[SustainableTompkins] Hey, nice clothes. But are they ethical?

[GayNicholson at aol.com]

from the October 13, 2006 edition -  
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1013/p01s02-woaf.html  
Hey, nice  clothes. But are they ethical? 
By  Stephanie Hanes | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor  
MASERU,  LESOTHO  
Last year, Anna Tsoeu was unable to send much needed money to her family  
after being laid off from her textile factory job in this poor southern African  
country. 
Lesotho's key industry was collapsing as factories cut about 10,000 jobs  
after Chinese imports flooded the market. 
Now Ms. Tsoeu is working again, packaging shirts for brands like Old  Navy. 
She's part of a remarkable turnaround spurred by Lesotho's increasing  
attractiveness as an origin of "ethical clothing." More than 7,000 jobs have  been 
restored recently, thanks mainly to a growing demand for sweatshop-free  
clothes, like the Product Red label, which rock star and founder Bono will  promote 
on Friday's Oprah Winfrey show. 
Gap or Levi's - or any of the myriad brands that source here - can promise  
customers that T-shirts and jeans made in Lesotho were not produced by 
sweatshop  labor, and that working conditions met high safety standards. 
And in these days of socially conscious consumers, this sort of promise  
sells. 
"The ethical image has value," says Christian Kemp-Griffin, CEO of Edun  
Apparel Ltd, a self-described "socially conscious clothing company" with a  
factory in Lesotho that was started last year by Bono and his wife, Ali Hewson.  "A 
company doesn't have to sacrifice its margins to sell its product because  
it's doing it ethically. It actually adds value for the consumer." 
The rebirth of Lesotho's textile business spread a sigh of relief throughout  
this country of 1.9 million, where there is almost no other industry besides  
textiles and hundreds of thousands of people depend on factory workers'  
incomes.'Guilt free' clothing becomes chic  
According to the ComMark Trust, a group working to develop Lesotho's textile  
industry, British shoppers spent almost $50 billion on ethical goods and  
services in 2005 - a high percentage of which was on clothing. Julia Hawkins, of  
the London-based Ethical Trading Initiative, says the demand in the US is 
just  as high. 
Consumers are willing to spend a bit extra, she says, if they know that their 
 purchase is "ethical" - and even more if profits go directly to a good 
cause. If  the funds help Africa, even better. And while the trend might have grown 
from  the anti-sweatshop movement of the 1990s, with its university protests 
and  company boycotts, today's ethical buying is decidedly mainstream, even  
yuppie. 
"There has been a huge surge in interest in ethical fashion," Hawkins says.  
"There definitely seems to be an appetite from consumers - the clothes are 
well  made, look good, and they can ease their conscience a bit." 
Earlier this year, Gap, Emporio Armani and other high-end brands launched  
their Product Red lines in Europe - red T-shirts, cellphones, sunglasses, and  
other goods. A portion of Product Red profits goes to the Global Fund to fight  
AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria - a way to save Africa by shopping, the 
brands  suggest. The line has been featured in fashion publications such as Marie 
Claire  and Vogue.com, and promoted by celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, 
Ashley  Judd, and George Clooney. 
Last month, Edun introduced the ONE Campaign T-shirt, made at its Lesotho  
factory, advertising that $10 of the $40 price tag would go to a new program  
that brings HIV testing and treatment to Lesotho's textile workers, an estimated 
 one third of whom are HIV positive. More than 30,000 shirts have sold since  
Nordstrom introduced them Sept. 11. 
"It's become a trend," Mr. Kemp-Griffin says. "Like with food, there's a  
trend of traceability and acknowledging where your stuff comes from." 
And this makes it worthwhile for companies to make T-shirts in Lesotho.  
Companies produce their clothing at factories scattered throughout the world. It  
is good publicity, and economics, for them to say that a certain percentage of 
 goods comes from "guilt free" countries.Textiles key to Lesotho's  economy  
Lesotho's textile business began in the early 1980s, when South African  
companies set up factories here to avoid apartheid-era sanctions. In recent  
years, the industry boomed because of international incentives and subsidies -  in 
particular the World Trade Organization's Multi-Fibre Arrangement's quotas on  
China and other countries, and the US African Growth and Opportunity Act. By 
the  early 2000s, Lesotho's economy was dependent on its textile industry, 
which at  its height employed 53,000 workers, around 85 percent of whom are 
women.  According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, textiles account 
for  about 40 percent of Lesotho's GDP. 
Then, at the beginning of 2005, the Multi-Fibre Arrangement's quotas expired. 
 Analysts from around the world predicted the demise of textile industries in 
 countries such as Lesotho since brands could make all of their clothes in  
cheaper, more productive Chinese factories. And true to those predictions, in  
2005, a number of brands closed or reduced their operations in Lesotho. 
Textile  employment dipped to around 40,000. That's when Tsoeu lost her job. 
But at the same time, an alliance of companies, NGOs, government  
representatives, and others were trying to find ways to protect the country's  industry. 
Already, some brands had improved working conditions in Lesotho to  answer 
concerns about sweatshop labor. The group realized that if Lesotho could  start 
aggressively marketing itself as an ethical source of clothing, it could  
retain and even grow business. 
"Ethical trading gives you a competitive edge," says Andy Selm, regional  
textile and apparel specialist at ComMark Trust. "You can attract a better  
quality of customer." 
The companies listened. While there are other factors in Lesotho's recent  
textile upswing - softening currency, for instance, and other international  
trade limitations on China - the ethical trade boom plays a huge role. Gap makes  
its Product Red line here, for instance. Edun Apparel chose to build its 
factory  in a remote part of Lesotho. And Mr. Selm says that some of the brands 
that left  during 2005 are looking to start making clothing here again. 
Not only does Tsoeu have a job, her working conditions are far better than in 
 other countries. 
Selm says he expects the factories to employ 50,000 people - almost the  
industry's peak - by the end of the year. 
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----------------------------------------------------
Gay  Nicholson, Ph.D. 

607-533-7312 (home office)
607-279-6618  (cell)

1 Maple Avenue
Lansing, NY  14882
gaynicholson at aol.com

Sustainable Tompkins 
Program  Coordinator 
w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) 

Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities
Regional  Coordinator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County
615 Willow  Ave., Ithaca, NY  14850
agn1 at cornell.edu