It is over two hundred and fifty years since John Woolman adopted undyed, cream-coloured clothing as a public refusal to be complicit in exploitation. It was a clear rejection of slavery – for the dyeing process was always carried out by slaves. His very visible witness, before sceptical Quakers and the wider society, made him stand out wherever he went. He did not, however, simply change his buying choices. John Woolman also travelled extensively to convince Friends of the wrongs of slavery.

Modern times

In some ways, little has changed since John Woolman questioned Friends on the clothes they wore. Economic injustice, exploitation and an unsustainable relationship with the planet are inherent in the clothing industry in the twenty-first century. Perhaps John Woolman’s kind of radical witness needs to revived. The clothing industry today poses a challenge to our historic, visible, witness against exploitation.

Around the world 26.5 million people work within the clothing and textiles industry (UNIDO 2000). Workers earn incredibly low wages in the developing world and emerging markets: average hourly wages in US dollars were only 23 cents in Pakistan, 57 cents in Sri Lanka, 71 cents in India and 86 cents in China for garment workers, according to the 2003 International Labour Organisation (ILO) statistics.

On the high street

Many people believe that only garment workers producing for ‘budget’ clothing lines are exploited. However, a report published in December 2010 by War on Want and Labour Behind the Label showed that this was not the case. Surveying the garment industry in Gurgaon, India, the report found that garment workers working for higher end retailers, such as Marks and Spencers, Debenhams, Arcadia, Monsoon and Next, experienced the same kinds of mistreatment and low pay as workers producing for budget retailers. Shockingly, the Arcadia group, which includes TopShop and Dorothy Perkins, made £213.6 million in pre-tax profit in 2009.

Are we, as Friends, unwittingly supporting an economically unjust industry? Part of the epistle of Yearly Meeting Gathering 2011 seems apt: ‘we are called to challenge the values of consumer capitalism’.

Although many high street stores commit, in principle, to higher wages, no major high street store was willing, as of December 2010, to commit to a living wage. Meanwhile, many garment workers struggle to live on a ‘minimum wage’ or less and are forced to work excessive overtime just to get by. Workers are often forbidden to join unions, making it extremely difficult for them to challenge their situation. Many garment workers are also migrants, lacking the protection of citizenship.

Despite the occasional documentary or newspaper article, exploitation in the clothing industry has not motivated any highly visible campaigns. War on Want has been trying to promote this issue for several years. Anti-Slavery International is concerned about cotton slavery, particularly in Uzbekistan. An estimated fifteen countries use child and forced labour in cultivating cotton, according to a 2009 report by the US Department of Labor. John Woolman’s witness against slavery in clothing production, a quarter of a millennium ago, is as relevant today as it was then.

Devastating impacts

The environmental and human impact of cotton cultivation and dyeing is also substantial. Cotton uses an enormous amount of the world’s most precious resource – water – often polluting it in the process. Nine of the ten most commonly used pesticides in cotton production are hazardous, according to the World Health Organisation. Many countries have reported water contamination, including the USA and India. The effects of exposure include birth defects, cancers and death. Similarly, the dyes used on cotton, unless certified organic, are often toxic, seeping into the water supply during rinsing. The modern world’s penchant for bright, rich, non-fading colours cannot be met easily with gentler dyes.

Typical living conditions of Bangladeshi garment workers | Tarif Rahman / War on Want

The produce of the earth is a gift from our gracious Creator to the inhabitants, and to impoverish the earth now to support outward greatness appears to be an injury to the succeeding age.
- John Woolman

Perhaps we need to rediscover our historic witness against poverty, injustice and exploitation through clothing choices and forms of dress. Historically, Friends used to wear distinctive ‘plain’ clothing, standing out for their rejection of changing fashions and the consumer tendencies of ‘the world’. We are called, historically, to ‘live in the world but not of it’. Perhaps we need to rekindle our public witness against the consumerist values of the wider capitalist society, remembering that ‘a simpler life can be a richer life’. Do we want to perpetuate an economic system that keeps the poorest in poverty? John Woolman entreated us to ‘look upon our treasure, the furniture of our houses, and our garments’, and try to discover whether ‘the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions’.

Personal choices

Are we prepared to make the drastic changes in our lives that Friends at Yearly Meeting Gathering called for when they said: ‘We can no longer ignore the fact that our planet is a finite… the time to act is now… What is God calling us as Quakers to be and do? Early Quakers were seen as radical religious extremists, living beyond the ordinary in their simplicity and their direct engagement with the divine. Are we, on the other hand, sliding into ordinariness?’ This urgency about the exploitation of the earth can equally be applied to the urgency required in tackling the exploitation of people.

We may be required to stand out from the crowd, like plain-dressing Friends of the past and those who wore undyed clothing. But this does not have to be a burden and may be an enriching way of living in the spirit and witnessing to our spirit-discerned testimonies.

There are many alternatives to some of the problems we have described. Alternative fibres, such as bamboo, are significantly more environmentally friendly than cotton owing to bamboo’s speedy growth and low water consumption. Organic cotton production and organic cotton dyes are also kinder on the environment. Supporting socially enterprising clothing retailers normally ensures that a proportion of the companies’ profits go back to the communities to support the development of schools and local services. Some Quakers, particularly in the USA, make their own clothes or commission seamstresses. Donating to charity shops or recycling unwanted clothing can lower the carbon footprint of our wardrobes.

Speaking out

Even if all Friends stopped buying new clothes and stopped participating in exploitation in the high street clothing industry, this would not change the situation for garment workers.

Friends could write to their MP asking for legislation that makes companies legally responsible for ensuring fair pay and working conditions for their overseas workers. Ask in high street stores whether they have any clothing that has Fairtrade organic cotton, dyed with organic dyes and made under fair conditions. (Unfortunately, the Fairtrade certification, which only applies to the cultivation of raw materials, such as cotton, can be misleadingly used to suggest the whole garment was produced under Fairtrade conditions.) Ask what the average working and living conditions are for garment workers. Or write to the head office of your department store and ask for a living wage (also known as the ‘Asia Floor Wage’) to be introduced for overseas workers. Garment workers across Asia support the introduction of the Asia Floor Wage, a campaign founded in Delhi.

There are many Quakers who already limit their clothes consumption or only buy from charity shops or socially enterprising retailers. However, buying ethically-minded clothing is made more difficult by: the limited range of ‘ethical-eco’ clothing; its poor visibility in the marketplace (it is mostly available online); the exceptionally high price some retailers of ethical clothing charge; the relatively poor quality of affordable clothing these days requiring more frequent replacement; the speed with which clothing looks ‘out of date’; and the pressures to conform to certain attire at work, in social situations and so on. However, as Quakers we are called to witness against social, economic and environmental injustices. As a committee, we have been inspired by Yearly Meeting Gathering’s epistle 2011:

Between us we have already made changes with which we are comfortable: now is the time to make uncomfortable changes.

This article has been written on behalf of a committee set up by Winchmore Hill Meeting to find out more about the economic, social and environmental injustices behind the clothing industry. This is part of the process of discerning whether it is right for the Meeting to take this issue up as a concern. A Meeting for Learning will be held at the end of January. We invite Friends to contribute any information they may have. Please include references. We are hoping to make contact with garment workers’ trade unions (where they are permitted) and individuals in the clothing industry; if any Friends can facilitate this it would be much appreciated. Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

High street lowdown

In a clothing special issue published at the end of last year, Ethical Consumer magazine reported, unsurprisingly, that most high street retailers fall very short on ethics. The highest score achieved was just 9.5 out of a maximum of twenty points awarded to the fashion chain New Look. Marks & Spencer managed seven out of twenty, and John Lewis 5.5. Supermarket clothing came even further down the list. Although commended for its efforts, New Look failed to be awarded a Best Buy label by Ethical Consumer.

The accolades were reserved for the smaller, specialist retailers who have built their businesses on supporting fair trade initiatives and organic production. One of the highest scores of 16.5 was awarded to Bishopston Trading Company, a regular advertiser in the Friend. In business for over twenty-six years, Bishopston operates by online and catalogue mail order, as well as having shops in Bristol, Glastonbury and Totnes. Other Best Buys include clothing and household textile supplier Greenfibres along with, and well known to many Friends, Traidcraft.

Copies of this issue of Ethical Consumer, number 132, are available at £4.25 post free by calling 0161 226 2929. An annual subscription, giving free online access to all reports, is £29.95. Please quote ‘The Friend magazine’ and we will receive £10 for each new subscription at www.ethicalconsumer.org

George Penaluna

Comments

• Posted by BillinNZ on January 29, 2012

  Bishopston is a good company and strives to do better. They have transformed the lives of the villagers where they source their garments. They have a relationship with the workers that is in “right ordering”.

• Posted by Tony on February 22, 2012

  What would be an appropriate hourly rate (a living wage) in the countries mentioned: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and China?
  And what would such rates add to our costs?
  Could we afford those increased costs?