When "Made In China" Means Sustainable, Ethical, And Expert, 24 May 2017

Les Lunes, a fashion label headquartered in Paris and San Francisco, makes its clothes in a factory in the Qingpu district, on the outskirts of Shanghai [where childcare is provided for workers' children and whose] "...employees come from the village where our factory is located,” says Anna Lecat, Les Lunes’s founder and CEO. Every few months, a new scandal about the bleak working conditions in the Chinese manufacturing industry makes headlines. Foxconn...has become shorthand for the long and grueling hours of modern Chinese factory work, in part because of a spate of suicides at its Shenzhen factories....A spate of Western fashion startups that focus on ethical manufacturing–including Grana, Ellie Kai, Everlane, and Caraa–are now shedding light on a new generation of Chinese factories that pay workers fairly, offer pleasant working conditions and reasonable hours...In 2000, Lecat founded a company called Streamline Alliance that connects U.S. brands with artisanal factories in China... The culture in apparel factories is beginning to change [according to Keegan Elmer, a labor researcher at China Labor Bulletin]. Many workplaces have become cleaner, safer, and more professional. The work itself tends to be less strenuous and workers tend to work fewer hours...Big international brands are also increasingly applying pressure to factories they partner with to make their buildings more environmentally sound and to ensure workers are treated fairly...The Chinese government has also taken pains to create stronger protections for workers...Unfortunately, the movement toward more ethical factories in China does not signal a global trend. Increasingly, Chinese companies are themselves seeking out cheap labour in other parts of Asia...perpetuating the standards that once ruled in Shenzhen...