay for their cancelled or held-back orders due to a nosedive in demand as daily life comes to a standstill across the world. Many of these orders are already completed or are in production.
Some of these brands include Primark, C&A, Mothercare, Bestseller, Tesco’s F&F Clothing, Marks & Spencer, Kohl’s, Walmart, LLP and JC Penney. Among these, the worst offenders are Primark and C&A, who have cancelled or held orders that are already in production or completed without payment in Bangladesh worth US$273 million and US$166 million respectively.
So far, the brands that have committed to pay what workers in their supply chain are owed include H&M, Inditex (the owner of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Bershka among others), Kiabi, PVH, Target and the Nike-owning group VF Corp.
Some smaller independent brands are doing their part too. Ethical custom apparel brand To The Market, for instance, recently made the point to not cancel any orders it has already placed in order to avoid the devastating impacts for the livelihoods of workers down its supply chain. A number of eco-brands have followed these footsteps, including zero-waste brand Tonlé and ethical shopping platform Wearwell.
