Gap child labour accusations
Once again US retailer Gap is facing accusations that its clothes are being made in un-ethical circumstances. The latest accusation has emerged after a children were filmed in India making garments - one young Indian boy was shown making Gap smock tops. The boy, referred to as 'little one' in the film, had according to reports been 'sold' by his parents and is being forced to work for free until the fee paid for him has been repaid in labour.
Gap spokesman Dan Henkle has said: "This is very upsetting and we intend to investigate thoroughly." Gap has issued a statement saying it will destroy the tops (bit of a waste this - couldn't they sell them and then give the money to the boy so he could buy back his life!).
Gap has been beleagured by criticisms about its manufacturing. In 2000 the chain was found to be using sweatshops - factories where the working conditions were considered unacceptable by monitoring organisations. Then, Gap was found to be importing its leather from India where conditions were notoriously cruel. Gap eventually succumbed to pressure and announced it would no longer import leather from India.
In August, the Sunday Times reported that Kate Moss' Topshop collection was being made by people paid as little as 22p an hour. Philip Green, owner of Topshop, stated he would investigate. We've yet to hear what evidence Green has uncovered about working conditions in his own supply chain and judging by Topshop's (and the whole of the parent company Arcadia) refusal to sign the Ethical Trading Initiative and overall disdain for ethcial production (which we have witnessed several times on this website) the top the boy was sewing could have just as easily said Topshop on the label.
Last week we checked out the latest offering from Kate Moss which includes several sequinned dresses. Most of the frocks we saw had labels stating 'made in India' in them, but about a dozen pieces on sale in Topshop Oxford Street had security tags attached to them obscuring the part of the label stating where the garment was made.
BBC story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7066019.stm
Labour Behind The Label's take on this: http://cleanupfashion.wordpress.com/
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I think someone along the line told a few porkies but, looking at Gap's history and the fact they constantly take the piss, I'm going to boycott them from now on .. Which is a shame because recently their stuff has been quite good ..
No Mr P, the manufacturers wouldn't say 'our clothes are made by children' but it is surely the responsibility of the company paying for the clothing to ensure they are being made in humane conditions. Transparency is the only way forward - retailers should show us the factories they are using and be totally open about their sourcing - if they've got nothing to hide, no problem. Just putting their hands over their eyes and claiming 'we didn't know' ain't good enough.
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Editor of fuk.co.uk
I wonder how much of a say GAP execs have in where these clothes get made. I mean, I'm sure in the proposal the manufactuerers didn't say "We've got these ten year olds who'll do it for free". At some point a manufacturer has tried to squeeze a few extra pennies and gone down this route.
Having said that, I'm not making excuses, the top guys are responsible for what happens under their name. I'm just curious as to how it happens in the first place.