Human Ethics in Clothing

BUSINESS ETHICS TOWARDS HUMAN RIGHTS

Applied Management Project(09-10T4AABSS000-6)

STUDENT ID: 0820255 M Sc International Business Management

2010


Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................03

Chapter-1

Introduction..............................................................................................................04

1.1 Background of Business ethics..........................................................................04

1.2 Human Rights and its Standards........................................................................05

1.3 Human rights implementation in Businesses......................................................06

1.4 Objectives of the report.......................................................................................06

1.5 Structure of the report.........................................................................................07

1.6 Scope of the Project............................................................................................07

Chapter-2

Literature Review......................................................................................................08

2.1 Ethics in finance..................................................................................................08

2.2 Ethics in Human resource management.............................................................10

2.3 Ethics in Sales and Marketing.............................................................................11

2.4 Ethics in production.............................................................................................12

2.5 Ethics in property rights.......................................................................................13

2.6 Human Rights......................................................................................................15

2.7 Human rights for the workers...............................................................................16

2.7.1 Issues over the rights for workers.....................................................................18

Chapter-3

Case study on the clothing industry...........................................................................20

UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE | 1


3.1 General study on the clothing sector...................................................................20

3.1.1 Strategies in 1970’s..........................................................................................20

3.1.2 Structure of the clothing industry......................................................................21

3.2 Business ethics in the clothing industry...............................................................22

3.3 Employment in the clothing industry....................................................................23

Chapter 4

Analysis.....................................................................................................................25

Introduction on clothing industries.............................................................................25

4.1) Primark...............................................................................................................26

4.2) Levis Strauss & Co.............................................................................................28

4.2.1) Corporate social Responsibility of Levis Strauss.............................................30

4.2.2) Further analysis on the organisation strategies and the employment of workers

inside and outside of the home country.....................................................................31

4.3) A study on the other companies in clothing industry..........................................32

4.4) Employment for workers.....................................................................................33

Chapter - 5

Conclusion.................................................................................................................35

Chapter- 6

Recommendations.....................................................................................................37

References................................................................................................................39



Executive Summary

The aim of this report is to enlighten the importance/relevance of upholding the

human rights standards for workers in the clothing industry. The report examines the

workers working within and outside of their home country while dealing with their

current issues. Analysis is carried on the ethics of business which includes the

human rights standards for the labours as well as the ethical values of the various

fields in business.

Initially, the concepts and theories of the business ethics are analysed as a part of

literature review with the help of books and websites as to understand them better.

The arguments of different authors are compared and analysed. This information is

applied to the current human rights, working standards of the workers and an

analysed data is retrieved in the form of reports which contain information with

respect to the major clothing companies in the world.

The later section of the report suggests important recommendations to be made for

improving the working standards as well as for improving the performance of the

company.



Chapter-1

Introduction

This chapter gives an insight on the background of the ethics of business and the

human rights standards. A brief summary is specified on the implementation of

business ethics in clothing industry thereby specifying the gist on the report by taking

objectives, structure of the report into consideration. The scope of the project is also

mentioned to help notice the opportunities in accessing the information for the report.

1.1 )Background of Business Ethics

Business ethics has been into existence nearly three decades ago. It has been so

because of the unethical practices followed by few businesses. This was common at

the time of World War I and II where there were no rules and regulations on how to

run a business. Establishing a business was meant to earn money in the simplest

way rather than achieving appreciation in the society. People came to notice the

importance of ethical business practices as they have seen the worst nightmare from

greedy, cruel businessmen. The number of deaths in the world wars paved a path to

the need for ethical values. After the end of the world wars, the entire world was

called for peace by world nations. At this particular time, world nations created rules

to be followed for a better living. But the unethical practices in few businesses

continued in spite of having rules as there were loop holes in the system that is

established. The ethical practices were not spread throughout the world. There was

no awareness among businessmen in most of the countries on how to run a

business. In 1984, a major gas leakage has happened in Bhopal, India due to the

negligence of few higher officials. Hundreds of people lost their lives, thousands

suffered with disabilities. This incident shook the world. People came to know that a

small mistake in carrying a business would lead to a disastrous end. It not only does

affect the business but it has affects on the people involved in the business,



environment, health of the people etc. From then on, the businesses followed ethical

values which brought a change in the working style of the organisations.

1.2 ) Human Rights and its Standards

Human rights are the rights which are entitled to the humans which allow them to live

in a society with their fellow people. These rights are applicable throughout the world

(which persists to all the humans in the world) but few rights vary from one country to

other country (depends on the state of the country). During the early nineteenth

century, the developed countries like Germany, United Kingdom, and France have

conquered most of the smaller countries and have ruled them by treating the people

in those countries as slaves. But for the 1st time in 1948, human rights were formed

and implemented.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed

with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of

brotherhood.” (Article 1,United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

1948).

These rights gave the people in the world the right to freedom, the right to speech,

the right to communicate, right to equality with different civilizations. The awareness

spread among all the people to respect each other which helped in development of a

better society. It has been six decades since the human rights have been into

implementation but still there are people who do not enjoy these rights. This practice

is mostly done in the under developed countries where people are not provided good

education and awareness on how to live in a society. They are being used as slaves

by the developed organisation which made them cornered in terms of living

standards in the under developed countries. Even though laws, legislation, human

rights standards are globalized, we find people who do not know what human rights

are.



1.3 ) Human rights implementation in Businesses

Business is a trade which involves in providing services to the people in return for

money. A business would become successful when it is properly carried by the

management. It involves maintaining good relation with the employees and

customers. According to the human rights of the people, the employees must be

dealt with due respect and in return this is applicable to the employees also to treat

their higher officials with diligence. Usually, the labours in the industries establish a

union for themselves in electing a people as the leader for the union who will

communicate with the senior management to secure the rights of the labour. But few

businesses go against the rules to earn money. This generally happens in employing

child labour for the work as they are efficient and are paid low wages. Most of the

businesses which practice these activities are from the clothing industry as they

require a lot of labour to produce embroidery for the cloth.

1.4) Objectives of the Report

The major objective of this report is to examine “the relevance of upholding the

human rights for workers”. It does so by considering the human rights for the workers

in the clothing industry. For a better understanding, the report even considers few

objectives apart from the primary objective. They are as follows-

Examining the common ethical values of businesses.

Analysing the clothing industries which use labour to reduce the production

costs.

Identifying the globalized organisations which have production plants

throughout the world.

Examining whether the clothing industries are performing ethical business or

not.

Understanding the importance of securing human rights for the working class.

Rules and Regulations of various governments on the imports and exports of

clothing.



Differentiating the working conditions in developed and underdeveloped

countries

1.5) Structure of the Report

The report is therefore categorized into chapters starting with the introduction which

specifies in brief about the background of business ethics thereby analysing the

inner concepts and theories of ethical business using books, journals, and websites

as a part of literature review in the second chapter.

Third chapter constitutes to be the heart of the report as it contains analysed data

on the human rights, working standards of the workers in the clothing industry. As a

part of this, all the major companies of the clothing industry throughout the world are

considered.

Fourth chapter briefly concludes on the case study on the human rights of workers in

the clothing industry.

Fifth chapter thus suggests the recommendations which are necessary in helping to

reform the human rights for workers which would help them in freely performing their

tasks. Apart from this the limitations are also specified which will help in knowing the

backlogs in the report.

1.6) Scope of the Project

Unlike other projects or reports, this report does not have a limited scope as there

are numerous clothing industries which deal with the regular problems on the human

rights for their workers. Starting with the lately established companies to the recently

established companies, the information that is useful for the project is available and

accessible. The data collected from various sources needs to be analysed which

opens a new gateway to study information.

Chapter-2

Literature Review



This chapter examines the theories about business ethics, human rights and its

standards. It provides a clear understanding on the concepts relating to the key

areas specified. The theories and concepts are explained from the compilation of

books, website, journals published by different authors through years. Much of the

information has been taken from the books and is structured in a proper way. Firstly,

business ethics is explained with the practices of ethics in various business fields.

There after human rights are discussed with the recent debates on the amendment

of human rights. As the report is aimed to analyse the importance of human rights for

workers in the clothing industry, a brief specification about the human rights for

workers is provided.

According to Andrew Crane (2007) “Business ethics is the study of business

situations, activities, and decision where issues of right and wrong are addressed.”

The author mentions the definition of business ethics in a precise way by pointing out

the study on the issues over right and wrong of any business activity, decision or

situations. Running a business requires intellectual ability to tackle the activities

associated with the business and the problems which occur through these activities

should be solved ethically i.e. no person should be affected from the decisions on

the problem. To understand the problems which persist with the activities of the

businesses, we need to know the activities of the businesses initially. A business has

many wings like the finance management, human resource management, sales and

marketing, production, property rights, technology. If all these activities function in a

proper way then a business is said to be successful with the ethics playing an

important role in these activities.

2.1) Ethics in Finance

John Raymond Boatright (1999) has specified the need for ethics in finances would

improve the functionality of the business as the finance holds a major part in the

operations of a business. Finance involves handling of money and so people who

are trustworthy need to be given the management but ethics is beyond trust.

Corporate financial managers are responsible for the myriad decisions from how

best to invest the capital in the further growth of the business. The awareness



among financial managers on the ethical practices while handling the public finances

improves the trust on the financials there by helping the business to handle the

ethical issues easily. The general ethical issues which occur in finance said by

Ronald F. Duska (2002) are-

Misrepresenting the financial products, including deceptive illustrations of

possible returns

Concealing of risk factors, Withholding full disclosure

Internal trading if the business is in a financial sector involving mutual funds,

selling financial instruments.

Intentional misrepresentation, concealment, or omission of the truth for the

purpose of deception or manipulation to the detriment of a person or

organisation (Downes and Goodman, 1985)

After understanding the general ethical issues, we can understand how important

finance is to be ethical. Ethical issues in finances often occur which turn down the

entire economy of a country as the finance is the driving tool for any economy. Now

a day, money has become important for the human kind and to gain money, people

are turning to become cruel. In this way, handling finances will be a difficult task and

to be ethical is important for the success of the money. Some of the key points to

explain how ethical a company is, are-

Financing in the ethical programs like supporting the child education, beating

the cancer, spreading awareness on the usage of eco friendly products. If a

company is multinational then people expect it to be ethical by at least lending

finances to support for causes.

The company should be loyal to the customers in terms of returns. Charging

huge sum of money for the services would be unethical so the reduction of

costs on the services will help the company in its growth.

2.2) Ethics in Human Resource Management

Raising issues in HRM on the ethical practices will help to make the rights and well

being of the employees since the success or failure of the business depends on the



ethical demands of the customers (Winstanley and Woodall, 2001).As the

organisation’s main source of productivity, HRM will weaken if it does not practise

ethically thereby depriving the credibility of the organisation. On the other hand

ethical practices will strengthen the agenda of the company and also increase the

reputation of the HR managers (Legge, 1998).

Recently, the importance of morality in HRM is recognised and attention is being

paid over the necessary changes in the organisation. One of the best examples for

this is the introduction of pay roll systems in place of paper work which allows the

employees to sign in on their own rather than relying on a person for their entry. The

major ethical concerns in HRM are depicted as follows-

Insecurity and risk as the employers tend to shift these risks on to the

employees. The newly introduced pay roll, shift systems, flexible working

contracts are the primary indicators of the problems (Winstanley, 1996:6)

The surveillance and control of employees (Winstanley, 1996:6).

Deregulation and rhetoric, deceit in HRM will correspond to the doubtful

ethical standards.

Unethical practises in the HRM will show their affect in two ways- on the

organisation, on the customers. HRM is the main wing for any organisation as it

should recruit employees for the organisation and any unethical or illegal activity in

this process can damage the effectiveness of the organisation. One of such

processes includes the recommendations of candidates. If a candidate is

recommended by a senior level employee in the organisation then he shouldn’t be

given job without doing the background check on him. Blindly, employing him by the

HRM would affect the company. At present in the corporate world, this kind of

practise is often seen. Few of the HR managers even give away jobs to naive

employees in return for money. This method is said be to backdoor entry. This is

absolutely unethical in perspective of Human Resource Management. Also because

of this, the performance of the employed candidates affects the development and

services of the products thereby degrading the performance of the organisation.

2.3) Ethics in Sales and Marketing



Marketing ethics has taken its shape in the 1990’s and has emerged as the most

important tool for the success of a business. According to the arguments of Milton

friedman and Ayn Rand it is said that ethics in marketing is just about maximizing

profits but on the other side authors argue that ethics in marketing is to capture the

customer base for the product/services of the business. The point of friedman is

inaccurate and managers often see a positive relation between enlightened self

interest and long term profitability (Smith and Quelch, 1993). But, De George(1993)

refers to friedman statement as “Myth of A moral Business”. In general both of the

arguments are true for their own reasons but the ethics in marketing is changing with

the change in the operating style of the business. Most of the general issues which

are concerned with the ethics of marketing are-

Declaration on the fair treatment and pay for the employees. The terms and

conditions should be outright on the designation of the employee. The

employees should be given respect and be treated with dignity.

The ethical practices of product labelling. The first impression on the product

can be obtained by its label which explains the quality, cost, type of the

product. The best example would be that the labelling is user friendly which

can be easily disposable.

The ethical declaration on the fair use of the product, the risks involved with

it. The health hazardous information should be specified while marketing the

product which will help the consumers in knowing the risks involved with it.

The issues relating to the unethical tactics used for gaining competitive

advantage. The discounts which are offered on a product should be known

carefully as much of the discounts are not applicable on many products. They

are only specified to attract customers and grab the market share.

Truthfulness in advertising the products. This is one of the best ways to

market a product but the product should be introduced in a proper way by

specifying all the pros and cons about the product. Representing the product

would be unethical. This would help the company to achieve sales and profits

but will ruin its reputation in the long run.

Forthrightness in selling the products.



An organisation can present itself in front of public with its services with the process

of marketing. Here what I have presented are the general unethical issues practised

by the organisations but the importance of practising ethically are not been known.

Any unethical or illegal activity would definitely fetch money in return but what is the

use of obtaining such money? In this process, the organisation which is unethical is

losing its position in the market. It’s better to be in the market for a long time by

satisfying the customers. This would help in the future growth (expansion) of the

organisation with a lot of appreciation and reputation. Also unethical practises are

against the law and order, if convicted then the entire organisation will be seized.

This would leave no space for the future establishment of a business.

2.4) Ethics in Production

Ethical issues in production are a very common thing which happens in a company.

This is so because of the resources which are required for the production of a

product are environmental, technological. It may have a direct/indirect affect on the

nature. For example, the production of cosmetics requires chemicals from the animal

pigments. This would affect the living of the animals and other than cosmetics,

medicines, pesticides are tested on plants and animals which needs to have a

license. Destroying environment for personal benefits would be unethical and in this

report we consider ethics in clothing industry and one of the concerns about the

production in clothing industry is that leather is being manufactured with the skin of

many animals. It is completely unethical and is against law to harm animals.

Apart from these issues, one of the other ethical issues in the production phase is

that during the production of products, gases released into the air from the factories

will affect the atmosphere. The waste that comes out of the factory will pollute the

water in the surrounding area. This generally happens with the chemicals factories

producing pesticides, insecticides etc.

Awareness programs are been in place to stop the

unethical activities of the industries but are not so effective in the developing nations.

Due to the strict law in the developed countries, businesses are restricted to use

limited resources or given permission to establish such businesses outside the cities.

All the factories in the clothing industry are situated outside the cities of developed

nations giving them the opportunity to produce in an open environment by which



living people are not affected. By the same is not happening in the developing

nations. The unethical issues are becoming more as there is no proper political

support to abolish such practices. This is showing a direction to the businessmen in

the developed countries as they are finding it as an opportunity to gain more profits.

Not all the businessmen like to start a new business in developed countries as it

involves more costs, strict rules and regulations. For this reason, these businessmen

are establishing their factories in the developing countries like India, China as they

can take advantage of the loopholes in the system. This might be one of the reasons

for the establishment of factories in the developing countries apart from the low

production costs, cheap labour.

2.5) Ethics in Property Rights

According to Michael Benfield (1998) the code of ethics is changing with the change

in circumstances. For example, before 50 years abortion was illegal and after 30

years it has become legal in few countries and now it is legal to abort a child in most

of the countries. The ethical code in medicine 50 years ago is changed now for its

own reasons. The advancement in the technology and science has minimised the

barriers between good and bad, right and wrong. In the similar way the property

rights have been changed since its establishment.

After many considerations it is said that “property is not essentially a ‘right to a thing’,

but rather a separable bundle of rights subsisting between persons which may vary

according to the context and the object which is at stake”(Davis, 2007:20). This

bundle includes the rights to sell, buy, and lease a part of land. The rules and

regulations on the property rights vary in different countries but ultimately they

constitute in the development of the land (Cooter and Ulen, 1988). Property rights

explain the relation among human and not just about a thing. Some scholars argue

that rights impose duties on others and property rights ever conflict with other

protected interests. The ethics in the property rights emerges with the recognition of

the notion of the property (Singer, J. W. 2000). The property rights are classified into

two categories- intellectual property rights and ordinary property rights. Intellectual

property rights are different from the ordinary rights as they involve sole proprietor

ownership. Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine (2008) argue that “the government

does not ordinarily enforce monopolies for producers of other goods. This is because



it is widely recognized that monopoly creates many social costs. Intellectual

monopoly is no different in this respect. The question we address is whether it also

creates social benefits commensurate with these social costs”.

The general procedure in obtaining property rights for a business is to buy a land or

building or manufacturing unit for the business. Ethics come in when the property is

properly used for the business purpose. For example: if a land is taken from the

landlord for a lease of 5 years, it should be maintained in a proper way rather than

treating it as if they own the land. The leaser/occupier should not sub-lease the land

for his own profits without the concern of the landlord. This generally happens when

the occupiers are politically influential/sound. Apart from the fixed assets/property of

a business, employees also become the property in a company which allows the

employer to have a right to dismiss, promote his employee. There are even few

rights which allow major companies to own their staff and specify the staff to work on

whatever the employer specifies.

These practices existed many centuries ago. Accordingly, “The

right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution”.

(Roger B. Taney, 1857). There was no ethics in the practices that existed centuries

ago but recently with the ethical awareness among the civilization, the ownership on

civilization has been removed as a property owned by a business. The human rights

helped to provide equality and freedom to all the people which restricts the

employers in treating their employees as slaves. While in the under developed

countries, the lack awareness and proper law, constitution is still making the rich

people to indulge poorer in slavery.

One of the other properties of a business is that of the products it produces. They

are the real property of a company. Toyota iQ car is a property for Toyota company.

So property is ultimately the resource which is owned by the business for the

business. The common issues which still persist in the ethical practices over property

rights are-

Intelligent employees are attracted from one company to work for another

company in return for higher income. This is mainly done to stab a good

business to beat the competition but this is unethical way of carrying a

business.



Manufacturing or producing a product without taking the permission from the

original designer or creator. This indirectly points out to stealing the ideas,

designs of a person and not crediting him for it. But when this is discovered

then the business has to face the law which would ruin its reputation.

Copyright violation is another unethical practice which generally reserves the

right to not duplicate the original product. But, there are few industries like the

clothing industry, electronic industry, music industry in which copyright issues

are a common concern.

For example: China is famous for duplicating any kind of product like the

mobile phones, music players, gadgets which are of cheap quality and

resemble in the same way of the original product. Producing such products is

unethical in a business field even though they fetch you a lot of money.

2.6) Human Rights

According to Jack Donnelly (2003), human rights are “the rights of men” meaning the

rights obtained by being born as a human. But what kind or rights are they? How do

they work or help a human in his life? The question to these answers will help in

understanding the importance of having human rights.

There are four primary dimensions for the practice of human rights-exercise,

enjoyment, respect, enforcement.

Exercise: a right is exercised when the obligations of a duty-bearer are

activated who may either respect the right or violate it.

Respect: the duty-bearer is given the right to respect which determines how to

behave within the society

Enjoyment: the right is a freedom to do whatever a duty-bearer wants to until

and unless it is against the law and is questioned by another person

A human can use his rights in every aspect of his life and when ethics comes into

place then these rights should be used for good purposes rather than indulging in

bad activities. While utilizing the human rights, a person should also respect the law



and constitution which have their set of rules which should never be crossed. A

human can’t oppose the law even though he can by utilizing his human rights. This

shows a clear picture that the rights given to the human are restrictive in few

situations. Ultimately, the law is the superior governance.

Jack Donnelly (2003) further specified in his book that the human rights are “equal

rights” either one is a black or other is white, he or she, the rights are applicable to

one and all who are born as a human being. They are also said to be “inalienable

rights” meaning the human is might be mentally retarded or with disabilities, human

rights are the same and they will have the right to hold human rights.

The responsibility in implementing the human rights has been taken by many

organisations throughout the world. Major of them are- United Nations Human Rights

Council established in 2005, United Nations Security Council, Council of Europe,

Association of Southeast Asian nations.

2.7) Human Rights for the Workers

These rights are also said to be labour rights which are meant to maintain a good

relation between the employer and the workers. They are practiced at the time of pay

negotiation, benefits, safe working conditions etc. These rights allow people to form

unions in the company to discuss about their problems. The main right which the

workers have is the right to work. It does not depend on the location in which they

are working but a worker is universally given the “right to work”. Apart from this a

worker is also given the “right to unionize” which means that a worker can form a

union on this own with the support of his fellow workers. (Core Labour Standards

Handbook, 2006).

It was in 1833 when the England government had recognised the need for labor

rights. This was the age of industrialization and Karl Marx had called for the right for

workers. Further, International Labour Organisation was formed in 1919 to

standardise these rights and by December 10th 1948 the below rights are been

recognized.

Article 23



1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable

conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring

for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if

necessary, by other means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his

interests.

Article 24

1. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of

working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

(Source: The universal declaration of human rights, 1948)

Since its establishment, these rights are been continuing in the same way as they

are as they have been universally approved by all the workers. Apart from these

articles, there are several articles which mention about the right for workers but

mean the same. The implementation of these rights is been successful in developed

countries whereas in the developing countries, it has not yet been understood by the

workers. The awareness among the workers on their rights is less stressed in the

developing countries which make the naive workers to just obey the rules of his

employer. Whereas in developed countries like United Kingdom and America, the

rights are obey and utilized by the workers. The equal pay for all the workers does

not exist in the developing countries which explains us that the Human rights are not

implemented universally which should be overlooked again by the United Nations

General Assembly who framed the declaration.

2.7.1) Issues Over the Rights for Workers

The major issues which are still being debated are as follows-



The issue over the amount of time to work is still being a concern to the major

organisations in the developed countries. In the 19th century, the work period

was eight hours per day and later in 2000 France had established 35 hours

per week. The worker is given the right to ask for the over time from his/her

manager but the maximum work done should not cross 48hours per week.

There was even movement from the labour to increase the minimum wage

per hour which is still under consideration by the governments. However there

is opposition to the increase from new economists as they consider the

unskilled and entry level workers. (Human rights watch, 1988)

The most important issue regarding the workers is about the child labour.

Children are legally not allowed to work accordingly to the human rights but

due to the economic backlog, there are children who still work illegally.

Discrimination in the work place is being treated as a crime but it still persists

when considering the wage gaps between the genders.

Human rights watch (1988) has even sorted out few issues which include- non

payment of wages, extended working hours, unsafe working environments leading to

injuries and death of the people.

The discrimination against the workers has been happening since ages and to sort

out the issues on Human rights for workers, the United Nations is focusing on the

awareness programs, by altering the rules in few countries and it is widening its

watch on the developing, underdeveloped countries with the help of media. Media is

the only medium to bring out the facts behind any situation. All the unethical

practises, violation of human rights of workers by the businesses are brought forward

by the media. When the news is spread throughout the globe it minimizes the scope

for further such incidents to happen. Now a day, all the businesses are conscious in

making their moves in front of media. There are a lot of issues on human rights in all

the countries but are not been brought forward. But this is done by media and is also

solving all the issues with the help of public which reduces the pressure on the

United Nations. The United Nations has also known a lot about various unethical

activities of businesses through media and is now concentrating to deal with all the

queries in the world.



Chapter-3

Case Study on the Clothing Industry

This chapter provides a general study on the clothing sector persisting throughout

the world. In this process, the strategies which the businesses in the clothing

industry use are explained briefly with the information provided on the structure of



the clothing industry. A general analysis is also made on the implementation of

business ethics in the clothing industry and the necessary code of conduct is

depicted which is generally used by the clothing businesses. Also, employment in

the clothing industry is observed with respect to the human rights and a clear picture

of the employment in developed as well as developing countries is presented.

3.1) General Study on the Clothing Sector

Clothing sector is a labour based sector which allows unskilled people for the entry

level jobs. There is no need for any qualification in order to work in this sector. It has

been established centuries ago and since then it has been introducing variety of

clothes for the mankind. Rules and regulations have been introduced on the

functioning of clothing industries in the late eighteenth century. This mainly included

rules on the imports and exports of the manufactured goods. Recently in 2005, the

general rules have been liberalised according to the agreement on tariffs and trade.

This change had affected many industries in quite a large way. The primary means

for clothing industry is the textile industry. Both of them need to go hand in hand to

manufacture a finished product. On a whole, the Agreement on Textile and Clothing

regulates the businesses in the textile and clothing industries. Every country has got

the resources for the manufacture of clothes and the clothes with good quality

generally get exported to other countries.

3.1.1) Strategies in 1970’s

The establishment of major companies had led to the implementation of new

strategies which involved managing the textile as well as the clothing simultaneously.

The retailer indulged into these practices were in supply chain management is used

to carry on the proceedings. Wal Mart (world’s No.1 shopping mall) has used this

technique in expanding its services. Because of such a change, the need for workers

tremendously increased. This process ultimately reduced the production costs, and

the shifting was flexible enough. Through the supply chain, the businesses expanded

too many countries to capture the international markets.

3.1.2) Structure of the Clothing Industry



The sector is well known for its innovative, creative aspects. With the change in

science and technology, the industry is also being modifying itself with modern

technology which helps in producing high quality clothes. The structure of the

industry used to be precise but with all the changes in terms of technology, labour,

outsourcing, fashion in the recent years, it has become complex yet precise to

understand. Fashion is playing an important role in the present markets. With the

emergence of retailers, the industry has been divided into two major categories

consisting of businesses (Navaretti et al., 2001).

According to Gereffi (2001), “retailers accounted for half of total garment imports in

the European Union in the mid-1990s, a trend that probably has continued during the

second half of the 1990's”.

One of the two major segments in the industry is the fashion driven market which

involve in producing clothes designed from professional designers with well skilled

workers and is characterized by latest technology. The competitive advantage in this

market is the ability to put up innovative designs for the fashion lovers. These

markets exist in developed countries like America, England, and France in which

people encourage fashionable clothes with high quality.

On the other side of the industry, a market with mass production of clothes like t-

shirts, undergarments, uniforms exits. The quality of these products is relatively low

when compared with the other segment of the market. Talking about the scope the

mass production market has a lot of scope as their products are cheap and are

mandatory for the living of human. This type of market is generally found in the

developing countries like India, China, Turkey, Mexico having semi-skilled

employees. This market constitutes females workers as the major part and almost all

the finished goods are outsourced to various countries including the developed

countries. (Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås, 2004).

“Substantial changes in the retail sector have been observed during the past few

decades and modern retailing has been called "lean retailing" in a recent

comprehensive study” (Abernathy et al, 1999). Apart from the change in the

structure, the working style of the industry has also been changed due to which the

business ethics is being inappropriately practised. Unethical practices are

dominating the ethical practices is being brought into media often.



3.2) Business Ethics in the Clothing Industry

For any business to be started, code of conduct is to be followed in running it

successfully. This code of conduct is a set of rules which restricts the business in

implementing unethical practices. Recently, the clothing industry has revised the

code of conduct and has standardised it. These codes directly or indirectly refer to

the standards of the International Labour Organisation regarding the human rights at

work, external trade partners, and labour legislation. One of the important codes to

be introduced which is being debated is the “ethical ranks” which would help the

enterprises in the developing countries as well as developed countries. These codes

are proposed and discussed with the employers and workers association and a

feasible solution is derived in introducing the concept of ethical ranks. The need for

this to take place is the dominance of the industries in the developed countries over

the production and supply in the developing country. The trade partners in the

developing countries for the industries in developed countries are always seen as

the suppliers who must follow the code for the order placed by a foreign company.

This one way approach is not ethical when compared to the

business in the developing countries so a standard code is required which would

reduce this approach and give a greater social dimension to the clothing industries

activities. At present the governments in the developing countries are encouraging

the people to promote ethical values and human rights at work. It is also spreading

awareness on the economic importance of providing decent working conditions. It

has not been much successful though but we can expect a good result within few

years. Much of the working style of businesses in the formal sector has been

adopting human rights at work, helping their workers in their daily needs. But in the

informal side, there is no change in the working style as it indulges people with

illiteracy and unskilled. Hopefully with the implementation of proper codes, the

working and living conditions of the workers would change.

3.3) Employment in the Clothing Industry

America and Europe are the two major continents where clothing industry has its

major activities. Italy is claimed to be the world best in the production of clothes.

According to the commission of the European communities or the union (2003), the

textile and the clothing industry accounts for only 7 percent of the employment in the



entire manufacturing sector. But after the amendment in the general rules in 2005,

the European Union is thinking to employ 2.7 million in the textile and clothing sector.

According to the surveys conducted by the International Labour Organisation, the

employment in the textile as well as the clothing industry is considerably reducing

since 1995. This is mainly observed in the developed countries such as United

States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Italy and among the

developed countries only Spain and Portugal have managed to be having an

increase in the employment for workers. On the other side when survey is conducted

on the employment in the developing countries, it is found out that the employment

opportunities are increasing so do the employment for workers in India, China,

Mexico, Romania, Poland, and Morocco. Since 1995, these countries have shown a

progress in the employment for workers especially in the clothing sector.

From the surveys and the other data, it can be analysed that the

this situation were employment for workers has reduced in the developed countries

and is increasing in the developing countries has been existing due to the

outsourcing of the manufacturing and production of clothing. The businesses in the

developed countries is opting the developing countries for its manufacturing of

products. For example, Marks & Spencer (one of the leading retail group in Britain)

has its clothing manufacturers in South Africa. This is done to reduce the production

costs and improve the quality. Establishing a factory in the developed country

requires a lot of investment instead using the same investment would help in

establishing a factory in the developing country and importing the finished goods.

This would also provide feasible solutions to many issues regarding the profitability.

As most of the businesses in the developed countries had opted to use this practice,

the factories and employment in the developed countries have been reduced thereby

increasing the manufacturing units, employment for labour in the developing

countries.



Chapter 4

Analysis

This chapter analyses the strategies of the clothing organisations to prevent to the

violations of human rights and to practice ethical values. In this process, Primark and

Levis Strauss are been taken as an example and are evaluated. Apart from these

two organisations, few other smaller organisations are also analysed.



Introduction on Clothing Industries

As we know clothing industry is old and traditional industry which has been running

successfully since centuries. But now the clothing industry has been changed

according to the tastes, cultures of new generations. In the present world the fashion

is given more importance as it produces innovative, creativity designer wears. The

clothing industry is now collaborating with fashion industry for the manufacturing of

cloths. In this process there are many clothing companies which are being

established every year as there is a lot demand for fashion. A part from the newly

established companies, the older companies which are established decades ago are

still surveying in the competitive world. The top fashion oriented companies which

are famous in the world are- Pepe jeans, Levis Strauss, wrangler, gap, Burberry are

the well established-old players in the market, while Abercrombie and Fitch, French

connection are the new players in the market. But these are only fashion oriented

companies; we also have sports oriented companies like Adidas Reebok, and Nike

which are very popular for sportswear.

This project intends to analysis the business ethics in clothing industry so it is

necessarily important to understand weather the clothing companies are practicing

ethical values are not. With the emergence of fashion industry and increasing

demand for fashion wear all the clothing companies have diverted themselves in

producing fashion wear. Because of this the competition between the organizations

is increasing rapidly and most of the companies are indulging in unethical practices

to stay ahead in the competitions. Two of such organisations will be analysed

further-

4.1) Primark:

Primark is one of the largest retail companies in United Kingdom with 138 stores

running throughout the country. It is famous for selling clothes with low price and

innovative and simple designs. Though it’s not a clothing based company, it has

become successful by outsourcing the production of its cloths to different countries.

These countries include mainly developing countries like India in which Primark has

its maximum suppliers. In 2008 an investigation carried by British broadcasting



corporation (BBC the panorama) has revealed that the suppliers of the Primark are

practicing unethical activities such as employing child labour.

It started in 2008 when an investigative journalist of panorama- Dan MacDougal

visited Bhavansigar refugee camp (70miles north of Tirupur, south India) and found

out that Tamil children aged below 9 yrs are working for Primark garments in dark

rooms with no proper wages, no security. These children worked for the suppliers of

the Primark, but the Primark has no information on child labour. It was Dan

MacDougal (The Panorama) which revealed the situation persisting in Tirupur.

Primark has completely denied the fact that it was involved in employing child labour

but it’s the responsibility of the Primark to assign contracts to suppliers who perform

ethical business. The code of conduct of the supplier should be checked before

assigning the contracts. However, ultimately Primark will be bearing the blame over

the child labour. The Tirupur exporters association (TEA) in India have supported

Primark by justifying that the children who were found at the working site are just

helping their parents after school. It ultimately specified that ”There is no child labour

in tirupur”. This was completely denied by Mary, a psychologist in Indian NGO-

SAVE (social awareness and voluntary education). SAVE is the organisation is

intended to eliminate child labour and working in hand to hand with NGO since 1994.

Mary specified that the SAVE organisation will be raiding all the factories with an

intension to find out whether the business are practicing child labour or not. In such

raids they have found out that on an average 250-300 children are working per year

within the factories. She had questioned TEA on how there is no child labour in

tirupur. She expresses her views over this situation that she has been observing

child labour since years and many of the reputed organisations are denying this fact.

(Ethical consumer,2008)

Generally in India there is lot of corruption, this is helping the

bigger organisations to tackle allegations over their illegal practices. Primark might

have also done the same to acquire the support of the organisations to come out of

the scandal.

When we look at the above scandal we can observe that Primark is not involved as

the entire scandal rotates on its suppliers. It is necessarily important for Primark to

look into its suppliers while giving the contracts which it hasn’t managed properly.



Geoff Lancaster (head of external affairs, Primark) claimed that it is impossible for

any organisation to handle its supply chain when it is outspread throughout world. In

addition, he specifies that his contractors might have subcontractors on which he is

unaware off. Geoff Lancaster might be true, Primark might not be aware of the

subcontractors but it should be responsibility to look into its supply chain as its a

reputed organisation. The truth in the words of Geoff Lancaster can be noticed when

we closely look into the working conditions of tirupur. Tirpur is a place having more

than 1000 exporters, 6000 factories and 5000 sub contractors. This is an open zone

for big retailers to give away their contracts. As this zone is especially reputed for

clothing sector, the retailer giving the contracts will not take the responsibility in

overseeing the manufacturing process as he believes in his suppliers. But these

suppliers may not handle the large orders from there retailers and they indulge in

subcontracting. Thousands of workers will be working under contractors as well as

the sub contractors and they will be under immense pressure in producing the

garments with in time. It’s the contractors and subcontractors who need to take care

on the safety and security of their employees. But in Tirupur this isn’t observe as

there are employees who even work 24hrs a day. According to Ruth Bergan (Home

workers worldwide) criticises that the pressure which is created on employees is due

to the mass ordering of the retailers. To reduce production cost and labour costs, big

organisations like Primark intent to approach suppliers in developing countries and

give out their mass order. The suppliers will have no choice rather than to process

this orders as they are economical poor background. Ultimately, the suppliers tend to

put pressure on their employees as there are no rules and regulations over the

working conditions of the employees. Unlike in western countries, Employees in

Tirupur are not paid either on hourly bases or a minimum wage.

By this we can conclude that there is some truth in the words of Geoff Lancaster that

Primark is unaware of its subcontractors but in illegal terms it needs to conduct a

background check of its suppliers as well as the employees working under its

suppliers. The end result of this scandal is that the Primark has sacked three of its

Indian suppliers. This created a sensation as many employees have lost their jobs. It

even affected Primark as its sales in that year have decreased. NGO’s like SAVE

have reacted strongly to the situation and blamed Primark for sacking the suppliers.

They expressed their views to re-employee the sacked suppliers so that the



employees working under them will not be homeless. They felt that big organisations

should look into its suppliers before giving the orders as it might be a part of money

involved but it involves thousands of employees. There are no proper wages, no

security, and no safety provided by Primark so how will they have the right to make

their employees homeless. Sam Maher states that “if Primark is the ethical company

it claims to be, it would put more energy into ensuring these job were carried out in

decent conditions and for wages that provided a dignified standard living.” TEA has

already put in a clause that company like Primark have to share.

4.2) Levis Strauss & Co:

Levis Strauss & Co is a famous and well reputed organisation established in 1853 in

California. The organisation has become wanted for its wide range of denim jeans. In

its early stages it had just concentrated on the traditional clothing with the addition to

the normal denim jeans. It was in late 1920’s that the company actually started

introducing modern ware along with the continuation of its denim jeans. The

company has been the No.1 in America decades ago but now it lost its position in

the markets. During the 1960’s and 1970’s the growth of the company was

enormous as the younger generations went crazy for the varieties of denim jeans.

The era was named as “blue jeans craze” for the organisation. Through the years the

organisation had acquired many small, big firms such as Great Western Garment

Co. From which it had adapted to the use of “Stone Washing Technique” for its

production.

Until the 1980’s, Levis Strauss had no competition from other clothing organisations.

It had its varied way of manufacturing clothes which no other company came up with.

But it had started in 1990’s in the period which the clothing industry in America has

been driven with fashion and innovative new designer wares. Many new firms were

established which were competing with the well established firms and also the cheap

products were imported from other countries which attracted customers. This led to

the change in the strategies of Levis Strauss and the organisation had adapted to

outsource its production work to the other countries. In this process, the company

had to face difficulties as it has been accused of indulging in unethical practises. In

1991, the organisation has involved in a scandal in which its clothes were

manufactured in six factories situated in Northern Mariana Islands by Chinese labour



under “slavelike” condition according to the United States Department of Labour. It

was even accused for paying fewer wages to the workers with 12-hour shifts every

day in a week. These practises were brought under the jurisdiction and the

organisation was ordered to pay a huge sum of penalty. Tan Holding Corporation a

Levis Strauss subcontractor was named after paying the largest fines in the US

history. $9 million was given as restitution to the employees. Immediately, Levis

Strauss claimed it had no knowledge on the procedures adapted by its

subcontractors and is entirely not involved in the unethical practises. This was a

surprise to all its customers as none of such scandals had taken place till then. The

movements on the human rights for workers by the private organisations were in full

flow during this period. An activist group named Fuerza Unida (United Force) was

revolting against the organisations which violated the human rights for workers and

treated the workers like slaves. The activists had targeted Levis Strauss for its

involvement in violating labor policies and protested with hunger strike, sit-ins in front

of the head quarters in San Francisco. In 1996, the company had to face heavy

financial problems involving in multi-billion dollar debt also leading to the left out

stock to be bought by the family members of the company. From this stage the fall of

the company has been observed leading to continuous losses for the consecutive

years. The company had even promised to pay out the dividends for its workers

worth $750million for the next six years but it had never done so.

4.2.1) Corporate Social Responsibility of Levis Strauss

Karl Schoenberger has analysed Levis Strauss on the basis of its corporate social

responsibility since it has grown as a multinational organisation and he feels that the

organisation was the first among several in framing the ethical, corporate social

responsibility rules. Until now, the report discussed about the unethical practises of

Levis in its 1990’s and the after affects it faced because of them. Now, the report

depicts the analysis on the causes of its unethical practises and the opportunities

created by Levis for its workers.



Since the establishment of the organisation, it was operated by the family members

of Levis and it continued for more than five decades. As a multinational organisation,

it had planned to implement ethical practices involving human rights for its workers. It

was the first organisation to publish a statement that the organisation operates in an

ethical way without affecting its employees and its customers. In 1975, it had framed

a set of ethical guidelines in which it gave special importance to ethical values. Then

after it was the first organisation to implement the code of conduct on its international

business operations. Karl Schoenberger argues that the present situation of Levis

Strauss has been seen because of the inefficient capability of the management as it

has trusted its subcontractor in the manufacturing process. The company has also

faced few criticisms in not revealing its growth strategies to its shareholders which

made them believe that the organisation is indulging in unethical practises. But in

reality the company had no intension to indulge in activities which would ruin its

further growth. Karl Schoenberger strongly opposes the involvement of Levis Strauss

in all the scandals as he explains from his observations that all the multinational

companies are aiming to stay ahead in the market without concentrating on the

maximizing their profits. These companies have been in the market since decade

and had obtained a position for themselves and further the strategies of any of such

companies would be to maintain their position. To be ethical and loyal to its

customers, Levis Strauss has removed its operations from its factories in Burma in

1992 as it was accused of violating human rights. When all the other multinational

companies were expanding their services to all the major countries in the world in

1993, Levis Strauss was against this practice and it had withdrew its operations from

China as it found that major of the factories in china do not obey the code of conduct.

It even protected against the issue of contracts to such factories as it would be

unethical as these factories have no social responsibility. But the scandals had

affected the organisation so badly that it was unable to plan out new strategies as it

lack finances and in 1998 it had even taken the decision to not to divest from the

country. Ultimately, even though the organisation has tried hard to be ethical and

moral, the arising issues in the factories of the organisation are a perfect example of

the complexity in the modern manufacturing sector.



(Source: Compiled from Levi’s Children: Coming to Terms with Human Rights in the

Global Marketplace by Karl Schoenberger, 2000 published in Harvard Human Rights

Journal)

4.2.2) Further Analysis on the Organisation Strategies and the Employment of

Workers Inside and Outside of the Home Country

As we know, Levis Strauss is a multinational company with its operations in all the

major countries. As it has been established in America, few of its production units

and its head quarters are established in the home country employing the workers

belonging to the same country. But some part of its work is being outsourced which

lead to the transfers of the employees working in America to the newly established

units. The outsourcing to developing countries like India, China indulged in the

activity of issuing contracts to the factories whereby it’s the responsibility of the

factories to employee the labour. The workers working in the factories in India are

not given opportunity to work in the factories in China as it involves huge costs. So

the practise of employing the workers belonging to the same country is often

encouraged by Levis Strauss.

After all the allegations, the organisation in 2002 had taken a decision to collaborate

with Wal-Mart (No.1 retail store) for the exclusive sale of its Signature Jeans until

2006. After the scandal in 1991, the organisation had not involved in further scandals

but it couldn’t gain back its previous legacy and had to face losses for nine times in

ten years. It had even sold away its subsidiary companies to clear its financial

problems. The organisation was not in to news involving in to bad practises through

the years until 2007. But again in 2007, it has been accused of violating the code of

the ethical trading Initiative. Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a non-governmental

organisation which is a union of multinational companies having a disciplinary panel

which would analyse the ethical values of the companies. Levis Strauss has come

out of this organisation after refusing to implement “Living wage provision” of the

ETI’s base code. The panel had stated that it is very difficult to adapt to the change

which is obeyed by all the other member organisations but Levis had opposed, for

which it has been suspended.

For the first time in the entire century, the ethical ranking of Levis Strauss has

dropped from first to fifth place. It was because of the suspension of Levis Strauss



from ETI. Industry analysts argue that the living wage provision will eliminate the

discrimination against the garment workers explaining that amongst the workers, the

garment workers are paid with lesser wages and to eradicate this, a minimum wage

provision will be implemented. This is absolutely ethical and the protests against it

will be strongly opposed.

One of the good things when analysed the unethical side of

Levis Strauss is that it has not been accused of employing child labour which is also

a violation of human rights. Unlike, Primark, Gap, M&S and other companies, Levis

Strauss is better in this perspective.

4.3) A Study on the Other Companies in Clothing Industry

Apart from just Levis Strauss and Primark, there are several other clothing industries

in the world which are involving in the same kind of practices. In a recent study

conducted in 2009 by Labour Behind the Label, high street retailers including Tesco,

Asda, Levis Strauss, and John Lewis are being accused of exploiting the workers in

Asia. In 2007, living wage provision is being accepted by the organisations in the ETI

but in reality the companies are not following the base codes because of which the

clothing workers are not being paid the exact wage which is intended for the

improvement of their living conditions. The report stated that around 25 high street

retailers were graded between zero to five over their commitment towards the living

wage provisions to their workers and the result has come out to be in the following

way-

The lowest committed company is Levis Strauss which refused to pay the living

wages to its workers. Asda, Sainsbury’s stood in the next position with a 2/5 grade

and still remains to be below average. John Lewis had refused to take the survey but

the Labour Behind the Label had evaluated the organisation in terms of its policies

towards the human rights for workers. The result was the organisation had a very

disappointing approach towards the human rights for workers. The next position was

taken by Tesco as it has been graded 3/5 which was acceptable as the organisation

was trying hard to improve its workers conditions. In the same way, Primark and

M&S were also awarded 3/5. Beating all these companies are next, gap, new look

and monsoon who were given 3.5/5 which was appreciable when compared to

others.



(Source: Rebecca Smithers (2009), High street retailers accused of exploiting

workers in Asia )

4.4) Employment for Workers

Until the recent recession in 2007, the world had seen a sharp increase in the

economies of the developed, developing nations. According to a report published in

2005 by the International Labour Organisation, it was observed that the improvement

in the economy of countries is not improving the employment opportunities. Around

half in the 2.85 billion workers are living on less than $2 per day which is below the

poverty line. The number of unemployed people had rose to a record high of 191.8

million in spite of the growth in the economies rising by 4.3%. According to Juan

somavia, the director of International labour organisation- the unemployment

problems are increasing year by year and the economies are not concentrating on

providing jobs for the unemployed or increasing wages by utilizing the growth. This is

mainly observed in the developed countries like Latin America, Caribbean where the

unemployment rose by 1.3 million which is more than half of the entire global rise. In

2004 the unemployment rate was 7.3% which was steady since the two years but in

2005 it rose to 7.6% recording the highest in the world. In central and eastern

Europe, the unemployment rate was 9.5% in 2004 and increased to 9.7% in 2005. In

sub- Africa the unemployment rate remained 9.7% but the worst affected are the

middle-east and North Africa were unemployment was 13.2%.Out of all these, Asia

remained to be the lowest in the unemployment rate with just 3.8% and that of

britain’s was 5%. On a whole the entire unemployment rate in the developed

countries was 6.3%.

When analysing all the factors which lead to this situation, we can

observe that the practise of outsourcing a part of work to the developing countries by

the developed nations is one of the main reasons. Because, this is creating an

opportunity to the developing countries in Asia to employ more labour for carrying

the work. With the IT industry booming throughout all the countries, the employment

of professional people with good academics is given more importance than the

workers. In reality, the workers are paid less wages when compared to people with

professional qualifications. Due to this the need for workers in the developed

countries is coming down as most of the organisation’s production work is carried in



the developing countries. It is also stated that the service industry is growing rapidly

through the years and is expected to overtake the agricultural sector and this is been

observed as only 5% of people work on lands in developed countries. While this is

expected to be one of the reasons, the other is the increase in population in the

African countries. The ratio of employment to population is also falling rapidly. Even

the report shows that the unemployment rate is increasing drastically in the

developed countries while the situation is reversed in the developing countries.

(Source: Ashley Seager (2006), Global Jobless rise hampers efforts to cut poverty)

Chapter - 5

Conclusion

This chapter gives a brief conclusion on the entire report keeping in mind of the

research and analysis on the human rights for workers.



From the entire research on the clothing industry and the implementation of the

human rights for workers, ethical activities I hereby conclude that the ethics in

business is being overseen by the businessmen and the same is continuing in the

clothing industry. This is because of the increase in competition, greed for money. If

one organisation is performing the unethical activity then their competitors are doing

the same to gain profits. This is being spread in all the organisations throughout all

the industries because of which the customers are paying heavy prices in contrary

companies like Primark are defending themselves from not indulging in violating the

human rights but because of the cheap clothes produced by them, its competitors

like Asda, Tesco are doing the same which is degrading the quality of the clothes by

wasting a lot of resources for their manufacturing. The hard work of the workers is

lost in reality as these cheap clothes are used and thrown in the developing

countries. While the smaller companies are degrading the quality of clothing, the

multinational companies are not paying proper wages to their employees. This tells

us that whoever is involved with the clothing is being suffered except few customers

who do not bother how their clothes are made. Due to the process of outsourcing,

the employees in the outsourcing countries are being unethically treated which is not

being noticed in the developed countries. The emergence of media has helped in

controlling the system to some expect as it had brought awareness on the misuse of

clothes.

On the positive side, the employment opportunities in the developing nations like

India, China, and Philippines have increased in the garments industry which is

ultimately improving the economies of the developing countries rather than the

developed countries. The wages that their employer pays may be less but it is

accepted by workers as its better to earn something rather than being unemployed.

There are no revolts carried on by the workers against the factories till now but the

workers are expressing their intension when they are questioned. All the scandals

are brought forward by the media. This shows the media is having more corporate

social responsibility than the clothing industries. Not only the new organisations

which are established recently but also the older organisations which are established

centuries ago are being indulged in all these scandals.



Chapter- 6

Recommendations



This chapter suggests few recommendations observed by the author during the

process of the research and analysis on the organisations in the clothing industry.

After analysing the industry by taking into consideration of all the multinational

companies, I feel that the at present system in the existing clothing industry should

change and in this process I suggest few changes based on my observations-

Companies need to regulate the employment of workers in their factories.

Clauses should be mentioned in the agreement between the multinational

organisation and the factories involving the regulation of the employment for

workers. For example: A clause specifying that people should have a

minimum qualification before applying for the employment in factories will

minimize the risk and will restrict the violation of human rights.

Shift system should be introduced in the factories as the workers are being

worked for more than 12hours per day. With a shift system in place, a day

can be divided into 3 shifts each shift having 8 hours with a certain number of

workers in each shift according to the factory conditions. This procedure will

improve the productivity and will lead to the expansion of its services as the

production is being carried out throughout the day.

As the multinational companies are spending costs on outsourcing their work

to the unknown factories in developing countries, I would suggest them to

acquire a factory and run the factory according to their rules and regulations.

This would improve the situation of the workers as the management will be

aware of the working conditions in its own factories.

To abolish the child labour, the multinational companies should introduce a

system in which the workers are given additional amount with their wages for

the education of their children. Awareness programs should be in place

where the workers will be taught about the importance of education for their

child’s future. The intension behind these programs is that the parents should

use the additional money only for the education of their children rather than

utilizing it for their own purpose.



The government in the developed countries should look into the unethical

practises of the organisations and strict rules should be implemented on the

procedure of outsourcing their work. Organisation’s license should be

cancelled if the organisation is proved to be unethical. Because of this the

organisations will move in the right path following the rules and regulations

leading to the ethical business.

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Human Ethics in Clothing

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