Do you think knowing which factory your clothes come from helps you?

[amousehaseatenmypaddlingpool]

Might be a bit heavy for a Saturday morning but I just got this link through on a trade press newsletter and it got me thinking.

If you knew what factories your clothes were from, would you bother trying to find out how ethical they were? If you bought something from a brand and it was really good, would you try and buy more from that factory?

Or do you just think it's virtue signalling on the part of the brand?

Disclaimer - I work in clothing compliance and we talk about this stuff all the time. I don't think the consumer is influenced by this marketing stuff but at work I'm stuck in a bubble and I'd love to be proved wrong!

www.wgsn.com/blogs/hm-arket-transparent-shopping/#bulletin

Yes I would be interested although it doesn't go far enough - why not publish information about the factory or, better still, not use them at all if they don't comply with ethical standards?

I would probably Google-news the factory to see if it had been involved in any health and safety or child labour cases and leave it at that - I'm no angel. But I would take the fact that they could at least tell me the name of their suppliers as a step in the right direction.

Although on further reflection, it's arguably pushing the responsiblity onto the consumer - which is bloody cheeky of them. But I think some high street stores use such contorted supply chains that they probably wouldn't be able to tell you where their clothes are made. So still progress of a kind, maybe.

Yes I would
And if I knew the factory had ethical standards I would try and buy more

150 years ago we had children working and dying in the same conditions making materials for clothes and until people took a standard it continued
The excuse was poor families need the money but once it was banned
The practice became unthinkable

Yes I would
And if I knew the factory had ethical standards I would try and buy more

150 years ago we had children working and dying in the same conditions making materials for clothes and until people took a stand it continued
The excuse was poor families need the money but once it was banned
The practice became unthinkable

Thanks for your responses.

Actually, there are lots and lots of things big retailers are doing these days that have done wonders for vulnerable people in the industry and the Modern Slavery act is genuinely improving lives, but I don't think it ever makes the news, so you're only ever going to hear about exposed factories. Why would the guardian etc bother writing about a group of Turkish auditors that genuinely hide in hedges opposite target factories to make sure no children are going inside?

I think if these retailers were serious, they'd publish factory audits. So then the customer would get to see what a 'good' or a 'bad' factory really looks like.

That's interesting and it's good to hear retailers are doing more so thanks. However I think if they were really serious, they wouldn't be using factories with poor audits in the first place.

I'm a bit more cynical I think because it feels more like companies doing good for PR purposes, especially when their track records aren't without blemish. If companies were more serious about it they'd own and operate the factories to ensure everything is above board and they can be held accountable.

I also agree with Flo that this is putting a lot of onus on the consumer, it's their business strategy of consistently competing on driving cost to it's absolute minimum that has allowed the situation to develop as it is. It's a similar minefield to cruelty free and 'natural' products, the amount of research necessary to get any form of certainty that those claims are valid rather than a version of a truth is far too much to be considered acceptable and you will still never have a 100% certainty. With clothing it's even harder as most companies themselves don't even understand where everything in their own supply chain is fabricated.

Saying that I did respond positively to Arket's transparency with the country of manufacturing. However, despite their positive spin on it, I still struggle to buy things manufactured in known low wage and poor conditions countries like Bangladesh. A few cheerful pictures and PR copy of a seemingly 'nice' factory won't change my mind on that.

I know Madewell (I think) had their whole USP around their brand with a similar spiel, but with them you could click and see the factory alongside the product with what appeared to be a neutral report on labour and safety conditions. That felt more groundbreaking but I'm not sure if they still go through such lengths these days now that it's an established ethical brand.