Under the label

Each year, the 20 wealthiest countries import a total of around US$150 billion worth of clothing that’s, according to the Global Slavery Index, “at risk” of having been produced by forced labor. The language indicates a visibility problem: With forced labor in fashion ranging from wage theft and more ambiguous forms of exploitation in the West to sweatshops in Asia—to the notorious slave-labor camps of China’s Uyghur region—some of it is easier to see than others. The fashion industry meanwhile employs more than 60 million globally. So just how widespread is the problem?

Tessa Maffucci is the assistant chair of the Fashion Design Department at the Pratt Institute in New York City. Forced labor, Maffucci says, runs through fashion supply chains on every continent. And it’s spread globally in recent decades, as these supply chains have expanded to multiple layers of subcontractors—making it unclear even to some brands where their clothes are being manufactured. It’s a complex question, then: Not only is fashion’s forced labor distributed in different forms all over the world, it can also be hidden from producers as well as their consumers …

And join—to be a valued member, support our growth, and have full access.

• “It’s really everywhere. There are places where it’s worse—the Uyghur region in China, notably—and brands that choose to work in those places make that choice knowing they’re likely benefiting from terrible exploitation. … Today, China remains a major source of forced labor—particularly in Xinjiang Province, as the Chinese government calls the Uyghur region—but it’s becoming gradually less interested in supplying fashion versus other industries. So the subcontracting of labor in the fashion supply chain is spreading out more into Southeast Asia, notably into Cambodia and Bangladesh, but also into Central and South America, particularly into Guatemala, Panama, and Mexico—and even into parts of Europe, like Turkey and Portugal.”
• “Many instances are stark, as you might imagine them: People in need of work are put in coercive environments that they’re unable to escape from. Practices like this have spread in recent decades under globalization and offshoring, but none of them are entirely new. The structure of factory production today in places like Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Guatemala, for instance, creates many of the same challenges that garment workers faced in the U.S. early in the 20th century: People aren’t allowed to have bathroom breaks; they’re locked in during working hours so they won’t steal time by taking any breaks at all; and they’re paid for what they produce, not by the hour. Across different regions of the world, there are documented instances of people, even children, being chained to sewing machines. And then there are entire forced-labor camps ultimately overseen by government authorities, as in China’s Uyghur region. It’s all horrifying.”
• “But it’s important to understand that, as production might move away from these kinds of environments, they can move to others that are also troubling. For example, a big brand might arrange to produce clothing with a certain factory, but then the brand decides it no longer wants the goods the factory has produced—so it cancels the order and doesn’t pay the factory. There’s a campaign going on right now directed at Nike for doing exactly this with a factory in Cambodia, where hundreds of workers were left penniless. And again, the full range of labor abuses extends around the world from cases like this to wage theft and other problems. So in fashion, there are many people in unambiguous kinds of forced labor, but there are also ambiguities in the relationship between forced labor and other kinds of exploited labor.”

That’s why we look at it the way a detective would: Everything The Signal does starts with good questions, and every answer leads us to more of them.

Become a member to unlock this full conversation and explore the archive.

Shop Congo Clothing Company and make a difference—in style.

The non-ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

Since the discovery, there’s been massive pressure on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to secure the return of the remaining hostages. The day after the bodies were found, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Israel, for a general strike called by the country’s largest trade union, to protest the Netanyahu government’s failure to get the hostages back—despite months of negotiations.

Israel’s political elites have also publicly pushed Netanyahu to make a deal. Israel’s military commanders, meanwhile, have said for some time that they have largely finished their operations in Gaza, as ordered by the cabinet.

Hamas, too, is under pressure to stop the fighting—from Palestinians, more than 40,000 of whom have been killed in Israeli strikes, with much of the Gaza Strip now in ruins. Hamas itself has lost most of its troops.

So why haven’t the two sides come to an agreement?

Media reports say there are critical sticking points in the talks—above all, on the future presence of Israeli troops in Gaza and on the role of Hamas in running it. But this is a conflict with major geopolitical stakes. And as can be the case with such a conflict, the direct combatants aren’t the only parties to the talks.

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar have long been mediating these negotiations, and the upcoming U.S. presidential elections appear to be a key consideration. The American administration has strong political reasons to reach a ceasefire soon: A deal could help the election prospects of Vice President Kamala Harris—as bringing hostages back would play well among many voters who support Israel, while stopping the fighting would do likewise among those who support Palestine.

The elections could also factor into Netanyahu’s calculations, though, as he’s had far better relations in recent years with Republicans than Democrats—and he might well imagine he’ll get a deal more to his liking later, if Donald Trump wins in November. It’s not clear, meanwhile, what Egypt and Qatar are saying to Hamas.

—Michael Bluhm

Please send questions or comments here.
Find us on Linkedin and X.

To advertise with The Signal, inquire here.

Add us to your address book.

© 2024