WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press

"Oh, but we buy Australian-made. Exploitation is something that happens elsewhere!"

Time to bust that myth, says this week's guest, Australian union organiser - and former garment worker - Beth Macpherson.

In this warm and enlightening conversation we discuss: the evolution and changing shape of Australia's domestic manufacturing in the textiles, clothing and footwear sector; what's gone and what's left; Beth's own experience working in factories during boom time in the 1970s and '80s, before production moved off shore; the current state of textiles and sewing skills, and how and why our governments should take them seriously into the future; the increasing use of outworkers today, and how they can be invisible. Many outworkers here are migrant women who come from non-English speaking backgrounds and often do not understand their rights as Australian workers.

We hope you enjoy the latest from our series on workers' rights, produced with Clean Clothes Campaign. Don't forget to listen to the previous episodes you may have missed.

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the surface this is our first episode on the textile, clothing and footwear industry in Pakistan. The industry is major player in the country’s economy, contributing significantly to exports and employing more than half of its workforce. And in this interview with labour rights expert Khalid Mahmood, we cover capabilities, challenges, cotton production, wages and improvements in factory safety.

But there's a bigger story here - one about history, and who gets to tell it; politics, power and democracy; and what happens when the latter fractures, or is captured by the military, for example, and how all this impacts on freedom of association, social justice and workers' rights. How do you organise in the face of that? Why should you, what are the stakes? There's a personal story woven through this too: Khalid went from driving a taxi to heading up a leading NGO. Also up for discussion: what to do as an ambitious person when conventional routes seem closed to you, the power of creative thinking and the secret to loving your work.

We hope you enjoy the latest from our series on workers' rights, produced with Clean Clothes Campaign. Don't forget to listen to the previous episodes you may have missed.

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

H&M, Inditex, Adidas, Gap... Some of the world's most famous apparel brands source from Cambodia, where 1 million people are employed by the garment, footwear and travel goods industry. Low-paid work, work in the informal economy, even work without pay is sadly widespread. By some estimates, half of all fashion workers are indebted to micro-finance because they need to take out loans to make ends meet. And, warns Clean Clothes Campaign, while Cambodian law theoretically protects the right of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, many independent labour organisations face severe legal and practical restrictions.

What can, and should, multinational brands be doing about this? Why don't they step up and pay more than survival wages? How does politics come into play here? Plus the curious case of the instant noodle unions - can we really expect trade unions run by management to put workers first?

In the latest from our series on workers rights, Clare meets Tola Mouen, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, Cambodia.

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All fashion eyes on the Danish Capital!

We interrupt our series on workers’ rights to bring you this warm and lovely chat between friends.

I have been on the sustainability advisory board of Copenhagen Fashion Week since 2019, and it’s by far my favourite fashion week.

As the SS27 runaways happen in the city, and the event turns 20, here’s how CPHFW's CEO Cecilie Thorsmark is thinking about progress, nostalgia and the way forward for sustainable fashion.

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How much do we really know about how our clothes and shoes are made? Or even where? While the latter is routinely included on care labels, that’s often the end of the story, at least the one the brands want to tell you.

Despite years of campaigning by groups like Fashion Revolution, Labour Behind the Label and Clean Clothes Campaign, many of us still have no idea who made our clothes and under what conditions.

Did you even know the Philippines is an important garment producer for brands like Lulu Lemon, and until recently, Adidas? In 2023, when a factory in Cebu supplying Adidas closed, 4000 workers lost their jobs. How about the stories of union busting linked to factory in Cambodia that's a major supplier to ASICS? Or the closure of another facility in Vietnam making Nike shoes that left thousands of workers without severance pay?

Niki Gamara is CCC’s South East Asia Urgent Appeals Co-Ordinator, working with those needing quick support in areas where violations are happening. In this vivid, warm conversation we talk about everything from how the history of colonisation echoes in the present to what I should do with my sneakers now that I know more about what goes in behind the scenes...

Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.com

Support the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.com

Tell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.