Most fashion brands to take 75 years to pay garment workers fair wages

Research for the Australian Fashion Council estimated that pre-pandemic, the average Australian bought 56 new items of clothing a year. However, a high proportion of that is cheap, with the average item costing just $6.50.

Lisa Lake, director of the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, UTS and TAFE NSW, says despite the huge progress from awareness to action among consumers, “we can’t over celebrate”. She and others agree that too much pressure is on consumers, not brands, to do the right thing.

“Consumers can reconsider what they buy, but it shouldn’t be up to them to force these changes through,” she says.

Sustainable fashion expert Clare Press says that although there are layers of complexity to improving workers’ wages, particularly in so-called “low-cost producing countries” such as Bangladesh and Ethiopia, the fact some fashion brands pay living wages proves that it’s possible.

“Consumer awareness plus legislation, which is coming, pushes brands to make change,” says Press, who hosts the Wardrobe Crisis podcast. “When it comes to living wages, we need to ask a bigger question. It’s all very well to say 75 years, but it’s going to take more than that, and I don’t mean time, I mean system change.”

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Last year, Australia followed many countries internationally by introducing a Modern Slavery Act to hold brands more accountable for their supply chain. This year, New York is expected to introduce the Fashion Act, making it the first US state to hold brands with a presence there accountable for their environmental and social impact.

RMIT lecturer Tamzin Rollason is an advocate for legislation to help level the marketplace so brands doing good have a better chance for success. “Without clear definitions of what is sustainable, what is ethical, and without having those definitions regulated and audited, it’s hard for those companies doing the right thing.”

Since 2020, sisters Jess and Stef Dadon, of Melbourne-based shoe brand TWOOBS, which was not in the report, have overhauled their supply chain to work exclusively with suppliers that pay workers a living wage, something that was important to them and their customers. “Post pandemic, we are seeing how much more people want to shop with their values,” says Stef.

Although the shift to hyper-transparency has forced TWOOBS to slightly increase its average prices, the Dadons say their customers are supportive. Just as they were last week when a production error caused 3000 pairs of sandals to arrive with slight imperfections. Rather than bury the problem, the sisters told customers the truth and offered the pairs at 25 per cent off (as a rule, the brand never goes on sale).

Jess says some brands still believe “real information that’s sometimes scary” will scare customers away. Not so. “Our customers can handle it, even when we are not proud of that truth … And that’s the way we have been able to build the trust – we don’t only tell them the good stuff.”

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