Hello, my name is Aaron and my name is Catharine. We are from St. John’s School in Fulham. The Earth Summit in Johannesburg has made us aare that e ha!e to ta"e care of our #lanet to achie!e a fair, #eaceful and sustainable future for all. We need to ensure that e!eryone in the orld has a fair share of resources. $ut ho do e do this% &f course e "no that the orld is not a totally e'ual #lace and yes, there is #o!erty and #ollution. The #roblem seems insurmountable but there are little things that you and ( can do to ma"e a difference. Today e ant to tell you about the unfair #ractices going on in the global fashion industry and ho some #eo#le are getting less than their fare share of life’s resources. resources. We started off our research in class by loo"ing at some #hotogra#hs of #eo#le or"ing in different countries. We ere a##alled at hat e sa. There ere young children or"ing in the factories, #eo#le al"ing miles for their ater, others or"ing in cram#ed conditions and more. And these #eo#le ere or"ing to ma"e clothes for us. We don’t gi!e a second thought about here our clothes come from and ho they ere made. )o you "no here you clothes come from% We ent home and loo"ed through our ardrobes. Here’s a small selection of countries coun tries that our clothes ere im#orted from* Cambodia +ietnam China The hili##ines (ndia Sri -an"a (ndonesia $angladesh Cy#rus and $rail The list seemed li"e it ould go on fore!er. We found clothes from all o!er the orld. /ou see that many of these de!elo#ing countries here #eo#le are or"ing under stressful, cram#ed and miserable conditions and are being #aid a #ittance for their labours. We gathered some information from the internet, the library, &0fam and e!eryone in the class had the o##ortunity to #ut 'uestions to re#resentati!es from the 1o Seat Cam#aign, Friends of the Earth, 2ar"s and S#encer, Traidcraft and to 3ingston 4ni!ersity Students. The more e listened to hat they said and hat e read, the more e!idence e found of #eo#le li!ing in in hot #o!erty 5ustconditions so that efor in !ery the West can loo" trendy and fashionable. They or" long hours seaty lo ages.
Seat6sho#s in these #oor countries smell of #oerful sol!ents and the or"ers ha!e no #rotection. )on’t be fooled into thin"ing that these #ractices # ractices don’t go on nearer home. We still ha!e seat6 sho#s in the 4.3. 2ic" )uncan from the 1o6Seat cam#aign told us he often !isits factories in the East End of -ondon cam#aigning for fairer rights for or"ers. &f course, not all factories are going to ta"e notice, but e!eryone that does listen ma"es a difference to the li!es of many #eo#le. Another fact e found out is that half of the footballs made for the 4SA mar"et are manufactured in a"istan. The footballs are hand sen by girls under 78 years old. They or" for 9 hours on each ball and se : or 9 e!ery day but are #aid less than ;< #ence for each ball and they ne!er get to #lay ith one= Thin" about that ne0t time you #lay football or atch a football match= (n (ndonesia many families are du#ed by b y >middle6men’ ho #romise that they can find de decent cent 5obs in the city but the hole thing is 5ust a con. When they arri!e in the city they find a different story. They are forced to li!e in shanty tons and made to or" long hours. A famous brand of clothing e researched e0#ort their materials and ha!e the clothes made u# in the East because it ould be more e0#ensi!e to #ay or"ers in their on country. And then, hen that becomes too e0#ensi!e, they close don their factory and mo!e elsehere. -abour is chea#er abroad but li!es are not chea#. Hoe!er, not all factories are bad. We did find factories that ere clean and conscious of Health and Safety issues and #aid their or"ers a fairer age. 2ary Corrall from Traidcraft told us that their or"ers are treated fairly, #aid a decent age and are ell loo"ed after. So it can be done. As #art of our research e !isited 2ar"s and S#encer in Hammersmith. A member of their team, -yn Wagstaff, thatthere. ;<? of 2@S clothes ere e re made in Hong 3ong and that 2ar"s and S#encer ha!e atold sho#uso!er So, e set u# a lin" ith a school in Hong 3ong and e ha!e emailed the class a set of 'uestions for them to anser. We ant to "no if any of them sho# at 2ar"s and S#encer and if they can find out about clothing factories there. We ho#e ho# e to continue this lin" throughout the year. We are ho#ing to ma"e other young #eo#le aare of unfair #ractices going on. We also intend to #resent our re#ort to the Annual meeting of #arents later on in the year and are in the #rocess of ma"ing #osters to dis#lay around the school. When e s#o"e to Hesham El"omy and Shelley 2cCarthy from 3ingston 4ni!ersity, they said they li"ed to thin" they loo"ed trendy and fashionable 6 ho doesn’t% d oesn’t% After s#ea"ing ith us they said they ould thin" seriously about here they buy their clothes from.
2ic" )uncan from >1o Seat agreed that it’s difficult to change o!ernight. /ou may thin" >Well, hat difference can ( ma"e%’ $ut you can. We didn’t "no that children as young as 9 years old or" in clothing factories. We didn’t "no that some #eo#le or" ith #oisonous chemicals. We didn’t "no that some or"ers are #aid less than ;< #ence for hours of or". Any maybe you didn’t. $ut you do no and you can’t ignore it. We need to loo" toards the future. What ill be the state of the Earth in 7<< years’ time if e ignore these #ractices% Together, e can ma"e sure that e!eryone has affair share of the orld’s resources. 2i"e -achoic from Friends of the Earth told us about com#anies that ha!e a Fair Trade #olicy. These are the sho#s e should be buying our clothes from. We can ma"e a difference.