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Happy Earth Month to all you Earthlings!
In honour of Earth Month, I wanted to take this opportunity to pivot the conversation and highlight an amazing organization I have been volunteering with as an ambassador for the past year and a bit, which is Remake--a global movement of fashion lovers, women rights advocates, environmentalist and activists whom are working together to change the fashion industry's harmful practices on both people and the planet.
WHAT IS REMAKE?
Remake is a social justice organization with the goal to make fashion a force for good. Their mission is to address the intersections of gender and climate justice within the fashion industry. It is a female founded non-profit which advocates for the women who power the fashion industry. Remake's vision is to end exploitation and starvation wages of garment workers worldwide, through the power and amplification of campaigns and demand of accountability from big fashion brands, as well as centering workers voices. One of the biggest campaigns to date is PayUp Fashion, a long-term campaign which outline 7 Actions with the input of garment workers and experts in labour, law and grassroots organizing.
Earlier this month I travelled to New York where I attended the first in-person event in 2 years, Sustainable Fashion in Action: Remake x Refashion Week, which exhibited sustainable small businesses by Remake ambassadors, as well as a panel discussion with the Founder & CEO of Remake, Ayesha Barenblat, and the Director of Advocacy and Policy, Elizabeth Cline. It was such a surreal moment and experience being in the same room with folks I either knew for a year or only just met, as well as attendees who were interested in my personal journey at Remake. Safe to say, I found my people and community and I am honoured to be a voice in this movement.
REMAKE'S 3 PILLARS OF WORK:
EDUCATION
Educating citizens, press, legislators and brands through published articles, brand accountability reports, programming, classroom and peer-to-peer engagement and social media.
We lead the industry to measure what matters, creating a roadmap for big and small brands to improve wages and meet global climate goals.
Remake trains the next generation of climate and gender justice advocates through our global ambassador program.
ADVOCACY
Organize and engage brands, unions, press and policy makers to reshape the industry.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Lead the industry to measure what matters, creating a roadmap for big and small brands to improve wages and meet global climate goals.
OVERVIEW OF (SOME OF) REMAKE'S CAMPAIGNS
#WEAR YOUR VALUES
Wear your values is a social campaign that focuses on empowering citizens and consumers to think more critically and deeper about the clothes we wear; whether it is knowing how our garment was made, who made it and what fabric and material it is made with or from. It is a movement and community of advocates dressing, styling, designing, and shopping as a reflection of our fundamental values (Wear Your Values). "It engages the fashion industry in the human rights movement through a series of events and exhibitions to educate consumers and promote supply-chain transparency in countries ruled by dictatorial regimes" (Human Rights Foundation).
This is something that may look different for each person, whether it is taking part in on an online platform and advocating on why this is important and valuable to us or it can be simply implementing and embodying this movement in our personal everyday lives, which is what I personally find empowering, as what we care about and stand for as humans can be shown through how we portray ourselves, or in this case, in the clothing we wear, and how we connect with our values through our buying power and where and and how we choose to shop and who we support.
It is acknowledging and respecting the humans behind the clothing and feeling great and knowing that we aren't causing more harm and damage to both the garment workers and our planet.
#PAYUP/PAY HER CAMPAIGN
PayUp is a campaign and petition led by Remake, specifically Founder and CEO, Ayesha Barenblat, and Director of Advocacy and Policy, Elizabeth Cline, as well as garment workers organizers, Ashila Niroshi and Nazma Akter, with the mission to hold fashion brands accountable for wage theft and to build a fair future for garment workers.
Pay Up movement came to be after the fashion industry decided to refuse payment for completed orders during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of brands had to close their stores and cancel massive orders due to the global lockdown, which resulted in the decision to not pay for the clothing that was ordered from factories, which ultimately meant the garment factory workers were not being paid and many of them lost their jobs. A lot of folks may not know this (I certainly didn't until I read Consumed by Aja Barber), but many of these big fashion brands purposefully outsource manufacturing for the low cost, and due to the unregulated legal bindings, which means getting away with a lot of things, they also choose to only pay when the clothing gets shipped to the destination, not when they are hired for the materials to make the clothing. And now the workers end up being in deeper debt because not only do they already pay for the materials to make the garments, but now they cannot pay their workers. It's total bullshit if you ask me and this is why we as community activists, fashion lovers, and community organizers are demanding these brands to take accountability and take action in repaying their workers.
There are 7 specific calls to action that outline what we as a community of activists, fashion lovers and community organizers want to see change. I have mentioned this campaign before in previous posts, however I thought I would briefly cover what each specific call of action is demanding!
PayUp: Fashion brands and retailors to honor their contracts with factories and to pay up for all orders completed in production.
Keep Workers Safe: The fashion industry must protect garment workers' basic human rights and labour rights at all times.
Go Transparent: Brands and retailors are asked to commit to providing annual data on where their clothes are made, as well as reveal how much workers are paid and treated in an easily accessbile and public format.
Give Workers Center Stage: Less brand-led conversations and more worker-led conversations as they are their own best advocates.
Sign Enforceable Contracts: The industry must commit to enforceable, legally-binding contracts and agreements that put workers first and address the power imbalance in fashion that pushes financial risk onto suppliers and thus human rights and labour rights abuses onto workers.
End Starvation Wages: Companies must publicly commit to paying prices that lift workers out of poverty.
Help Pass Laws: Brands and retailers must support rather than undermine the work of citizens and government to reform corporate power, labour laws, and trade deals.
To learn more in-depth about this campaign, please visit PayUp Fashion. And if you feel you connect with this campaign and want to take action as well, I highly encourage you to sign the petition, as you become apart of a growing movement and community of folks who care and has had enough and want to see a more just and resilient fashion industry!
SB62/GARMENT WORKER PROTECTION ACT
SB62 is a garment worker protection act/bill, advocating for a fairer minimum wage for garment workers in California. It is the first legislation in the world to establish clear liability on brands and retailers for factory worker pay, even when the brand does not own the factory (Remake).
SB62 is a landmark step towards ending our modern sweatshop regime. It will hold brands accountable to garment workers in the eyes of the law. It will also help re-establish the United States as an epicenter of ethical manufacturing (Remake).
The Garment Worker Protection Act could set an important legal precedent that brands are jointly liable for the pay and wages workers receive in contract factories.
In September of 2021, SB62 was passed by Governor Gavin Newsom, ensuring the fifth-largest economy in the world will no longer be the sweatshop capital of America. 45,000 garment workers will now be able to make minimum wage.
PROTECT THE BANGLADESH ACCORD
The Accord (or Bangladesh Accord) is a groundbreaking agreement on workplace safety launched in the aftermath of the worst industrial accident in history, the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster. The Accord has been hugely impactful, protecting the lives of 2.7 garment makers in 1,600 factories in Bangladesh through factory inspections, upgrades and training, stopping the cycle of fires, building collapses and other accidents that senselessly take garment makers' lives. The Accord agreement was first signed in May of 2013 between global and local trade unions and more than 200 global apparel brands, including H&M, Zara, American Eagle, PVH (parent company to Tommy Hilfiger), C&A, UNIQLO, Primark, and Adidas. The Accord first expired in 2018, but a successor Accord was extended again until 2021. Labor advocates are now demanding its continuation and expansion. This accord was set to expire on August 31, 2021 (Remake).
We are looking for brands to not only commit to extend the Accord, but commit to the most important 3 components of the agreement, namely:
1. Individual brand accountability of safety conditions in factories
2. An independent secretariat to oversee the Accord
3. Expansion of the Accord model into other countries
This campaign asked brands, such as H&M, Zara, American Eagle Outfitters, Tommy Hilfiger and C&A, to sign and support the accord, which would inspire many other brands to follow suit.
On August 2021, the Bangladesh Accord had been renewed, thanks to the community activists and organizers whom took action on social media and wrote emails to brands. This renewal signified a shift in power within the industry and the change we can make when we come together (Remake).
As of June 2021, five brands have committed to extend and expand the Accord:
1. ASOS
2. G-Star
3. Tchibo
4. KIK
5. Zeeman
These brands have also agreed to the three important components of a renewed Accord, namely brand accountability, independent oversight and expansion into other countries (Remake).
#NONEWCLOTHES
No New Clothes is a social campaign that focuses on empowering citizens and consumers to think more critically and deeper about the clothes we wear; whether it is knowing how our garment was made, who made it and what fabric and material it is made with or from.
It is something that looks different for everyone, whether it is only shopping at second hand/thrift stores, doing a clothing swap, or not shopping at all for 3-4 months. It is something we can take part in on an online platform advocating and amplifying why this is important and valuable to us or simply implementing and embodying this movement in our personal everyday lives, which is what I personally find empowering, as what we care about and stand for can be shown through how we portray ourselves, or in this case, in the clothing we wear, as well as how we connect with our values through our buying power and where and how we choose to shop and who we support.
#VICTORIASDIRTYSECRET
Victoria's Dirty Secret campaign is the most recent campaign at Remake and is addressing wage theft for Victoria Secret garment makers at a factory located in Thailand.
A little background: The Brilliant Alliance Thai Global Factory closed in March 2021, leaving 13,00 unionized garment workers who sewed lingerie for Victoria's Secret, Torrid, and Lane Bryant, jobless. On March 11, 2021, workers arrived at the factory for their regular shift only to find that the factory permanently closed, without any notice or possible expectations. The Thai government ruled that the factory must pay 242.22 million baht in compensation to the workers within 30 days, which they still have not received a penny up to this day (Remake).
The amount owed to the Victoria's Secret garment workers is now $8.5 million, and they have yet to take action. This poses a major human rights and labour rights issue, which is why we're demanding Victoria Secret take action immediately (Remake).
Remake has created an action kit, which includes an email template addressing these concerns and demanding accountability and action to the CEO of Victoria's Secret, Martin Waters. The latest update on the campaign so far was in March 2022, and we know that they are listening to us as their communications team is in contact with Remake and are aware of these concerns. The only thing we can do is to continue to put the pressure on them so they can take action themselves.
The irony of Victoria Secret is in their rebranding of being a feminist brand, supporting and advocating for equal opportunities for women by showcasing socially and culturally diverse women in their branding. What they fail to realize is that their feminism is selective, superficial and performative. You can't call yourself a feminist brand if you're ONLY supporting women from the Global North and not the women who are making the lingerie for your brand in the Global South. That shit needs to be called out and changed.
MAKE FASHION A FORCE FOR GOOD...
As you can see, there is so much advocacy work that Remake does and offers many educational opportunities to learn from industry professionals and from each other, as well as resources we can utilize to amplify these causes, concerns and campaigns.
To be a part of a community of changemakers, activists, organizers and overall bad ass women, is a privilege and an honour.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT by applying to become an ambassador! You become a part of a growing movement and community of folks who want to see a more just and resilient fashion industry.
SOURCES USED
(All resources/links are clickable)
