The German sportswear giant Adidas has reportedly written to
the IAAF, the embattled athletics governing body, it is terminating its multi-million
sponsorship deal three years early.
Is there another scandal, reputational issue much closer to
home for all major sportswear brands? The ‘awful truth’ about how their clothes
are made?
What would happen if the labels on sportswear had to tell
the truth about pay, conditions and the daily lives of the predominantly young
female textile workers?
How would ‘brand ambassador’ athletes feel if their sport shirt
label said something like this?
“100% polyester. Made in Cambodia by Joya, who left school
at the age of twelve. She gets up at 5:00 am every morning to make her way to
the garment factory where she works. It will be dark when she arrives and dark
when she leaves. She dresses lightly because the temperature in the room she
works reaches 30 degrees. The dust in the room fills her nose and mouth. She
will make less than a dollar, for a day spent slowly suffocating. A mask would
cost the company ten cents.
The label doesn’t tell the whole story.”
As the labels note, the long hours and poverty wages are
rarely the sum of a garment worker’s problems. Their environments are often
riddled with fire, chemical, and structural hazards that threaten life and limb
on a daily basis.
How do you feel about buying and wearing sport shirts like this?
Ref: Ecouterre
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Posts
