About this Event
Broken Links in the Supply Chain: Climate and Exploitation of Workers Rights
Over the course of the pandemic, we have been seeing more and more focus around the imagining of a ‘just recovery’ and a ‘just transition’. But what does this look like when it comes to the fashion industry – which, as Sienna Somers says, “is dirty and it knows it”?
The garment industry has been repeatedly exposed as bad for the planet and bad for the people. More people are thinking about how their clothing is made and its impact on the environment, using ‘ethical’ as a benchmark rather than an aspiration. However, for the vast majority, often those without the privilege to shop ‘responsibly’, this remains a non priority. How do we build a future in which this gap is bridged?
This event will look outside existing capitlalist structures and imagine a future free from modern slavery and child labour where people really are placed over profit. Garment workers, especially immigrant and undocumented workers, are made systematically vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Whether it’s unsafe working conditions, job insecurity, the polluting effect of the industry on their local environment or chronically low wages, without social justice for garment workers there can’t be true climate justice.
Through approaching the topic with a global lens this event will hear from experts on the topic, imagining a future in which everyone, from maker to consumer to planet, can benefit from the fashion industry.
Our speakers will include:
Aja Barber – Aja Barber is a writer and fashion consultant. Her expertise is in race, intersectional feminism and … fashion
Swatee Deepak – Swatee is a social justice advisor focused on resource justice with a feminist and racial justice lens. She is Indian and British and is currently working with private and public foundations and individuals and families of wealth on their wealth redistribution or investment strategies.
Ayesha Barenblat – Ayesha (@abarenblat) is a social entrepreneur with a passion for building sustainable supply chains. Remake is the world’s first platform that leverages technology and visual storytelling to build human connections between shoppers, brands and makers around the world.
Ruth Ogier – Ruth is Head of International Programmes at War on Want, and anti-poverty global justice charity in London. War on Want campaigns for corporate accountability and the rights of workers in global garment supply chains and supports the growth of worker led movements in South Asia.
Emily Dorotheou – Emily is an Associate in the Commercial team at Mishcon de Reya. Having completed the ‘Essential Guide to the Fashion Business’ course at the London College of Fashion, Emily has a keen interest in sustainability within the retail sector.
The event would be the fourth of a shado’s series in colaboration with Mishcon de Reya: Human Rights in an Inhospitable Climate: Displacement and Exploitation in the Climate Crisis.
At the heart of shado issue 03: Climate Justice is a simple message: that a fight for a better world cannot be won without addressing the climate crisis as a social justice issue.
This means investigating inherent global inequalities and how they factor into the current crisis. This is what this series hopes to explore, hearing from different intersections addressing a range of topics, from exploitation of workers’ rights to the Black Lives Matter movement, to establish how we can move forward in a way that is representative and beneficial for all of the world’s citizens.
Design: Lilani Vane Last
