Fashion lessons on the factory floor

Feb 20 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

FASHION students were given a taste of factory working which produces the cheap clothing on sale in British High Streets.

The factory lines were set up in Northumbria University’s School of Design where 22 fashion design and marketing students used time cards to clock on at 8am for an eight-hour shift.

They turned out T-shirts to production targets to gain an insight into clothing manufacturing in poorer countries.

Professor Doug Miller, who took the new Chair of Ethical Fashion at Northumbria University last year, said: "Most of our graduates will either set up their own businesses or work in a fashion or retail company, so it is important to equip them with knowledge of the ethical issues that they will have to grapple with.

“If they set up their own businesses and outsource production, they will have to think of the conditions people making the goods will be working in.

“Some will be buyers for retail chains, but buyers often don’t think of the conditions of workers when negotiating a price for garments.

“In the current economic crisis, people are going to be looking for bargains, but the vast majority of workers producing this clothing are not on a living wage.

“There is no such thing as a cheap garment, because somebody is paying for it somewhere and it is likely to be the workers.

“If the students leave Northumbria University with an understanding of how the prices they negotiate will impact on suppliers and workers’ wages in developing countries, they are more likely to become an ethical buyer or business owner.”

The factory simulation is part of a three-day Been There! Done It! Got the T-Shirt! session, where the students will hear from Fashion technicians about their experiences working in factories, learn about the technical processes of production and speak to Bangladeshi women who have worked in sweatshop environments in India.

Prof Miller said: “The factory exercise will have given students an idea of the skills involved in manufacture, how tedious it can be to do repetitive tasks and what it would be like to do the work for 16 hours a day, seven days a week.”

For a gallery featuring the students go to www.journallive.co.uk