Overview

This report investigates the negative repercussions of the purchasing practices of clothing brands operating in Australia. The report highlights the adverse impact on the women workers in the countries where clothing is made, including poverty and human rights abuses. It further recommends that brands pay living wages throughout their supply chains and adopt more accountable purchasing practices, among others.

Definitions

The report defines a living wage as a wage that meets basic needs such as adequate food, housing, and healthcare, and allows for a decent standard of living. The report also defines purchasing practices of brands to include labour costs, compliance with labour laws, cost-cutting measures, and physical and mental health support to reduce risks of workplace incidents.

Parvin’s Story

The report outlines the story of Parvin, a female garment worker employed in the textile industry for 18 years, who earns an insufficient wage, which necessitates working long hours in dangerous conditions, impacting her and her family’s health.

Background

The report covers the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the garment industry’s female workers, leaving many of them without work and in extreme poverty. It further enumerates that the industry’s labour costs, coupled with brands’ profit-driven purchasing practices, perpetuate poverty, exploiting vulnerable workers and violating their human rights.

Purchasing practices of brands operating in Australia

The report evaluates the purchasing practices of clothing brands in Australia, including Big W, Kmart, H&M Group, among others. It reviews their practices based on their commitment to living wage, transparency, planning and forecasting, compliance, competitiveness, order placement, and payment terms. The analysis indicates a lack of progress towards better purchasing practices in most cases.

Recommendations

The report provides a series of recommendations for clothing brands, garment manufacturers, and governments to improve the labour conditions of women workers, including but not limited to:

• Publish and maintain an up-to-date list of factories they source from.
• Create and publish a public commitment and a plan to ensure living wages throughout their supply chains.
• Publish a responsible purchasing practices policy aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector.
• Join initiatives that promote collective brand reform on purchasing practices.
• Increase the minimum wage to a living wage and provide a clear commitment to business conduct in countries where the garments are made.

Conclusion

Oxfam Australia’s report highlights the negative impact of purchasing practices on female workers who make garments for Australian clothing brands. The report identifies the importance of improving the accountability of brands, garment manufacturers, and governments to reduce poverty and human rights abuses in the garment supply chain. The recommended actions are necessary to ensure that workers are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, and that their labour rights are observed and respected throughout the garment supply chain.