Schoolwear Warning: Uniform Sector Rife With Sweatshop Labour

SCHOOLWEAR WARNING: Uniform Sector Rife with Sweatshop Labour

Embargoed until: Sunday 24 January 2010

As Australian students start to dust off their pens and books ready for the new school year, Ethical Clothing Australia is urging parents and schools to source their uniforms from local businesses that are committed to ethical manufacturing in Australia.

The national coordinator of Ethical Clothing Australia, Emer Diviney, said its accreditation system - which enjoys backing from both business and union stakeholders - provides consumers with a way to identify clothing garments that have been made locally in Australia by manufacturers that verify that all workers in their supply chain are receiving, as a minimum, the legal (Award) wages and entitlements.

"People often think of exploitation in the clothing industry as being limited to sweatshops overseas, but gross underpayment and poor conditions are also a huge problem here in Australia, so there's a good chance that many of the Australian-made school uniforms being worn by our school kids have been made by people earning as little as $4 dollars an hour," Ms Diviney said.

Fortunately, there is an alternative. Schools and parents can choose to actively support Australian businesses with a commitment to ethical clothing manufacturing. Qualitops, Blue Gum, Poppets Schoolwear, and Surrey Clothing are all local businesses accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia and are eligible to display the Ethical Clothing Australia trademark on their Australian-made garments.

Matt Di Pietro from Qualitops, which manufactures garments directly for a range of schools and schoolwear distributers, insists that they can give the discount stores a run for their money while adhering to ethical business practices. While Michael Classon from Surrey Clothing believes that the high quality of locally-made garments is also often overlooked.

"It's a shame that more often than not, the price of a garment is the sole consideration of parents, but in addition to the ethical issues, when you also consider the quality and therefore the lifespan of our garments, the prices of Australian-made garments are actually quite competitive," Mr Classon said.
Ms Diviney hopes more schools will move to adopt ethical procurement policies and said that some schools are already either encouraging their current suppliers to become accredited with Ethical Clothing Australia or looking to switch to manufacturers that are already accredited.

"Supporting ethical Australian manufacturers is a win-win situation. We're talking about quality garments that will survive the rough and tumble of schoolyard wear, but most importantly parents can be confident that the only sweat on their children's clothes is the result of play and not exploitation," said Ms Diviney.

For further information, please contact, Ethical Clothing Australia's media and communications coordinator, Tommy Clarke, on 0404 328 078.

www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au

SOURCE: Ethical Clothing Australia