When choosing a manufacturer for your clothing brand, it’s important to check that they abide by certain ethical standards.
There is unfortunately a certain stereotype linked to poor factory conditions for garment manufacture workers, and I’m sure we’ve all witnessed horrific news reports of child labour, criminally low pay, and unsafe factories (this unfortunately happens anywhere, even in the UK).
Sadly ethical manufacture is often an area that is overlooked, sacrificed for the sake of profit. Several of the lower-cost value-level brands, with big names that we’ve all heard of, unfortunately have questionable manufacturing ethics and have been the subject of news stories and documentaries over the past few years exposing their operations.
So what are the core values of an ethical clothing manufacturer?
Good working conditions
What perhaps seems like a basic human right to most of us; a safe and hygienic working environment, is not a privilege all receive. 'Good working conditions' are subjective and may mean different standards to different people, but here we refer to basic health and safety considerations such as clean working spaces and bathroom facilities, not being exposed to harmful chemicals, plus actual building safety – avoiding factory disasters like the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013, one of the worst in history, where 1,133 people were killed and thousands more injured.
Fair pay
It’s an obvious one that every worker should be paid a fair living wage – a living wage being that which is required to support the workers basic needs such as food, housing and healthcare. But across the world many factories pay shockingly low wages, exploiting a demographic that are desperate for work so have no alternative. This doesn’t just happen overseas but in the UK too, read more here on our blog following the report of garment workers in Leicester being paid illegally low wages a couple of years ago.
Reasonable working hours
Factory managers in unethical factories often force overtime, particularly as deadlines approach. Workers cannot refuse, either for fear of losing their job, or because they desperately need the money as wages are so low. There are some awful photos of garment workers sleeping under sewing machines and along factory aisles.
How to know if a clothing manufacturer abides to these ethical standards?
It’s a good question, especially as so much garment manufacture happens overseas; it can be difficult to know for sure what’s going on.
Here’s some things to look out for:
Audits - An audit is an in-depth evaluation of a manufacturing facility to assess the working environment and practices. Factories should have regular audits to certify workplace safety, workers rights etc. If a factory has up to date auditing accreditations, particularly from well-known industry platforms such as SEDEX, and are willing to share these certificates, it’s generally a good indication of their working conditions.
Communication & transparency – Are the factory or client liaison team easy to contact when you need to? Are they willing to send behind the scenes videos and photos of garment construction and embellishment processes, are they open to video calls to discuss your needs or give a video tour of the factory? Anything that helps assure they have nothing to hide is a good sign.
Third party inspections – This is when a separate company (literally a third party), comes in to the factory to do a QC (quality control) inspection of your bulk production. This can be requested to assure a higher level of quality in your garments. If a factory is open to third party companies coming in to do inspections and QC reports, it’s generally a good sign that they have nothing to hide, as they are often carried out by auditing companies themselves such as Intertek.
We can state with pride that Hook and Eye UK adheres to all the core ethical values mentioned above!
Our integrated China team have industry-leading audit certifications from SEDEX, The Certification of Quality Management System, and Alibaba Gold Plus Supplier Certificate – SGS.
All of our staff across both UK and China teams are paid a living wage or above, and work reasonable hours in good, safe working conditions.
In Conclusion
Whilst it can take a bit of looking into to ascertain if a manufacturer follows ethical standards, and there are many different factors that make up a 'good' manufacturer, look out for the key values. Transparency goes a long way in this industry which is why we strive to be as transparent as possible with our customers and keep you involved the whole way.
Find out more about our manufacturing process and ethical and sustainable practices here.
Love, Bethany
Hook and Eye UK
