If Brands Don’t Own Their Factories, Why Do Activists Hold Them Responsible For Paying Garment Workers a Living Wage?
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Quick Question: Why do sustainable fashion advocates hold brands responsible for paying garment workers a living wage when most brands don't own the factories that produce their clothes or manage them? Isn't it the responsibility of the factory to pay its employees fair wages?
It's true; most fashion brands are not manufacturers — they’re buyers. They design and market clothing while outsourcing the manufacturing to countries like China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India, where labor is less expensive. This practice enables brands to reduce expenses and maintain flexibility in production and design. However, it’s important to acknowledge that while brands do not directly compensate garment workers, their drive for minimizing production costs can lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ in wages and working conditions. It’s this deeply-rooted structural power imbalance that creates a system of exploitation.
Over the last twenty years, the fashion industry has increasingly capitalized on inexpensive labor to fulfill the surging consumer demand for affordable, fashionable clothing. Brands have generally focused on minimizing production costs to maximize profits, leveraging their buying power to insist on low-cost manufacturing.
This dilemma forces factories into a tight spot, where the fear of losing contracts, compels them to produce massive quantities of clothing at rock-bottom costs. Consequently, it's the garment workers who end up shouldering the true cost—laboring in inadequate conditions for nominal wages to sustain the relentless pace of cost-effective production.
The recent demonstrations in Bangladesh have cast a stark light on the severe repercussions of these exploitative practices. Workers have taken to the streets, demanding an increase in their monthly wages to 23,000 taka (approximately $208), a substantial rise from the starting wage of 8,300 taka ($75) —which hasn't been updated since 2018 despite inflation and currency devaluation. These protests have escalated to violent confrontations, including acts of vandalism and clashes with police, leading to the deaths of two workers.
“Brands hold what's known as ‘monopsony power’ over suppliers, meaning there are too few brands and too many suppliers,” said Elizabeth Cline, journalist and Director of Advocacy and Policy at Remake. “[This] creates a power imbalance [where] brands are able to dictate abusive commercial practices that erode human rights as a result. The only way to fix this imbalance is through structural changes.”
Because the brands do not directly employ the workers, they can maintain a degree of separation from the labor practices of the factories, which can make it difficult to hold brands accountable for the conditions under which their products are made. However, as the primary profit-makers in the value chain, advocates believe that brands have a moral responsibility to ensure a positive impact on wage development, giving workers and their families access to better livelihoods and more power in the workplace.
“With the passage of the Garment Worker Protection Act, we established that brands are, in fact, jointly liable for garment worker wages. One of the reasons we won the bill is because investigations by the Department of Labor into working conditions in California found that brands were only paying 73% of what was necessary for factories to pay the minimum wage,” said Cline. “In other words, the brands were, in fact, the root cause of the wage theft.”
As the protests in Bangladesh continue to bring global attention to the need for fair wages and better working conditions, organizations like the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) are vocal in urging global fashion brands that rely on Bangladeshi factories to back the workers’ call for fair wages and to denounce the violence aimed at them.
When it comes to sustainability, brands often talk about the importance of “people and planet,” yet their commitments tend to focus on environmentally-driven initiatives like reducing carbon emissions, lessening water, switching to renewable energy in their headquarters, etc. Brand initiatives that center people often focus exclusively on employees at the facilities they directly manage, not at the factories that produce their clothing. Even when commitments are made to support workers across the value chain, there is rarely a clear timeline or direct benchmarks set to achieve those goals.
The truth: the fashion industry says it wants fair wages throughout its supply chain, but it isn’t willing to pay for products at the rate required to ensure fair wages.
“It all comes down to money. Corporate sustainability (at least the way that corporations define it) is a way to grow more, capture market share, and reduce costs. Reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and increasing recycled content may indicate improvements for the planet, but cost savings are almost assuredly going to spell more growth, more production, more consumption, and more environmental impact,” said Cline. “On the other hand, brands don’t view raising wages and protecting human rights in the supply chain as an investment. They view it as a threat to growth.”
Responsible purchasing practices are fundamental to safeguard the fair treatment of garment workers and to provide a healthy work environment. Rather than trying to win on a “race to the bottom,” companies need to work with factories as partners and pay based on what it really costs to make their product at a price that leads to a living wage for workers.
In addition to what is paid for products, when orders are placed and paid for also affects garment workers. For example, suppliers are able to pay their workers on time if brands pay for the products ordered on time. If brands place their orders late, workers will be pressured to work long hours, often without sleep, or even a toilet break to get the order done. However, if brands collaborate with factories to create a realistic production timeline, this can lead to reasonable working hours.
So while brands aren't physically cutting the check, only when brands commit to paying a fair price for orders can factories adequately cover production costs, including labor.
