Blue jeans neither black nor white

Last week I stumbled upon a fascinating story in The Independent about a man’s search for the origin of his “Made in Bangladesh”-tagged denims.

I expected Fred Pearce’s account of his Dhaka visit to include Dickensian details about penurious wages and abusive management, and it did—but there were also a couple surprises. Pearce had this to say about three workers he talked to:

[They] all came from villages around Dhaka. Akhi had seven brothers and sisters. Back home there wasn’t enough land, and certainly not enough work, to support so many. So the families sent their young women to find jobs in Dhaka. Aisha and Miriam, sisters-in-law, together sent home 4,000 taka a month (about £30). The alarming truth was that these women, for all their pitiful surroundings, were the rich ones in their families.

It reminded me of something I heard China Road author Rob Gifford say on NPR last year: that while the conditions in Chinese factories are often deplorable to Western eyes, many workers there are content to toil for long hours under harsh conditions, because their jobs represent the key to economic salvation. As peasants in the countryside, their prospects were far worse.

Later in Pearce’s  story, he describes how the founder of a Bangladeshi advocacy organization supporting the rights of garment workers looks at the situation: “The jobs, poor as many were, empowered women. Western consumers, she said, should be demanding better conditions for the women of Dhaka, and above all should be willing to pay higher prices. And retailers should stop competing on price. But please, she said, ‘don't stop buying’.”

It’s a great point, but how can we consumers send the message that we’re willing to pay more? Write to the big brands, I suppose, and support certification systems with labels that give consumers assurance about how wares are produced.

Of course, many manufacturers already have their own production standards and codes of conduct in place, but there’s often a disconnect between the standards and reality. Pearce’s story provides yet another example:

The buyers—the brands’ representatives in Bangladesh—make regular inspections of the factory, the women said. But “they always inform the owners first. Before they come, the managers come through the factory with megaphones. We are told to prepare the factory, to clean up. And they instruct us what to say about working hours and holidays and conditions. We have to lie about holidays especially.” 

I was excited to learn that the article is an extract from a book by Pearce: Confessions of an Eco Sinner: Travels to Find Where My Stuff Comes From. I’m adding it, and China Road, to my reading list.