Canadians more stressed by overpriced clothes than child labour, poll suggests

All humans share the basic needs of food and clothing. But while many Canadians focus on buying local food to fill our fridges, the same cannot be said about our closets.

An Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by World Vision found that overpaying for clothes is more stressful to Canadians than the possibility they may be buying clothes made by kids in sweatshops. While 76per cent of those surveyed found overpaying stressful, only 59 per cent were worried about the chance children made their clothes.

Cheryl Hotchkiss, manager of World Vision’s No Child for Sale campaign, said the results are disappointing in light of tragedies like the Bangladesh clothing factory collapse that killed over 1,100 people two years ago today.

“As consumers we’re looking to get good value, but with the different news stories about factory conditions in different countries we had thought that there might be an increased concern and awareness of labour conditions,” Hotchkiss told CTV News. “We’re not seeing that [concern] that high up the list. Just over 50 per cent of Canadians consider that in their decision making, but the priority is price.”

Hotchkiss said the first step towards change is to encourage clothing companies to be transparent about their supply chain. The problem is that transparency is voluntary.

Systemic change

Last year the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) sent letters to 150 Canadian companies which import apparel products from Bangladesh and asked them to sign an agreement committing to safety regulations in that country. They received no replies.

“There are no rules for information disclaimer with regard to imports and exports. What that means is the Canadian consumer is left in the dark as to what they're actually buying,” said Lucien Royer, the CLC international director. “There are no means of shareholder reviews. Generally we have a policy in the Harper government of letting the companies do what they want.”

The CLC said the main issue is the lack of supply chain accountability for Canadian companies and the organization hopes to gain momentum at the G7 summit in Berlin this June to prevent further factory tragedies.

“We’re still convinced this is going to happen again, it’s inevitable. If not in Bangladesh, in Cambodia and we’ll be back to the same situation where we lobby while we still haven’t looked at previous issues,” Royer said.

Grassroots campaigns

While organizations like the CLC lobby the government for regulations, Fashion Revolution Day, which takes place every April 24th, aims to shed light on this aspect of the clothing industry from a grassroots level.

Part of the Fashion Revolution Day social media campaign encourages people to wear their clothes inside out with the tags showing to promote discussion.

In Vancouver, Eco Fashion Week and Vancouver International Film Festival are screening of the Canadian-made documentary Traceable for both schools and the general public. The film follows Canadian designer Laura Siegel as she visits India to create her Fall/Winter 2013 collection.

Myriam Laroche, founder of Eco Fashion Week said awareness is critical and collaborative efforts are key. 

“I don’t think the solution is to completely stop buying stuff made in Asia, it’s part of the solution. We need to ask brands to be more conscious and go deeper,” Laroche said. “So be curious and get information, that’s the best way. I think it’s teamwork at this point.”

Vancouver company Lululemon has a Vendor Code of Conduct that includes supplier audits and only uses approved subcontractors, according to their website.

“We audit Tier One suppliers (cut and sew facilities), Tier Two (textile mills) and we are working to include Tier Three (raw material and trim suppliers) in the scope of our VCoE program,” the website reads.

But as Hotchkiss point out, factories that export products to Canada may conceal children from publicly accessible places that are visible during inspections. 

“We’re not sure the degree to which a company has full view or decides to exercise full view into that supply chain. We do know that where children are the most vulnerable and where we do find children in manufacturing is off hidden from the main factories,” Hotchkiss said. “I think it’s important that companies assert their responsibility and their right to know every part of their supply chain and who’s involved.”

Few products are made solely in Canada and Hotchkiss encourages people to take the initiative to learn about the products that fill their closets.

“We visited Albania a year ago and there are girls who were at home hand-sewing leather shoes that have the ‘Made in Italy’ tag on them,” Hotchkiss said. “They’re not going to school as a result and their economic future is very much compromised so we really think that’s a reason why Canadians need to engage,” Hotchkiss said.

To participate in the Fashion Revolution Day social media campaign, people can post photos of themselves with the location where their clothes were made on social media with the hashtag #FashRev or #WhoMadeMyClothes.