The high cost of cheap clothing | Trisha Striker | TEDxTownsville

No one wants to support child, forced or sweatshop labour. Yet how many of us actually know how and where our clothing is made? Let's use our buying power and our voices to change the direction the fashion and clothing industry is taking the world and help end exploitation.

Trisha was born in and spent her first 16 years in India. As a little girl, Trisha was always burdened by the stark differences in living standards between the rich and poor and the ill treatment of the most vulnerable in society. This burden only grew as she became more aware of the world and its many problems until finally she decided to leave India in search of answers. Armed with the desire to understand the world and the determination to develop the knowledge and skills needed to be a part of the solution, she came to Australia in 2004. Trisha is passionate about culture, education, freedom and equality. She is also passionate about finding smart, inclusive, culturally sensitive and sustainable answers to big issues such as gender inequality, poverty, education and exploitation. It was in pursuit of these goals that she began studying economics at James Cook University, a decision that continually challenges her and broadens her mind.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

If I asked you,

Do you support child labour
or sweat shop labour?

Do you think human trafficking is evil?

I am quite certain that 99.9% of you
in this room today

would say, "I do not support
child labour or sweat shop labour.

I think human trafficking is terrible."

So let me ask you then:

How many of you can say with certainty
that the clothes you're wearing right now

have not been made
in a sweat shop or by child labour?

How many of you can say for sure
that the cotton in your clothing

wasn't picked by children

who were trafficked on
to work in cotton farms?

The truth is

it's very hard to know where the material
used to make our clothing comes from

or how our clothes were made.

The clothing supply chain
is a complex system.

Perhaps this is what
our clothing label should look like.

Currently, only 5% of companies
know where all their inputs come from.

So how, then, can you make sure
that your purchasing decisions

do not contribute to child labour,
human trafficking

or environmental degradation?

The answer is ethical clothing,

an idea that has been widely discussed
over the last 10 years.

Ethical clothing can be defined

as an approach to the design,
sourcing and manufacturing of clothes

that maximises benefits
to people in communities

while minimising the impact
on the environment.

Ethical clothing
is even more relevant today

due to the emergence of a new trend

called "fast fashion."

Now, when I say "fast food,"
what words come to mind?

For me, I immediately think
"fast, cheap and bad."

It's similar with fast fashion,

where fashion has changed
from seasonal styles

to something new nearly every week.

Prices of clothing have also
dropped substantially over time.

You can now buy a T-shirt
for as little as seven dollars

and a pair of jeans for fifteen.

To keep these prices low,

companies outsource
their clothing production

to countries such as Bangladesh,
where wages are very low.

Currently, over 92% of clothing
sold in Australia is made overseas.

They don't just absorb
this loss of profit

resulting from lowering their prices;

they try and pass it down the supply chain
in an attempt to offset their loss

until it reaches those
who cannot pass it down anymore.

They are your most vulnerable,
those who have no voice.

They are your garment factory workers
in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia;

the poor cotton farmers in India

and the child slaves
working in cotton farms in Uzbekistan.

There are currently
14.2 million people in forced labour

and 168 million child labourers
scattered across the globe.

More than half the population
of Australia works in forced labour

and seven times
the population of Australia

in child labour.

Most of these people are forced to work
in the farms and factories

that produce the inputs
for our clothing industry.

Their wages are so low

that they're unable to lift themselves
and their families out of poverty,

and thus, the cycle just continues.

Apart from lowering wages,
firms also try to offset their loss

by asking suppliers
to cut their wholesale prices.

Suppliers say

that because they
are desperate for business,

they don't really have a choice:

either cut their prices
or lose out on business.

Suppliers then try and offset their losses

by cutting back on maintaining
a safe work environment,

which can lead to tragedies
such as the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013

where 1,130 people died.

Four times the number of people
in this building today lost their lives

because of someone else's negligence.

But people say,

"Are we not doing them a favour

by giving them business
and stimulating their economy?

Isn't working in a factory at any wage

better than the other
alternatives available today?

For example, working as a prostitute

or selling your child into slavery

or leaving your village, your family
and your children behind for months on end

to work for wickedly low wages
and unsafe working conditions."

This is not a choice.

This is the exploitation of vulnerability.

Companies are profiting
off of their need to work.

We need to respect these people,

treat them like we would treat
workers in Australia

because this wouldn't happen in Australia.

We have strong unions
and fair work practices.

When we speak, people listen.

But you can be their voice.

By being mindful about what
and how often you buy,

you are saying that you value
the lives of these people

enough to pay a little extra
to ensure that they're taken care of.

To ensure that a Bangladeshi
garment factory worker

is paid a living wage

adds an extra 3 to 5%
on top of the retail price

that you pay in the shops.

For example, that adds
an extra 70 cents to a dollar

to your 15-dollar pair of jeans.

In addition, the amount that is paid
to suppliers in garment factories

accounts to only 10 to 20%
of the total price that you pay

as a customer in the shops.

This 10 to 20% includes everything
up to the point of shipping,

such as sourcing of raw material,

the manufacturing of the garment

and the payment of middlemen profits.

So then I know that if I paid
$7 for a T-shirt,

the supplier was paid
between 70 cents to $1.40.

Common sense then tells me
that his workers were not paid a lot.

Nick Savaidis,

the founder of the Australian
ethical fashion brand Etiko

talks about moving from a conscious
to a conscientious shopper.

In other words, moving
from being just aware of the problem

to actually doing something about it

He says that managing
an ethical supply chain is challenging

but nowhere near as hard

as getting individuals and organisations
to change their values and beliefs.

According to a [inaudible] report,
only 10% of Australians

make consistent green
or ethical purchasing decisions.

This is a huge discrepancy

to the 90% of Australians
that said they care about an issue.

In addition, clothing brands say

that they're unwilling to stock
ethically made clothes

because a) they're not convinced
that customers actually care

and b) that by stocking
ethically made clothing,

they worry about what it might say

about the other presumably
non-ethically made clothing

in their shops.

This just highlights to me
the power that we have as consumers.

Now, I acknowledge that this issue
can seem really overwhelming.

Perhaps you're feeling helpless.

But there is hope.

Your everyday purchasing
decisions and choices

can help lift a person
and their family out of poverty,

I suggest starting
with three simple steps.

Number one - buy less.

When you go into a shop, ask yourself,

Do you really need that item of clothing?

British journalist Lucy Siegle

calls it "getting a more fashion mileage
out of your clothing."

She says that if you cannot commit

to wearing something
for a minimum of 30 times,

don't buy it.

Number two - look for brands that have
a fair trade accreditation for stock.

Suppliers won't stock clothing brands
that are not selling.

You, the customer, are in charge.

Buying from companies

that treat their workers
and the environment well

not only affirms their ethical decisions,

but it also encourages other companies
to take similar action

Thirdly, research.

Do some research on the company
that you want to buy from.

From where did they source
their raw materials?

How much do they pay their workers?

But it sounds tedious
and time-consuming, doesn't it?

[1. Buy Less 2. Buy Better]

Well, it is.

But the really good news
is that there are many organisations

working hard to enable us to make
everyday ethical purchasing decisions.

For example, Baptist World Aid,

an Australian NGO published
an annual "Ethical Fashion Guide"

that grades around 300 companies
that sell in Australia

against criteria
such as payment of a living wage,

knowledge of supply chain.

They make this indispensable resource
available to everybody for free.

You can download it off their website
or from the TEDx page.

You can also download an app
called "Good On You"

that enables you to compare
and rate different companies.

There can be a very happy
ending to the story.

Since Baptist World Aid
released the first "Ethical Fashion Guide"

in the wake of the Rana Plaza tragedy,

the number of companies
working to keep track of their inputs

has increased from 49% to 79%.

32% of companies are now paying
minimum wage or higher.

This is so encouraging

because it demonstrates
how much influence our voices can have.

I used to think that the elimination
of the fashion industry

was the only answer.

But as I did my research,

I realised that we can use
this very same industry as a tool

to lift a country's living standards.

It's one of the fastest growing industries

in the world today.

40 million people in Asia alone
work in garment factories.

The fashion and clothing industry
can play a huge role

in reshaping the economy of a country.

However, it is clear that there is still
a lot of work that needs to be done.

This industry still fuels child labour,
forced labour, human trafficking

environmental degradation,
especially in developing countries,

exploitation and unsafe
working conditions.

Your voices and your purchasing decisions

have so much power

to change the direction

in which the fashion and clothing industry

is taking the world.

You are all now aware of this issue.

It is my hope that after today
100% of TEDxTownsville

will move from conscious to conscientious

and contribute to a world
free from poverty and exploitation.

Thank you.

(Applause)