The Little Red Sewing Machine

[Gameoldgirl]

Great jubilation today over the rescue of a woman alive after 17 days in the rubble of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh. But we also learnt that the death toll is now 1,021 and rising. 

Shoppers want to support ethical traders, but everyone in the fashion industry says it is soooo complex, that it is almost impossible to follow the manufacturing chain when you have to look at not only the factories where the clothes are  made, but to the shippers, the farmers who grow the cotton, the people who make the buttons. It's not like checking that pigs are being fed decent swill or that chickens aren't penned up in batteries, I've been told.

Well maybe it isn't simple, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We have to find a way first to convince maiinstream retailers - and not just the specialist cottage industry businesses - to make the effort to get involved in monitoring their suppliers. Yes it's hard to check up on factories thousands of miles away in countries where bribery and corruption rules, where certification can't be trusted and where codes and signals thwart independent inspectors. But if you are making millions of pounds from your sales, if your profits are soaring by 20% year on year, then you need to invest some of that money into taking action yourself and not relying on middle men. 

The SubScribe blog carried two articles on this subject after the Bangladesh tragedy. The first .concerned problems that will be familiar to everyone on this forum. Please have a read by clicking here.

I know that the little red sewing machine idea seems simplistic. I know that setting up a regulatory authority can be complicated. I know that it's hard to be certain that every element in the supply chain is squeaky clean. But does that mean it's not worth trying. It was encouraging to find support for the little red sewing machine from the likes of Livia Firth and Luella Bartley, and if more big names in the fashion world were to join the campaign, we could make it fly.

OK, one know-nothing woman tapping away at a laptop can't save the world, but there are others out there who must think the same and I'm sure many of them are part of this forum. This second post fleshed out the basic idea, and you can read it by clicking here (assuming I get the hyperlink working ok).

There were people in the 19th century who said the world couldn't function without slaves. There were people in the 20th century who said apartheid in South Africa would never end. There were people in this century who never imagined you could have a computer the size of a paperback. In the light of the evidence of humankind's ability to overcome hurdles and make huge social and technical strides, how can we say today that you will never get a fully ethical fashion supply chain? 

Please back the campaign by spreading the word, putting forward ideas and tweeting using the hashtag #littleredsewingmachine