"Major brands are failing on living wage commitments", 5 June 2019

The report ‘Tailored Wages 2019: The state of pay in the global garment industry’ analyses responses from 20 top clothing brands about their progress in implementing a living wage for the workers who produce their clothes.

Whilst 85% of brands had some commitment to ensuring wages were enough to support workers’ basic needs, no brand was putting this into practice for any worker in countries where the vast majority of clothing is produced.

Anna Bryher, the report's author, said: “Five years on from our previous survey on this topic, no brand was able to show any progress towards a living wage being paid. Poverty in the garment industry isn’t improving, it’s getting worse. This situation is urgent. Our message to the brands is that human rights can’t wait and workers making the clothes sold in our shops must be paid enough to live with dignity.”

Of the 20 companies surveyed, 19 received the lowest possible grade in the report. This means that they produced no evidence that any worker making their clothes was paid a living wage anywhere in the world...

“Voluntary initiatives have failed to deliver human rights for workers,” said Neva Nahtigal from Clean Clothes Campaign International office. “The global economic model that drives down prices and pits low wage country against low wage country is too strong. It’s a fact that the workers who make almost all the clothes we buy live in poverty, whilst huge brands get rich from their labour. It is time for brands to be held accountable for the system of exploitation that they created and profit from.”