Cries For Help Found In Primark Clothes (a.k.a. ‘Labelgate’)

Miss Gallagher said: ‘I was amazed when I checked for the washing instructions and spotted this label. ‘It was stitched by hand to say ‘Forced to work exhausting hours’ and sewn in with the other normal labels. ‘To be honest I’ve never really thought much about how the clothes are made. ‘But this really made me think about how we get our cheap fashion. I dread to think that my summer top may be made by some exhausted person toiling away for hours in some sweatshop abroad.’ A Primark spokesman said there had been ‘no other incidents of this kind’ relating to this dress (Source: Anon 2014b, np link).

A second shopper has come forward, claiming that a label which reads ‘Degrading sweatshop conditions’ was sewn into a Primark top bought in Swansea in 2013. The size ten polka dot top, bought by Rebecca Jones, is different from the dress bought by Rebecca Gallagher but the label appears to be of a similar style, also sewn along the seam (Source: Dawson 2014a, np link).

The two women – who do not know each other – bought their £10 summer dresses from the same Primark store in Swansea, South Wales. … Miss Jones, of Porthcawl, South Wales, said she tweeted a photograph of the label to Primark when she bought the blue dress from last year’s summer range. She said: ‘I tried to ring them as well but I was put on hold forever and then it just went dead’ (Source: Aspinall 2014, np link).

Another day, another plea for help from a sweatshop worker found on a label in a Primark garment (Source: Ongley 2014, np link).

… a shopper in Northern Ireland, Karen Wisínska, also claims to have uncovered a note in a pair of trousers she bought in Belfast (Source: Aspinall 2014, np link).

Mrs Wisínska, who lives in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, bought the trousers during a shopping trip to Belfast three years ago, but had never worn them because when she took them home, she found the zip was broken. She put them into her wardrobe and did not take them out again until last week, when she was packing clothes for a holiday. She said it was only at that point she discovered the note and the prison identity card inside a pocket of the trousers. Mrs Wisínska said she knew it was some sort of plea for help because the letters SOS were written across the top, but she could not understand the rest of the writing. She posted the pictures of the items on Facebook, and when she received rough English translations of the note, she said she was ‘in shock’ and ‘felt sick’. She then contacted human rights campaigners at Amnesty International. ‘I was shocked to find this note and card inside the trousers from Primark and even more shocked to discover that it appears to have been made under slave labour conditions in a Chinese prison,’ she said (Source: Anon 2014b, np link).

… mother-of-two Karen Wisinska bought a pair of three quarter length camouflage trousers from Primark, for around £10, in June 2011 but only discovered the prison identity card and plea for help attached to it last week when she was clearing her wardrobe out. ‘SOS! SOS! SOS!,’ the note read. ‘We are prisoners in the Xiang Nan Prison of the Hubei Province in China. Our job inside the prison is to produce fashion clothes for export. We work 15 hours per day and the food we eat wouldn’t even be given to dogs or pigs. We work as hard as oxen in the field. We call on the international community to condemn the Chinese government for the violation of our human rights!’ (Source: Ferguson 2014, np link).

Mrs Wisinska … [said] she could have cried when the note was translated into English (Source: Ferguson 2014, np link).

A Primark spokesperson described the label finds as ‘strange’ and have asked the customers to give them the dresses for their investigation (Source: Anon 2014c, np link).

Why would you look?? I went to wash it and then seen it! (Source: Gallagher 2014a, np link).

if she has the dress she should give it 2 a company 2 see if its the same thread used in the manufacture of it. … primark have replied saying it was sold a year ago and cant understand why it is only coming out now seriously tho I don’t know who would be able to test the thread independently but its something you should look into as u know as well as I do if you give it to primark they will say it was added after it left the factory or shop but if it is a genuine cry for help then something really needs to be done (Source: Wylie 2014, np link).

This scares me for the person who stitched into the label. Primark may be a part of all of it. They want the dress so they can track the person who did it and possible punish them…This is world wide issue and the Elites control it all. I pray for the poor person that stitched this cry for help! Blessings, protection and healing for your situation dear soul! This girl should NOT have alerted Primark!!! I hope the girl DID NOT give them the dress! (Source: Sendgikoski 2014, np link).

Not only will the person who did it be put in danger but they will then destroy the evidence and then pay off the media to keep the tongues wagging at bay. This is terrible. There’s gotta be something we all can do as a collective. We love fashion, I do! But we can’t continue to exploit others (Source: Bird 2014, np link).

I’m sure they will track down the worker and give them a beating. How dare they spoil our enjoyment of cheap clothes. Honestly people how do you think it’s possible to sell jeans at £3 a pair? Someone somewhere is getting exploited and working for nothing (Source: Brocklehurst 2014, np link).

I hope she don’t give the dress back to the shop because they will trace the worker and sack her (Source: Carpenter 2014, np link).

I’m not (Source: Gallagher 2014a, np link).

Please don’t give it back (Source: Fogarty 2014, np link).

oh I won’t be giving it to them, I don’t know who’s done it but it’s bad (Source: Gallagher 2014a, np link).

I teach Sustainable Leadership (ethics etc). I wonder Rebecca, if I could have the dress? It will make a really interesting student discussion. I would be happy to pay for the dress (Source: jayne2709 2014, np link).

This label is bogus (Source: Hines 2014, np link).

It is a little funny how both of these [label finds] are from the South Wales area (Source: wyeiphoneman 2014, np link). 

perfect labels with same font, end up being bought in the same town. seriously guys? (Source: Davies 2014, np link). 

This has to be a fake. If you’re going to fake something don’t make it in nice block printing and perfectly spelled (Source: gatherer 2014, np link).

The label clearly looks like it was pasted into the picture (Source: Winberg 2014, np link).

From the picture here, to me it looks like the message was written with a sharpie or something. I want to see the stitches otherwise (Source: Apps 2014, np link).

The woman has stitched in the label herself to get this attention, people will do anything to try and get themselves in the paper/famous these days (Source: Hartman 2014, np link).

She wrote it herself to attract attention of media. Primark clothes are made in Madrid (Source: Babayeva 2014, np link).

Well that’s OK then … Panic over. Phew, I really believed these sweatshops and exploitation of workers in the Far East was real for one minute. The point is that these places do exist, and Rebekahs £10 dress was more than likely made in one of them, regardless of who has sewn the extra label in (Source: Edwards 2014, np link).

This is not fake and I wouldn’t say I’m attention seeking, the writing on the lable is hand Stiched perfect and I wouldn’t bother wasting my time to do that!! (Source: Gallagher 2014b, np link).

Hahaha I have better things to do than Stich the lable in!!! (Source: Gallagher 2014a, np link).

Looks like Primark has been stitched up. Probably the CEO of M&S slipped the note in (Source: Carver 2014, np link).

Or the South Wales Evening Post. Papers would do anything for a story (Source: IrishGravyTrain 2014, np link).

Some people have speculated that the incident might be a form of guerilla advertising by campaigners trying to attack big brands (Source: Kamberov 2014, np link).

Guerilla Art Technics. Wake Up! #Google #It (Source: Marsoeki 2014, np link).

… probably some activist or artist (Source: Guidance 2014, np link).

Those that received these messages in labels etc should frame them as in a way that is an art (Source: Dunnit 2014, np link).

I have no idea who made the label or how it go it there – but it does make you think (Source: Gallagher in Anon 2014c, np link).

According to Vogue, Primark believes that the label was either added once the dress arrived in the UK, or it was sewn in by a factory worker before it was shipped (Source: Kamberov 2014, np link).

The claims can only be investigated once the store has the dress. From there, the company can work on determining whether the message was really sewn in by a factory employee, or whether it happened once it had reached Britain. There is a small possibility that someone protesting against the working conditions may have gotten hold of the dress and added the label (Source: Ingham 2014, np link).

So why is the label hand stitched into the clothing then? Either someone inside the company wants to continue to shame Primark or the people working in the factories still need to speak out as nothing has really changed. How do we know it has changed, where is the actual proof and if we were shown it how would we know that it was not contrived? Maybe those workers we all assume cannot read or write have found their power and learnt a few words of English or know someone who does…or maybe they know someone with a computer who can put the words in in their language and have them translated. And why would Primark need the article of clothing with those labels in? I wouldn’t give it to them in case it was traced back to one of the makers, if indeed it was the maker, I would not like to be that maker, would you? (Source: Jewson 2014, np link).

The Garments are … checked up to 4 times for any major defects before it leaves the factory and i highly doubt they would have missed that, as the garment producers will face a fine for the % of returns/rejects with the threat of losing future orders, The garments are also checked prior to shipment and again when the shipment arrives for distribution (Source: Johnston 2014, np link).

… how do we know this was not stitched in by a Primark protester? they have changing rooms and a bad rep so this is just as likely surely? (Source: Vining 2014, np link).

Primark don’t look too closely when you’re returning goods, wouldn’t be hard to buy up a few items stitch some new labels and return them where they’ll end up back in rotation (Source: FW 2014, np link).

I was recently in Primark Oxford Street and queued for over 30 minutes to pay for 3 things for my niece – the sales assistants looked fed up and although the queue was so long did nothing to hurry up. When I spoke with the assistant who served us he reported that it was always like this even though it was a Monday and that there were just not enough staff to deal with the level of customers. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was a shop worker in UK! (Source: Wenban 2014, np link).

I wonder if an activist bought a dress, took it home, hand stitched the message in to the label and then brought it back to the store for a refund. The store’s worker then, not seeing the label, places the dress back on the rack and Rebecca Gallagher buys it and a news story is born. Another option could be that an activist went to the change room with needle and thread, sowed the message into the dress and put it back on the rack and Rebecca Gallagher buys it and a news story is born (Source: Teneycke 2014, np link).

My guess is that this was taken by someone in Wales, the label added, then the dress returned as unwanted for a refund. It sure smells like a fake story. Don’t get me wrong, I am totally opposed to forced labour and servitude, as my work with the anti-trafficking agencies show. But let’s focus our efforts on the real story and not attack those who are already trying to be part of the solution (Source: Harris 2014, np link). 

How do you know its a scam. Do you work abroad and how do you know that someone abroad can speak english PERFECTLY? Do you know the lady who found it? And to highlight the fact someone from WALES suggests you are English! May explain the suspicion! ! First of get your facts right before judging someone for what they FOUND!! (Source: Jones, J. 2014, np link).

Obviously from your message your English is not as good as the English of the person who wrote the tag. I never said I ‘knew’ I said I ‘suspect’. I have no problem with the Welsh, nor did I comment on the lady who found the dress – that’s not an issue. The fact that it was a Welsh store is. If it were a Manx store I would have said ‘Manx’. You are rather paranoid. I used to live in Wales and have many Welsh friends, and your assumptions are poor, I am Canadian and what does being English have to do with it anyway, and what does that have to do with the price of eggs in China anyway? Your message is already full of assumptions and mistakes as it is. Your thinking is unclear and not well thought out (Source: Harris 2014, np link).

Not being funny but the people in sweatshops cant spell or even count most of the people in sweatshops are kids whom have been kidnapped or even sold there was a documentry about it on tv last month (Source: Cunningham 2014, np link).

Bangladeshi workers can hardly read their mother language, forget about English! And these sweat shop workers have no time writing this label, nor this garment can pass the QC table with an unwanted label (Source: Jebtik 2014, np link).

I find it quite disturbing how many people dismiss the ability of those working in sweatshops to write in coherent English. Many are educated, from countries (like India) where English is the national language, and simply desperate. They are exposed to western media, advertising and films incessantly; I am not saying this is not a hoax, but it is far from impossible (Source: Kelly 2014, np link).

This girl is not lying…. the poorest people all have phones…. they would only need to do a google translation (Source: Blizzard 2014, np link).

I recently visited India and met a man whose daughter worked 6 days a week for 12 hours a day in a clothes making factory! She got paid the equivalent of £20 a week! Also the level of English I encountered in India even in poor families is incredible (Source: Patsy21 2014, np link).

Message is in English so probably made in a British sweatshop (Source: alanb 2014, np link).

The language used in that ‘message’ is one that campaigners use (Source: Johnston 2014, np link).

It is all true, it’s my top and it’s not fake!! (Source: Gallagher 2014c, np link).

Primark is right to want to see the actual garment. I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be a hoax. A shame as it would damage a valid debate about throwaway fashion and our demand for cheap clothing (Source: nettie 2014, np link).

My guess is this will be shown to be fraud, which is a shame because it’s a real issue that’s will be damaged by a well intentioned yet stupid act (Source: FLCPA 2014, np link).

Why have people got to be so judgemental and horrible these days!!! Jez a women finds a label sown into her top she contact primark gets nowhere goes to the local paper!! Then realises her story is everywhere! Who wouldn’t want everyone to see it good on her I say!!!!! How is she going to know if it is a scam! (Source: Coombs 2014, np link).

I think the people who are posting comments saying that the label is ‘fake’ are missing the main point of the article, which is highlighting the unethical practices behind our high street clothing. It’s something too many people simply want to ignore but i… working conditions are unjustifiable. I personally think that anyone who doesn’t feel even slightly uncomfortable about these practices being the norm so that we can get cheap clothes either has their head in the sand or is just a bit too selfish with no thoughts to spare for their fellow human beings (Source: Catkinses 2014, np link).

Throw away fashion comes at a cost (Source: Fleming 2014, np link).

What does she expect for a tenner. Can’t have it all ways! (Source: Green 2014, np link)

… so why do people think these clothes are so cheap? They must know they are made in sweat shops… that or they think they are magically made by (unpaid) fairies (Source: Downie 2014, np link). 

Who didn’t know this already? I have even less faith in humanity now (Source: Davies 2014, np link). 

Only now you realise your clothes are made by forced labour. Are you that naive!? (Source: Holmes 2014, np link).

Who do they think they’re fooling. It’s more than obvious their clothing is produced in a sweatshop or it wouldn’t be so cheap (Source: Sylla 2014, np link).

… do we have to wait for a sister in slave trade to throw us a message in a bottle though ..we know it’s happening #primark #slavetrade (Source: Lowde 2014, np link).

We already know what is going on, but nobody really cares (Source: Smith 2014, np link).

Ultimately people don’t give a Sh*t how and where their clothes are made, if they did, we would all walk around naked (Source: Paul 2014, np link).

… naked protest anyone? (Cynical 2014, np link).

Primark will soon launch a new line of clothes under the ‘Cry for Help’ label (Source: beaudobor 2014, np link).

… [an] edgy new fashion label with worker cries for help stitched into their labels. I like it, would buy (Source: Westweird 2014, np link).

Hm, prohesised rather too accurately by The Onion a few years ago: http://www.theonion.com/video/gap-unveils-new-for-kids-by-kids-clothing-line,14135/ (Source: Bointon 2014, np link).

Ruth Valerio, Churches and Theology Director for A Rocha UK and Fairtrade activist…’There’s been so much talk recently, and over the years, about fast fashion and the conditions of people who make the things we wear,’ she says. ‘The problem is that our attention span is so short. We know it’s terrible, but we forget about it so easily because it’s so distanced from us – we’re not buying directly from someone who we can see is in awful conditions, but instead we’re buying it in a nice, brightly lit shop – and so it’s hard to remember that there’s a connection’ (Source: Lodge 2014, np link).

I don’t doubt this is a serious issue but I do know from working in retail they often do everything they can to audit and make sure the factories they use are safe and adhering to codes of conduct. They spend thousands and thousands doing so and hate this kind of bad press. The real issue is not the shops but that people would rather pay £10 for a dress and not think about how it is that price. Plenty of people moan about quality but no one wants to pay for it (Source: nettie 2014, np link).

There is no way of knowing for sure who wrote the message on the tag, but what we can be sure of is the way shops like Primark treat the people who make their clothes, it has been well documented. I brought the dress to the attention of the media because they have the power to change things for the better, does it actually matter if someone such as an activist somehow stitched this on to the top? No, not really. What matters is the fact that people are working in terrible conditions and that is what people, including Primark and the media should be working to resolve (Source: Gallagher 2014c, np link).

That is how the world ‘Elite’ are trying to control things, they let a few pieces of clothes with cries for help on them slip threw all the levels of quality control most clothes go threw before sale, so that people find them, so that it gets out, so that it is later found that some kid, or some activist was responsible, so that for a majority of the people think all slave labor is fake because of this one instance… it wont work on everybody but it will work on enough people, so the ‘elite’ call it a success (Source: tcraven 2014, np link).

… the issue is not how the labels actually came to be affixed. If Primark discovers it was put there as an act of vengeance by a Swansea sales associate who was scolded for having a fag to close to the store entrance, it will likely only detract from the real issue. We feign concern only when there’s a first world story (or a first world face) to affix to horrifying labor conditions. As soon as it’s revealed the story is a ‘hoax,’ Gallagher can go back to wearing her top. And we can continue hitting up Forever 21 on our lunch breaks. What the labels should make us think about is why that top costs £10 (about $17US.) If the company nor the customer are paying then somebody has to be (Source: Ongley 2014, np link).

Primark might use suppliers that pay cheap wages and long hours; but take that away from people in countries such as India and what do they have left; it’s not like there are other jobs readily available. If people don’t work then they are left to beg on the streets. I am in no way condoning what shops do in other countries and I believe that the manufacturers should provide a better wage and working hours. However, society and living is different in other countries and yes it could be better, but for those people just having a job is probably enough. That message was to grammatically correct to be a worker; have you ever visited a factory in india etc? They barely speak English never mind write it (Source: silver_eye_of_the_wolf 2014, np link).

If these workers did not make these clothes they would not have jobs so shut up about ethics (Source: Supernurse 2014, np link). 

Primark are actually one of the best cheap clothes companies when it comes to sourcing – they manufacture all over the world – and after the Bangladesh factory collapse were the first to pay immediate compensation and to put in place long term help for workers there. Walmart, Carrefour, Bonmarché, Mango, Auchan and Kik have refused to pay compensation. Primark also now check the structural integrity of building their clothes come from. But you can’t have very cheap clothes if you don’t pay very low wages. Anyone buying at prices like this is keeping workers – usually women – at a level barely above starvation. But Primark at least pay above, not below, starvation wages. But not enough above to make me buy their clothes (Source: Marsh 2014, np link).

Also, Primark is slated for a lot of things relating to this. But the BBC actually did a live apology for the panorama footage they showed as it was a hoax; look it up online [read our page on this here]. The things that are not shared over the news are the different charity work and help they provide for their workers and families. Yes, they could improve; but I don’t see any of you giving all your money to charity or going over and helping people (Source: silver_eye_of_the_wolf 2014, np link).

In 2008 a six-month investigation by the BBC’s Panorama found that children as young as 11 had been sub-contracted to sew beads and sequins on to Primark tops in India. In the wake of that scandal Primark promised to redouble its efforts to end sweatshop labour, even setting up a website, Ethical Primark (Source: Anon 2014d, np link). [NB see our page on this documentary here]

Er, you HAVE heard about PR companies? Setting up a website eh? That’s make sure the workers are treated well! Or would it make it SOUND like they are being treated well (Source: rustedhalo 2014, np link).

This is marketing stunt. Before this (and coincidentally at a time when they are launching in US ) primark had no social media space (Source: Paul 2014, np link).

this is exactly why i don’t buy sh*t at primark, it’s cheap for a reason (Source: V 2014, np link).

I’ve never shopped at #primark because of the way the clothes are produced. Stop thinking about your money and think about others (Source: Kent 2014, np link).

I hate to break this to you but the large majority of the cloths we buy, regardless of their brand and price, are manufactured in countries where our notion of dignity is nowhere near a reality. Low wages and appalling work conditions are exactly what drives foreign investment in these countries (Source: Filipa Firmino 2014, np link).

If Western govts or companies intervene in what are essentially domestic issues in the developing world, they are accused of being ‘neo-colonialist’… If they don’t, they’re accused of having blood on their hands… Either way, it’s ALWAYS the fault of the West, right, rather than the govts in the developing world for not enforcing building regs or forcing the sweatshop owners there to improve conditions (Source: whatever 2014, np link).

The Indian sub-continent is simply 300 years behind us in this respect and many others. Improvements will happen there in time (Source: treadstone 2014, np link).

Wow, the use of the word ‘simply’ here really does highlight the ignorance of the situation. THREE HUNDRED YEARS BEHIND ON THE SAME PLANET (Source: ktab 2014, np link).

Before you all criticize the system you should go and live and work in some of these countries, China, India, former USSR etc etc. and see for yourselves and then judge what a living wage is. Is it not better to have something rather than nothing? If all our clothes were made in the UK I guess we would be walking around semi naked (Source: Rush 2014, np link).

You can’t be serious. There’s making a profit and there is blatant exploitation of poverty stricken workers (Source: Meczes 2014, np link).

China, India and the former USSR are all capitalist countries (China being state capitalist) (Source: lopekal 2014, np link).

I always think about this no matter what clothes I buy but as my husband travels the world he always says if we didn’t buy the clothes would these people starve ?! So I’m confused where to buy clothes but I still buy from Primark or primani as my daughter calls it !! (Source: Howard 2014, np link).

It’s not only Primark they all do it. The only difference with Primark is that customers get cheap clothing, the high end stores profits are passed on to shareholders (Source: Samuels 2014, np link).

Designers in the ‘mid range’ market use [exploitatice labour] as well and not to forget the deaths and suicides of chinese workers working for Apple [see our page on this here]. The only guarente of your clothes not being exploitative is either to make them yourself or to but top end designers where you pay hunderends of pounds. It is getting so difficult to live an ethical life in the UK. I would love to run a fair trade esq shop but the problem is people often won’t pay a fair price for things. Most people won’t pay 10 for a fair trade esq t shirt when you go to primark nd get 4 for the same price (Source: Rose 2014, np link).

The thing is most clothes are made by people living in abysmal conditions – i would like people to stop blaming primark and look at some of the companies who charge more for their clothes but still utilise sweatshop labour (Source: Avila 2014, np link). 

Primark, Tesco, Asda, Next Bon Marche and many more are exploiting these worker , The owners of these companies moved away from UK workforce in the 90,s to make bigger profits, Im an x Jaeger Tailoring worker in Scotland and it happened to us too. we lost our jobs after 20-30yrs loyalty for it all to be produced abroad in terrible conditions. at one time you could choose by reading labels where you bought your clothes from but not now. In our factory we produced for Marks and Spencer and Laura Ashley too as well as making British Airways Uniforms. its time this was all brought to light (Source: Corrigan 2014, np link).

i used to live in leicester and there was so much clothing manufacture there. There were lots of skilled factory garment makers and lots of jobs for them. Even in the recession in 1991 most the job ads in the job centre were for ‘skilled interlockers’. Those factories are all empty now. we need to bring clothing manufacture back home. Businesses went abroad for cheap exploitable labour when the minimum wage came in and that is disgusting (Source: Borrett 2014, np link).

I grew up going inside Seattle’s garment factories, since my dad worked there. People take it for granted where their clothes come from nowadays, not knowing the conditions of the mfg. There are a few Clothing Made in the USA is my main point. 40-50 years ago, all our clothing were made locally, in the US like at my dad’s shops. Just stating some history, and be your own Advocate to Make Change (Source: Sugahara 2014, np link).

Primark also uses UK workfare placements. Workfare (called variously ‘work experience’, ‘training’, ‘help to work’ and God knows what else) is gradually replacing wages at the lower employment levels; people are told that wages are not a right but a privilege that you have to prove you deserve by an indefinite period of unpaid work for benefits. Workfare at home, sweatshops abroad – boycott Primark (Source: Perlo 2014, np link). 

[I] will never forget the horrible time i had with Primark ….. true meaning of slavery ….. dear lord I know you are merciful but some bastards i met there deserve hell fire (Source: Henriques 2014, np link).

I recall several years ago a reporter doing a story on sweatshop conditions in Brazil. She picked on one family and told the story from their point of view, and then returned to the UK to tackle the company here. A couple of years later she went back to see how well the family was doing. She found them sorting through rubbish on the dumps. The campaign had worked so well the company shut the factory down and moved it to China. Well done interfering miss! (Source: Scroggins 2014, np link).

The argument for fairer, better and safer working conditions and higher salaries is one that needs to be taken with a dose of reality and economics, while I highly support better, safer, and fairer working conditions and an increase in salaries for the workers I do also believe that the whole economic cycle with direct and in-direct effects should also be taken into consideration. (for example… higher salaries without an increase of sales price = fewer workers, fewer workers = increase in poverty and etc. (Source: Johnston 2014, np link).

The Fashion Law points out that it’s not just wages we should be concerned about either: ‘Fast fashion retailers are often able to sell products at such low prices because: 1) They do not have to employ/pay designers because a majority of their pieces are copies of the original designs of others; 2) They bypass important quality control and manufacturing safety standards because they are costly to implement and monitor (hence, the toxic chemicals in clothes, the frequent employee hospitalizations, and the increasing number of fires and buildings collapsing); and 3) They do not pay their laborers adequate wages’ (Source: Ongley 2014, np link).

I worked in the garment industry in Morocco a few years ago. However heart rending the label in the Primark garment might be, based on my experience, the ‘sweatshop’ argument is not as simple as you might think, because: 1) Given the almost non-existent level of social security in many developing countries, if offered a choice between having a low paid job and no job at all, a low paid job wins every time. IDS would love it. 2) ‘Low paid’ may not be as bad as you might think, given the local cost of living. One of my staff in Morocco was the only person in her house with a regular job – her wage supported her mum and dad, 2 brothers and a sister. They were clearly not in the lap of luxury, but far from living in a mud hut: TV, phone, fridge, cooker. Her wage in the late 1990s was £27.50 per week. 3) My employer made genuine attempts to ensure that working conditions and wages were fair, but our local contractor was not above sub-contracting work to people with less scruples if he could get away with it. This is hard to stop unless there is policing and enforcement of standards at a national level (Source: countrygentleman 2014, np link).

Primark and others try to contract with decent clothing manufacturers in third world countries, only to have the local manufacturer sub-contract to a sweat shop behind their backs. The corruption is locally based (Source: Jeremy 2014, np link).

it’s not primarks fault that those sweatshop people are complaining. i mean, they like chose to work there (Source: Carson 2014, np link).

Let the people in these countries sort themselves out like we did. I am not here to help the world but my family and community (Source: Gilmore-Hardy 2014, np link).

How they treat the workers and how much they pay them in the third world is not our problem, in fact I couldn’t care less. Just more hand-wringing and bleating from white leftists …. go and hug a bloody tree or something (Source: Poore 2014, np link).

… not sure why the skin colour or the politics of the protesters should be of any relevance (Source: caravanserai 2014, np link). 

Yeah, knowing that my next meal in the fridge makes me privileged. Got it…. Sure, 25 cents an hour is better than nothing. They should be thankful. Got it… We’re helping them by giving them this ‘opportunity’. Got it… Look, if Greed-Mart makes a widget for $1 in China, and pays the workers $.25, they sell that widget for $10. They make $8.75 in profit. If they paid the same worker $1.00, they’d make ‘ONLY’ $8.00. Increasing pay would mean a great deal to those poor workers, but not really hurt profits much at all as labor is a small component of most things we buy. But the Greed-Marts want every penny they can make, nothing less than every possible penny is satisfactory. THERE is the problem! (Source: D 2014, np link).

Now, I’m not defending sweatshops here, … ‘virtual’ slavery is still not slavery. When it comes down to it, the people working in sweatshops are there by choice, even if their choice is only between grueling work or starvation. Some workers in that situation may even be required to work for a specific duration, be it hours or days, but, at the end of that period, they still have a choice whether to return; slaves do not. Under such conditions, a moral justification might be that wages derived from external sources, even if those wages barely exceed subsistence levels, gradually builds wealth in a community, providing individual workers and the community as a whole with more opportunity than the case where those wage sources don’t exist at all. Of course, substantive charity on the part of someone concerned with horrendous working conditions could help equalize wealth and opportunity disparities as well, but too few are willing to put forth the money, and, more importantly, effort, to have a sustained impact with that route. Sans external surpluses, a marginal livelihood improvement for workers consenting to terrible labor conditions is better than nothing, and (relatively) wealthy consumers can argue that their purchases resulted in that slight benefit. Is there more that consumers could do? Yes, but, from the somewhat falsely dichotomous framing, refusing sweatshop goods is actually worse for the sweatshop laborer than purchasing the result of their toil (Source: tobikan 2014, np link).

Well, it has always stunk, since Thatcher created the situation and Labour perpetuated it, that we import anything from anywhere that has lower wages relative to living costs and has less careful working conditions in place. The same applies to food from countries which do not have the same welfare and pesticides controls in place as the UK. It means UK manufacturers and producers are defeated by unfair competition. Primark means workers in england are thrown out off work so that we can pay tax to keep them and buy cheap last for a few weeks clothes which then go for paper or to landfill. consumer society at its worst (Source: themardler 2014, np link).

We live in a global economy, so it’s all interconnected. The reason such efforts are made in the West to keep wages low (e.g. maintaining a high level of unemployment, refusal to raise minimum wage, disempowerment of the the unions etc. etc.) is so we can compete globally with countries like Bangladesh or Cambodia where there are no worker’s rights at all. That is to say that until we can drag up there standards of ethical trading our governments will eternally be trying to drag down ours to compete. Besides the additional cost per garment for third world workers to be paid a living wage is a matter of pence. It would make a negligible difference to the pocket of the consumer (Source: Wright 2014, np link). 

Nelson Mandela said that the most powerful factor in the South African governments ending of apartheid was the growing international boycott of their goods. Don’t pretend that buying that dress is an act of charity, it is rewarding the worst businesses for their abhorrent behavior (Source: Moore 2014, np link).

This is one of those issues that needs legislation, enforced by an independent body paid for by the retailers. As without it anyone taking action will be at a competitive disadvantage (Source: James 2014, np link).

What we should do is raise import taxes with exemptions for suppliers that have a clean bill of health regarding ethical treatment of workers; that way there would be a financial advantage for suppliers to take an interest in their worker’s well being (Source: Wright 2014, np link).

Sustainable, #ethical #fashion needs to be enforced (Source: LeCouteur 2014, np link).

Can anyone please tell me where I can find clothes that are not made from slave labour..?? I have been watching many documentaries lately regarding this subject and most clothing companies are in these countries paying pitiful wages and conditions (Source: Mooney 2014, np link).

Maybe there should be a ‘fair trade’ scheme for clothing. Then the consumer will know that the garment worker had not been exploited. If we keep buying these ridiculously cheapo clothing made by exploited workers then shops will continue to stock them. It’s time that we in the west took some responsibility on what we purchase and maybe the media could list those companies that employ or buy from companies that exploit their employees (Source: Rampal 2014, np link).

I work in an indipendant fashion boutique that refuses to stock any brands that use slave or child labour. It’s not hard to find sustainable fashion on the high street (Source: Bennett 2014, np link).

Though it’s not always feasible – or even possible – to be 100% sartorially scrupulous, it is getting easier to change the way we consume. People like Jamie Ortega of slow fashion print project Sumzine are making it cool to care even when news headlines don’t require us to, as are brands like Reformation, Edun, HELPSY, and even H&M. Initiatives such as Fashion Revolution Day have sought to raise awareness around sweatshop labour and kickstart a conversation around sustainable fashion (Source: Ongley 2014, np link).

If you want to prevent something like this happening again, support Fashion Revolution and show retailers that we don’t want their fast fashion if the person making it has suffered to get it to us (Source: Shetabi 2014, np link).

My daughter recently was offered a job in a pub which asked her to work a 12 hour shift with one short break or 8 hours no break. This was for minimum wage in London. I know it’s no where near the poverty in such places as India and China but we are coming closer on our own door step. Everyone want something for nothing (Source: Besley 2014, np link).

One of our girls once took a holiday-job waitressing at Royal Ascot. First of all she had to sign away all rights to any breaks (15 minutes once a day for lunch was all they allowed) then had to give up all tips (searched on the way in and out of the enclosure – not allowed to take any personal items in or out) and again, they paid the minimum wage. As you say … on our own doorstep! (Source: Billing 2014, np link). 

Some posters here are living in a parallel universe. Huge numbers of people in the UK are struggling on sweat shop wages, they have zero hours contracts at minimum wages and many are sinking into debt. Being able to buy cheap clothing makes a difference. If you don’t want cheap clothes, don’t shop at Primark. Go to M&S if you like, that nice company who forced many local people out of work when the decided to buy from abroad (Source: jiffy 2014, np link).

If you have small income and children to feed and clothe your only option is to use shops like primark charity shops are overpriced now. I feel for these people their conditions but they apply for the job knowing the wage and conditions they like the poor in this country have no option (Source: Crampton 2014, np link).

I do shop at primark, because im poor, and I buy poor clothes made by poor people. I’m pleased for myself that I don’t at least buy expensive clothes made by poor people! (Source: Cares 2014, np link).

If like me, you can’t afford [Primark], buy in charity shops and on ebay. It can be time consuming but rewarding to find things you like. Clothes swaps are also great. It doesn’t e that the clothes were made ethically but it does keep clothes in circulation and your money isn’t going to the offenders. The result of more people doing this would be less demand (Source: Forde 2014, np link). 

The only guarente of your clothes not being exploitative is either to make them yourself or to but top end designers where you pay hunderends of pounds. It is getting so difficult to live an ethical life in the UK. I would love to run a fair trade esq shop but the problem is people often won’t pay a fair price for things. Most people won’t pay 10 for a fair trade esq t shirt when you go to primark nd get 4 for the same price (Source: Rose 2014, np link).

Wish I could sew & make my own individual things (Source: Hayward 2014, np link).

… until you have a fairly well paying career, people need cheaper shops to get clothes from. It’s hard to find decent clothes in second hand shops. Lots of people want to vote with their feet but aren’t in a good enough financial position to do so… (Source: Seton 2014, np link).

[Rebecca Gallagher] has now vowed never to wear her bargain find for fear it could be the result of exploitative labour.’ Yes, so now not only was ridiculous amounts of hard work put into making it, but she’s refusing to wear it because it was so difficult to make (Source: Glover 2014, np link).

Unfortunately everything you wear was created with hard labor. So wear your clothes but don’t bin them, give them instead to the charities, so the things the people crafted have a longer life and the hard work they did was a bit more meaningful in the end (Source: Brozek, R. 2014, np link).

After good use of my Primark clothes, they AlLWAYS go to charity shops – raising money & getting further use. I don’t earn much, so Primark clothes are ideal (Source: Londonlurve 2014, np link).

Research the clothes you buy. There’s a lot of ethical clothing online.. unfortunately you’re going to be paying a lot more for it. If like me, you can’t afford that, buy in charity shops and on ebay. It can be time consuming but rewarding to find things you like. Clothes swaps are also great. It doesn’t guarantee that the clothes were made ethically but it does keep clothes in circulation and your money isn’t going to the offenders. The result of more people doing this would be less demand (Source: Forde 2014, np link)

I think it’s outrageous that fashion retailers are under no obligation to tell us about the work and pay conditions along their supply chain! We can tell from the box whether our eggs are free range or caged, but not whether our clothing is made in sweatshops or decent factories. I think shoppers have a right to know. Clothes should be labelled just like eggs. If you agree please sign and share my petition here: http://tinyurl.com/k2wkxvp (Source: Seamark 2014, np link).

The truth is you can’t tell whether your eggs come from free range or caged chickens from the box. The regulations that dictate that labeling are weak, and investigative journalism is showing that much of the ‘free range’ chickens spend 95% of their lives in a cage. You can’t go off retailer labels, you have to be a more research oriented consumer to really know what you’re getting (Source: cognizant 2014, np link).

I think it’s outrageous that you automatically think that they know (Source: Rozek 2014, np link).

It’s their responsibility to know. Ignorance is no excuse for corporate irresponsibility! (Source: Seamark 2014, np link).

A spokesman for Primark denied selling garments made in Chinese jails or forced labour camps. The company has asked Mrs Wisinska to send them the trousers and the note for further examination (Source: de Bruxelles 2014, np).

I’m studying in China right now and although I’m not fluent in Chinese, this doesn’t really look like typical handwriting of a local. Looks a little better than my homework. That’s just my initial reaction with a fairly untrained eye, though (Source: kellybell 2014, np link).

Why do you suggest a local? If it was from a prison the writer could have come from anywhere in China. There are many well educated prisoners in communist China (Source: Simmons 2014, np link).

The penmenship is atrocious. Most likely it’s fabricated by some western propaganda. Just like the author who wrote about having ‘witnessed’ underage worker at iPhone maker in China, turned out to be total fabrications [see our page on this here] (Source Tao 2014, np link).

Why would there be an SOS on top written in English and the rest written in Chinese? (Source: Williams 2014, np link). 

SOS has become international. It’s just like how I know Japanese kimo chi despite not knowing Japanese (Source: Gustavus 2014, np link).

China is going to have to hire lots of SOS note inspectors now (Source: A3Kr0n 2014, np link).

Aidan McQuade, the director of Anti Slavery International told [us that] a structural problem with the manufacturing industry is that it is ‘out of sight and out of mind’ and that international law must be strengthened to protect vulnerable workers. ‘This is a shocking but unsurprising story,’ he said. ‘I haven’t heard of anything like this happening before but it is a highly credible story. When you know the nature of factories, particularly where our garments are manufactured, they are not the model of ideal workplaces or places people from this part of the world would want to work in. The garment sector, in particular across Asia, has high levels of exploitation, dangerous and unhealthy work conditions and often forced labour and slavery. My instinct is to believe the story is true. It is an expression of that individuals desperation at being caught up in that system’ (Source: Ferguson 2014, np link).

It’s not the first time an incident of this nature has happened. In 2012, a Chinese prisoner famously left a note in a Saks Fifth Avenue shopping bag claiming he’d been falsely imprisoned [see our page on this here] (Source: Anon 2014e, np link).

I am wondering how do you authenticate or confirm such a note? … The product has identification so that the manufacturer can go back and figure out who fouled up for ‘review’. This may seem childish but I see it like this. Suppose I work in a water bottle plant and I am writing comments on the bottles that the water is just local tap water… it seems likely that this would be caught by one of my supervisors (even if not all my notes were caught) and I would be disciplined possibly dismissed. But suppose they can’t track it back to me exactly… so someone comes in with a news team and the bosses standing behind them saying ‘who wrote this note?’ I don’t think I would step forward… unless I really really really wanted to leave that job and there was a good chance this was an opportunity to leave the job without much repercussion. Which hopefully if it is authentic the person is still around, able to be found, the business cooperates with the investigation, and… see this is where I start getting a lot of question marks. It doesn’t seem to me that the Chinese business will be cooperative (Source: Dragon 2014, np link).

Primark said that while it would investigate [Miss Wisinski’s] claims there was no evidence any of their clothes are made from slave labour in Chinese gulags. Primark said: ‘These three-quarter crop trousers were last ordered by Primark in early 2009 and were last sold in Northern Ireland in October 2009. We find it very strange that this has come to light so recently, given that the trousers were on sale four years ago. ‘We will be contacting the customer to obtain the trousers, so we can investigate how this occurred and whether there are issues which need to be looked into. ‘Nine inspections of the supplier have been carried out by Primark’s ethical standards team since 2009. To be clear, no prison or other forced labour of any kind was found during these inspections (Source: McDonald 2014, np link).

CNN could not reach the Xiang Nan prison in China’s Hubei province, where the note found in Northern Ireland allegedly came from. The facility houses around 5,000 inmates (Source: Brown 2014, np link).

Prisoners na! Then forget it! They have to accept their fate in relation to a crime! I sympathize with compassion only innocent people, not to you these irregularities prisoners! (Source: Qian Bo Bear 2014, np link).

those inmates deserve it! they are criminals, they must work hard to pay back what they did to their victims! I support China on this! (Source: Huang 2014, np link).

I hope you end up in a labor camp (Source: Sean 2014, np link).

no I wont, I am a model citizen, I refuse crimes! Criminals deserve hard works (Source: Huang 2014, np link).

Except for that little annoying fact they had no trial that proved they where Criminals. So it’s nothing more then slave labor (Source: Dutch Guy 2014, np link).

that’s right and many are put there for speaking against the local politicians and trying to bring democracy and other important freedoms to China (Source: RealV 2014, np link). 

No ‘democracy’ please, we are horrified when watch what ‘democracy’ did to Egypt, Ukraine, Iraq and Libya (Source: Huang 2014, np link).

On a side note, what do prisoners in our country do again? We could put them to use, so if they come out, they will have some real world skils (Source: gnotd 2014, np link).

Buy products made by American prisoners instead! The human rights issues may not be as bad but at least we have more (Source: HydrogenBond 2014, np link).

Prisoners in the U.S. actually do work, and they get paid much less than minimum wage. I think one thing they do is make motorcycle parts? I had a prisoner call me as a telemarketer for some big company once (Source: Turnblad 2014, np link).

The reason clothing ends up with prison notes even though the importing company has checked out a China factory is because of sub contracting work by that same China factory. Almost all of your cut and sew operations in China will subcontract work when they have to, say too much work to meet deadlines. These same factories will also claim they do not subcontract work but they do; mine did the same thing to meet ship dates and avoid penalties. The prisons probably gave the factory a decent price too. Subcontracting work is not necessarily a bad thing if sent to the right factory but that was evidently not done in this case (Source: WVBR 2014, np link).

This is so tragically ironic: A worker in the worst possible conditions risks sever punishment to send an SOS-only to have that note end up in the hands of someone with such a blasé, spendthrift attitude to clothing that it goes unnoticed for years (Source: fictitiousengineer 2014, np link). 

Yeah, that was one unlucky factory worker. Bad enough that you are working under those conditions, but imagine probably thinking about doing this for months, and then you finally getting up the courage, only to have your note go undiscovered for 5 years (Source: 1NewDay 2014, np link).

Until I see more evidence I call this an urban legend in the making (Source: jones, m. 2014, np link).

… it is entirely possible someone who wants to call attention to this issue did it with the best of intentions. I’m not saying this is what happened, but someone could have slipped that note in the pants when they were in the store, or at any point along the supply chain (Source: Henry 2014, np link).

Come on, this thing got hoax written all over it (Source: jones, m. 2014, np link).

Fake! Just as global warming is a hoax. Period (Source: Marado 2014, np link).

Can you prove it is a hoax? take your time to explain or show other instances when activists have fabricated messages (Source: thetanop 2014, np link).

We’ve researched this story so far (see our new page here) but we’re expecting more. … In March 2013 … Friends of the Earth in the UK marked the opening of an Apple Store in Leeds by adding ‘price tags’ to the goods on sale. In this case, they were pointing out the ‘price’ paid by rainforests in the production of tin that’s in Apple and other electronic goods. … War on Want encouraged activists in 2012 to add 34p price labels to Adidias goods in store to highlight the poverty wages of factory workers making its goods in Indonesia. … in 2011, to publicise its ‘Killer Jeans’ report, anti-sweatshop group Labour Behind the Label encouraged activists to print out and add to jeans in store the label below. They wanted to ‘hid[e] messages in the pockets of thousands of pairs of designer jeans this week to highlight the serious health risks faced by workers making jeans for designer brands including Dolce and Gabanna and Armani’. … In December 2012 an American consumer posted onto facebook a photograph of a letter found in a box of K-Mart Halloween decorations. The letter seems to have been written by a person who helped to assemble them in a Labour camp in China. It begins ““If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization.”  Read our site’s new page on this letter here … In September  2012, a shopper at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City found a letter and a passport photo in the paper shopping bag in which the checkout person had places her new Hunter wellies. It was written by Tohnain Emmanuel Njong, a Cameroon national who was making the bags while incarcerated in a Chinese prison. In the letter, we wrote “Maybe this bag could go somewhere and they find this letter and they can let my family know or anybody [know] that I am in prison.” Read our site’s new page on this letter here … In the ‘follow the jeans’ documentary ‘China Blue’, ‘At the end … [factory worker Jasmine] leaves a letter addressed to one such person in the pocket of a pair of jeans. The film simulates the journey of this letter from the boxes in the port, to the ships that transport them, and finally to the up-scale store that stocks the jeans, implying the complicity of Western consumers in the exploitative dynamics of transnational capital’ … . Read more about this film on our site here. … Photos and films taken on production lines to make sure that cameras work are sometimes left on cameras and phones for buyers to find. The most notorious are the photos taken of a young woman in a Foxconn factory in China who became known as ‘iPhone Girl’.  Posted online by the person who bought the phone in 2008, they went viral online, generating arguments and suspicion worldwide. Read more about the ‘iPhone Girl’ phenomenon on our site here. … In 2012, this film was found on a brand new Hewlett Packard Laptop. A TechCrunch post which features this film explains” ‘It was stored in the My Documents folder and clearly depicts the mundanity of life inside a hardware manufacturing plant. This was taken in the Quanta Chongqing Manufacturing City in Chongqing and the worker seems to be testing the camera on this particular model. Usually evidence of this testing is wiped out. It wasn’t in this case. Essentially, you’re looking at the face of modern manufacturing. He’s not mistreated, he’s not chained to his desk, but he’s building the same thing, over and over again, a prospect not many of us would relish. It’s a mundane view inside a fairly secret world that we as consumers rarely get to see.’ … After I mentioned this laptop find in class, student Elaine King showed me this photograph. Her boss had found it in her holiday photos taken with a disposable camera. Elaine had, for some reason, kept it. This seems to be a disposable camera’s eye view of a disposable camera production line. How, why and by whom the photo was taken, we will never know. … We didn’t know what this type of activism was called, until we found this site that tells you how you, too, can ‘shop drop’. Some shop-dropping is more deliberate than others, and a popular topic of debate is the truth/hoax value of the ones that seem to be accidental. What we love about them is that they spark our imaginations, and discussions, encourage us to ask what traces of human and other labour we could find on and in our things (Source: Cook et al 2014, np link).

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said it was a ‘horrific’ story. ‘It’s very difficult to know whether it’s genuine, but the fear has to be that this is just the tip of the iceberg,’ he said. ‘There is no excuse for any UK company to be profiting from forced labour in Chinese prisons. They should be monitoring their supply chains and terminating contracts when they discover abuses. ‘The Government should now amend its Modern Day Slavery Bill to require companies to keep their supply chains free of such abuses’ (Source: Anon 2014g, np link).

So what is to be made of these labels that Primark assert were sewn onto its clothes in the UK? Why have they been interpreted as the long lost voice of Bangladeshi garment workers? And what is wrong with seeing them as a cry for help to which we must urgently respond? … Because of this the [Bangladesh National Garment Workers Federation – NGWF] is running special leadership development programmes for women so that they can lead the organising process themselves. ‘Day by day the participation of young women inside trade unions is growing,’ says Amirul Haque Amin. ‘At present many young women are in leadership roles – at the factory level and at the federation level.’ But where is this narrative in the furore sparked by Labelgate? Why instead have there just been numerous hand-wringing articles focusing on consumerism, blaming low income shoppers for the evils of multinational corporations, and the victimhood of garment workers? The mystery Primark labels are a far more acceptable narrative than trade unionism because they fit the tedious stereotype of Asian women – helpless, passive and in need of saving by western people. A label sewn into a dress is like a message in a bottle – it has the prerequisite eastern mysticism, voices from a distant land and a quest to save mysterious, helpless women. Bangladeshi garment workers are neither mysterious nor in need of saving. Journalists and consumer organisations should call up the NGWF offices in Dhaka and get the organisation’s opinion on the Bangladeshi garment industry. On Tuesday no one other than I had contacted the NGWF about the Primark labels. Their opinion is that poor pay and conditions are not unique to one brand (Primark) but rather ‘applicable to almost all the brands that are sourcing from Bangladesh.’ The NGWF is also clear that it does not want to see the destruction of the industry through consumer boycotts as there are no other job opportunities for the four million women working in those factories. They do however want people to work with them to pressure corporations into raising pay and conditions. ‘People in the UK should ask brands like Primark, Marks & Spencer, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, or New Look – about the reality of their supply chain,’ says Amin. ‘They should pressure brands to disclose their suppliers and to sign the Bangladesh accord, and to ensure a fair price of Bangladeshi garments and pay a living wage to garment workers.’ Pressure groups like War on Want and Labour Behind the Label are helping workers. But other consumer groups should also contact NGWF to discuss how they could help. In the 1990’s, to guard against patronising or victimising garment workers, the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) adopted as its motto a few lines taken from Lilla Watson of the Aboriginal Activists Group in Queensland, Australia in the 1970’s: ‘If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you’ve come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together’ (Source: Hoskins 2014, np link).

Given the face that this article has had almost 25,000 shares so far (and not everyone who has read it will have shared it), this is really an AWARENESS RAISER (Source: Serafinn 2014, np link).

The internet’s first reaction was outrage, and the second was to question the legitimacy of the labels. While it’s probably a good idea not to believe every sob story you read on the internet … this isn’t some potato and gravy-related hoax. The Rana Plaza garment factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed 1129 people last April is a reminder that slave labor conditions are very real conditions for thousands of people. Whether or not the labels were sewn in China, they’re still true (Source: Ongly 2014, np link).

While it may have been a hoax, the horror felt by the shopper spread, more labels were found, and the story became a national concern that has tied the Primark PR department up in knots (Source: Hoskins 2014, np link).

Following a media storm this weekend … Primark has spoken for the first time on the matter. The budget retailer told Vogue today that the brand is committed to ensuring that conditions in its factories are safe and fair for workers. ‘Primark’s code of conduct sets out the core principles that suppliers and factories must follow to ensure products are made in good working conditions, and that the people making them are treated decently and paid a fair wage. We inspect each factory to ensure it is meeting the code and support it by providing guidance and training when issues are identified. Primark is a member of the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI), and our code is based on the ETI base code.’ ‘Primark is committed to making working conditions safer for those who manufacture its products. It was the first UK retailer to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh in order to work collaboratively with other brands and stakeholders in the industry to bring about sustainable long-term change in the country’ (Source: Milligan 2014, np link). 

A Primark spokesman said: ‘Despite growing suspicions in relation to the origin of the labels and the considerable time delay since the garments were bought, Primark knows its responsibilities to the workers in its supply chain and has already started detailed investigations.’ Primark investigates all allegations of breaches of its Code of Conduct immediately to ensure the well-being of workers in its supply chain. We are always open to receiving information from any source and have stated that detailed investigations of the 3 cases (2 in the Swansea area and 1 in Northern Ireland) have already begun. It is clear that these incidents arise from merchandise purchased a number of years ago. Since 2009, Primark has carried out some 10,000 factory audits of its suppliers. All incidents of this kind are treated very seriously and happen rarely (Source Anon 2014e, np link).

Primark said that while it would investigate [Mrs Wisinska’s] claims there was no evidence any of their clothes are made from slave labour in Chinese gulags. ‘Nine inspections of the supplier have been carried out by Primark’s ethical standards team since 2009. To be clear, no prison or other forced labour of any kind was found during these inspections’ (Source: McDonald 2014, np link).

Most of the factories they visit are not the factories where the clothes are made they are lets say the ‘nicer condition’ ones that meet all criteria’s. The factory owners put some of the customers production there for visits only, but these owners have sub factories that don’t follow the required criteria and are never visited or seen. Where there is awful working conditions (Source: Khamis 2014, np link).

Read more about Primark and workers’ rights in our [Ethical Consumer] special report on the fashion industry > This story has been added to our corporate database. The database powers all our live product guides, giving the score for each company on our rankings tables. Find out more about how we rate companies(Source: Anon 2014f, np link).