hello it’s great to be sort of sitting
here talking to you this afternoon
absolutely can we go back to five years
ago can you just tell sheriff with the
audience what happened in Bangladesh
Rana Plaza and the impact that the
fascist has had in raising awareness
around the fashion industry yes
2013 just five years ago and one of the
biggest tragedies involving workers that
we’ve ever seen where over 1,100 people
mainly women working in a garment
factories supplying us with our nice
cheap clothes not only here but
elsewhere around the world the building
collapsed and all of those people died
now it was obviously a huge tragedy on
so many levels but even so you know what
was happening before that there were
fires and collapses in other factories
as well
just that they were packaged in smaller
numbers this was the one but in one
sense was a big breakthrough because it
brought it into our consciousness in a
way that it hadn’t been done before and
I think if you think about the impact of
that obviously there’s this huge tragedy
on personal levels and institutional
levels on governmental levels and so on
and so forth but in terms of the
reaction to that that’s what’s important
because of course we can all say or we
never want such a dreadful thing to
happen again
but what is it that we’re going to do to
ensure that those things don’t happen
again I think in many parts of the
fashion industry there was quite a
strong response a positive response in
as much as they could see that there was
this tragedy there was the reputation or
damage to those brands and they came
forward and tried to do what they could
to repair that huge huge injustice some
others I’m sad to say don’t really seem
to have changed their ways at all so
what we need to do is to think about how
we can pressurize pressure the fashion
industry how we can think about
ourselves how we can think about
governments and so on what is what role
do we have in providing solutions
this huge problem right so Rana there
was a really kind of an eye-opener for
the whole sort of world really hmm can
you talk a little bit about what we saw
on screen you know as a you know if you
were watching television also things
that what did we see how did we really
get emotionally engaged with what what
was going on with the loss of all of
those lives well it was very distressing
really I mean you because you could just
see the collapsed building and people in
you know in mourning around that but I
think perhaps more important well there
are two quite important things one was
that some fashion brands didn’t sort of
step up and say that they even had a
presence in that Factory and it was up
to others to find the evidence that they
did but also it was the reaction of
activists who’ve been campaigning on
this issue for so long and here was
something on which they could hang a lot
of there was a lot of evidence there was
the very stark evidence of this tragedy
on which they could build their campaign
so people have been active in that area
for many years were able to use that as
a way of saying look this is what
happens if we don’t pay attention I
think in particular fashion revolution
which is a really good movement but also
clean clothes campaign labor behind the
label all kinds of campaigns and
activists involved in trying to make
sure it doesn’t happen again and fashion
revolution has certainly had a lot of
initiatives in working with businesses
to ensure that these sort of things
can’t happen again but can you tell us a
little bit more about your work in
parliament and and the work and what
gets you scott you started in terms of
trying to identify the challenges of the
frameworks that support this sustained
destruction of people’s lives through
modern slavery yes well it’s interesting
isn’t it because everybody thinks that
Parliament is really into fashion not if
a court have to say you know going round
to my fellow peers in the House of Lords
and saying would you like to join a
group that looks for ethics and
sustainability in fashion but that is
essentially what I did in 2009 supported
of course with lots of other women
mainly from the outside of the house
lords from the Center for Sustainable
fashion and colleagues again involved in
fashion revolution say well what what
does what do the campaigners and the
movers and shakers in this area in the
in the fashion industry want that they
think Parliament can do and what is it
that government can do in order to put
pressure on business what is it that
needs to be done that we can help to
build up some real momentum within
Parliament then after that interestingly
came the modern slavery act right and
section 54 which I’m sure everybody is
absolutely aware of and recite by heart
it essentially section 54 the modern
slavery acts requires every single large
company to report on what they’re doing
to eliminate modern forms of slavery
from their supply chains and this is
relevant to the Rana Plaza example
because what happens in those kinds of
situation is this huge pressure to
produce fast cheap Russian lots and lots
of pressure on that and as a consequence
the owners the the managers within those
factories its kind of gloss over slide
over any health and safety regulations
it’s all about fast production and as
cheaply as possible so people aren’t
getting paid properly and they’re
working in dangerous conditions so
within the modern slavery act in that
section 54 as I say it is required by
law for companies to produce a statement
which says what they’re doing to try and
combat this in their supply chains not
just the fashion industry but across the
piece right okay and when you say large
companies what does that really mean
because you know just in terms of the
audience what do we mean by large
companies yeah well this is a very
interesting point because the Act
doesn’t actually specify it so that that
the threshold can change over time at
the moment is 36 million pounds so any
company any brand that has a turnover of
36 million pounds or more has to do this
reporting but interestingly I think in
many respects it’s a lot easier to call
to account businesses that you can see
and that we all know particularly in the
fashion and
industry it’s a little bit more
difficult to call to account those
industries which are a little bit more
hidden so I would argue that as soon as
you get up in the morning till the
moment you go to bed you will have
encountered either by using a product or
a service or even by going to work or
walking on the pavement you would have
encountered in some way either directly
or indirectly a form of modern slavery
right but in terms of the fashion
business and Russian industry we talk
about fast fashion and I’m sure that we
all in our waters have some form of
garments that can be designated as fast
fashion yes yes Mayer colpa Mia culpa
too unfortunately but is it really
justice the cheaper brands or justice
its impact on other brands designer
brands or Couture yes it impacts on all
levels from high street to high-end and
in fact one of the interesting things to
note is that the same factories that
produced fast fashion for the high
street will often also be producing
slower much more expensive fashion for
those high-end brands so it doesn’t mean
to say that because you buy very
expensive clothes that you’re
necessarily not being implicated in in
modern forms of slavery but you know as
a consumer perhaps with a limited income
what can we do to sort of make a
difference in terms of not for fueling
the demand for overproduction what sort
things can we doing I’m also thinking
about you know people with family so
have you know really sort of demands on
their on their budgets what can we do
well first of all Beverly I would
challenge your use of the term consumer
okay because I think we could be
thinking much more in terms of herself
not as passive because consumers but as
active citizens and I think if you’re an
active engaged citizen whatever your
income you can do something you can
think about something and most
importantly you can ask questions so
wherever you shop or whatever you shop
you can say who made my clothes you know
can you person working in the shop or if
you work in the shop that selling
clothes can you ask your bosses who made
these clothes where were they made and
under what conditions
and I think if enough people keep asking
those questions over and over again then
eventually brands have to act and this
has been proven because people do put
pressure on very specific brands and say
we buy your clothes but we don’t want to
be implicated in these awful practices
so you’ve got to do something
so I think if you if you’re in a
relatively comfortable position
financially and you’ve got a lot of
choices make those choices count make
every pound count ask the questions of
the shops but also of yourself it’s also
tied up with environmental
sustainability so how many clothes do we
actually need and again you know I’m not
pure and perfect I have to put my hand
up and say this sadly but I think we can
all make improvements so the more you
know the less able you are to say when I
never knew about that and this is
nothing to do with me it is to do with
all of us and that’s where we have to
take some form of action no matter how
small all right so can we then as active
consumers or active citizens kind of
cool down the pace of purchasing clothes
we have to we absolutely have to because
a planet because of the planet you know
it’s absolutely unsustainable in in the
most important sense of the word and if
you think about the amount of clothing
that goes to landfill it’s extraordinary
I mean you just got to think every time
you buy something do I really need to
buy this and where is it gonna end up
and you can solve your conscience to
some extent by saying yes it’s gonna go
to the charity shop if I don’t like it
well not if it’s cheaply and shoddily
made and can’t you know and the charity
shop can’t charge any money for it and
what happens to all the awful stuff that
the charity shop can’t shift well a lot
of it get gets dumped in the developing
world and you know again people can
solve their conscience and say well
that’s a good thing because it’s better
that they had these clothes and then
nothing at all well first of all that’s
never going to be the situation but
second of all you have to think about
the extent to which that suppresses
those industries and those opportunities
for designers and makers and
and sellers in those countries it
doesn’t really help the economy to the
extent that we might think so I think we
have to think very very carefully what
it is that we’re doing every time we buy
something so what kind of things are you
doing specifically these days these days
and who are you speaking to who speak to
anybody who will listen you know plenty
of listen I’ve been speaking to the
construction industry I’ve been talking
to people in football I’ve been talking
to people in the hospitality and
catering sector as well as in the
fashion industry because as I say this
is pervasive it’s everywhere but
particularly around fashion we’ve held a
series of fashion roundtables in the
House of Lords Kay and that’s been very
very interesting because we’ve had
brands in and we said to them look
here’s the law this is what you’ve got
to be doing how can we help you to
fulfill your obligations how can we help
you to accept your own responsibilities
and get on with the job of recalibrating
your business models because clearly the
business models that we currently have
particularly in the fashion industry
which by the way is the second highest
polluter of all sectors in the world and
you know dry cleaning is a hugely
polluting industry too we have to do
something because it’s currently not
sustainable in any way shape or form so
those businesses have got to think again
what is the business model that will
deliver on people planet as well as the
profit that is needed and that’s where I
think we need leadership of a very
strong kind and are you finding that
leadership is shining through and that
there there are people who are really
taking up the baton and making specific
state changes around the business model
yes I am in the UK yeah I think I think
there are not going to name names
because I always think it’s not really
fair to do so but there are some leading
brands who are really really thinking
very carefully about this but not just
thinking about it but implementing and
and consulting on policies that will
eliminate as far as is possible this
kind of practices we’re not talking
about something that can be done
overnight but by the same token if we
think back those of us who are old
enough to remember when
hi street fashion was one shop on the
high street
Chelsea sell Chelsea girl yeah girl
after my own heart
which doesn’t even exist anymore yeah
but you know in those days in those days
yeah you know we were able to do lots of
different things we used to make our
clothes we used to decide to make a lot
of our own clothes yeah and we used to
be much more careful about you know our
choices because we didn’t have the
disposable income and because it wasn’t
being constantly marketed at us that we
had to have lots of new clothes two
three four times a year
that wasn’t way things are run now we
can’t go back to that model then but
what we can do is think about how we can
change it so that we have some kind of
equality it is a big issue that we
address these issues around the
environment and we stop people being
sucked into this awful kind of work
practices which mean their lives are
literally at stake and of course this is
something that so we need to be thinking
about not just here in the UK but on a
global basis absolutely and I think the
more legislators get in touch with this
particular area of requiring business to
accept responsibility the better thank
you no no thank you so much Thank You
Beverly [Applause]
here talking to you this afternoon
absolutely can we go back to five years
ago can you just tell sheriff with the
audience what happened in Bangladesh
Rana Plaza and the impact that the
fascist has had in raising awareness
around the fashion industry yes
2013 just five years ago and one of the
biggest tragedies involving workers that
we’ve ever seen where over 1,100 people
mainly women working in a garment
factories supplying us with our nice
cheap clothes not only here but
elsewhere around the world the building
collapsed and all of those people died
now it was obviously a huge tragedy on
so many levels but even so you know what
was happening before that there were
fires and collapses in other factories
as well
just that they were packaged in smaller
numbers this was the one but in one
sense was a big breakthrough because it
brought it into our consciousness in a
way that it hadn’t been done before and
I think if you think about the impact of
that obviously there’s this huge tragedy
on personal levels and institutional
levels on governmental levels and so on
and so forth but in terms of the
reaction to that that’s what’s important
because of course we can all say or we
never want such a dreadful thing to
happen again
but what is it that we’re going to do to
ensure that those things don’t happen
again I think in many parts of the
fashion industry there was quite a
strong response a positive response in
as much as they could see that there was
this tragedy there was the reputation or
damage to those brands and they came
forward and tried to do what they could
to repair that huge huge injustice some
others I’m sad to say don’t really seem
to have changed their ways at all so
what we need to do is to think about how
we can pressurize pressure the fashion
industry how we can think about
ourselves how we can think about
governments and so on what is what role
do we have in providing solutions
this huge problem right so Rana there
was a really kind of an eye-opener for
the whole sort of world really hmm can
you talk a little bit about what we saw
on screen you know as a you know if you
were watching television also things
that what did we see how did we really
get emotionally engaged with what what
was going on with the loss of all of
those lives well it was very distressing
really I mean you because you could just
see the collapsed building and people in
you know in mourning around that but I
think perhaps more important well there
are two quite important things one was
that some fashion brands didn’t sort of
step up and say that they even had a
presence in that Factory and it was up
to others to find the evidence that they
did but also it was the reaction of
activists who’ve been campaigning on
this issue for so long and here was
something on which they could hang a lot
of there was a lot of evidence there was
the very stark evidence of this tragedy
on which they could build their campaign
so people have been active in that area
for many years were able to use that as
a way of saying look this is what
happens if we don’t pay attention I
think in particular fashion revolution
which is a really good movement but also
clean clothes campaign labor behind the
label all kinds of campaigns and
activists involved in trying to make
sure it doesn’t happen again and fashion
revolution has certainly had a lot of
initiatives in working with businesses
to ensure that these sort of things
can’t happen again but can you tell us a
little bit more about your work in
parliament and and the work and what
gets you scott you started in terms of
trying to identify the challenges of the
frameworks that support this sustained
destruction of people’s lives through
modern slavery yes well it’s interesting
isn’t it because everybody thinks that
Parliament is really into fashion not if
a court have to say you know going round
to my fellow peers in the House of Lords
and saying would you like to join a
group that looks for ethics and
sustainability in fashion but that is
essentially what I did in 2009 supported
of course with lots of other women
mainly from the outside of the house
lords from the Center for Sustainable
fashion and colleagues again involved in
fashion revolution say well what what
does what do the campaigners and the
movers and shakers in this area in the
in the fashion industry want that they
think Parliament can do and what is it
that government can do in order to put
pressure on business what is it that
needs to be done that we can help to
build up some real momentum within
Parliament then after that interestingly
came the modern slavery act right and
section 54 which I’m sure everybody is
absolutely aware of and recite by heart
it essentially section 54 the modern
slavery acts requires every single large
company to report on what they’re doing
to eliminate modern forms of slavery
from their supply chains and this is
relevant to the Rana Plaza example
because what happens in those kinds of
situation is this huge pressure to
produce fast cheap Russian lots and lots
of pressure on that and as a consequence
the owners the the managers within those
factories its kind of gloss over slide
over any health and safety regulations
it’s all about fast production and as
cheaply as possible so people aren’t
getting paid properly and they’re
working in dangerous conditions so
within the modern slavery act in that
section 54 as I say it is required by
law for companies to produce a statement
which says what they’re doing to try and
combat this in their supply chains not
just the fashion industry but across the
piece right okay and when you say large
companies what does that really mean
because you know just in terms of the
audience what do we mean by large
companies yeah well this is a very
interesting point because the Act
doesn’t actually specify it so that that
the threshold can change over time at
the moment is 36 million pounds so any
company any brand that has a turnover of
36 million pounds or more has to do this
reporting but interestingly I think in
many respects it’s a lot easier to call
to account businesses that you can see
and that we all know particularly in the
fashion and
industry it’s a little bit more
difficult to call to account those
industries which are a little bit more
hidden so I would argue that as soon as
you get up in the morning till the
moment you go to bed you will have
encountered either by using a product or
a service or even by going to work or
walking on the pavement you would have
encountered in some way either directly
or indirectly a form of modern slavery
right but in terms of the fashion
business and Russian industry we talk
about fast fashion and I’m sure that we
all in our waters have some form of
garments that can be designated as fast
fashion yes yes Mayer colpa Mia culpa
too unfortunately but is it really
justice the cheaper brands or justice
its impact on other brands designer
brands or Couture yes it impacts on all
levels from high street to high-end and
in fact one of the interesting things to
note is that the same factories that
produced fast fashion for the high
street will often also be producing
slower much more expensive fashion for
those high-end brands so it doesn’t mean
to say that because you buy very
expensive clothes that you’re
necessarily not being implicated in in
modern forms of slavery but you know as
a consumer perhaps with a limited income
what can we do to sort of make a
difference in terms of not for fueling
the demand for overproduction what sort
things can we doing I’m also thinking
about you know people with family so
have you know really sort of demands on
their on their budgets what can we do
well first of all Beverly I would
challenge your use of the term consumer
okay because I think we could be
thinking much more in terms of herself
not as passive because consumers but as
active citizens and I think if you’re an
active engaged citizen whatever your
income you can do something you can
think about something and most
importantly you can ask questions so
wherever you shop or whatever you shop
you can say who made my clothes you know
can you person working in the shop or if
you work in the shop that selling
clothes can you ask your bosses who made
these clothes where were they made and
under what conditions
and I think if enough people keep asking
those questions over and over again then
eventually brands have to act and this
has been proven because people do put
pressure on very specific brands and say
we buy your clothes but we don’t want to
be implicated in these awful practices
so you’ve got to do something
so I think if you if you’re in a
relatively comfortable position
financially and you’ve got a lot of
choices make those choices count make
every pound count ask the questions of
the shops but also of yourself it’s also
tied up with environmental
sustainability so how many clothes do we
actually need and again you know I’m not
pure and perfect I have to put my hand
up and say this sadly but I think we can
all make improvements so the more you
know the less able you are to say when I
never knew about that and this is
nothing to do with me it is to do with
all of us and that’s where we have to
take some form of action no matter how
small all right so can we then as active
consumers or active citizens kind of
cool down the pace of purchasing clothes
we have to we absolutely have to because
a planet because of the planet you know
it’s absolutely unsustainable in in the
most important sense of the word and if
you think about the amount of clothing
that goes to landfill it’s extraordinary
I mean you just got to think every time
you buy something do I really need to
buy this and where is it gonna end up
and you can solve your conscience to
some extent by saying yes it’s gonna go
to the charity shop if I don’t like it
well not if it’s cheaply and shoddily
made and can’t you know and the charity
shop can’t charge any money for it and
what happens to all the awful stuff that
the charity shop can’t shift well a lot
of it get gets dumped in the developing
world and you know again people can
solve their conscience and say well
that’s a good thing because it’s better
that they had these clothes and then
nothing at all well first of all that’s
never going to be the situation but
second of all you have to think about
the extent to which that suppresses
those industries and those opportunities
for designers and makers and
and sellers in those countries it
doesn’t really help the economy to the
extent that we might think so I think we
have to think very very carefully what
it is that we’re doing every time we buy
something so what kind of things are you
doing specifically these days these days
and who are you speaking to who speak to
anybody who will listen you know plenty
of listen I’ve been speaking to the
construction industry I’ve been talking
to people in football I’ve been talking
to people in the hospitality and
catering sector as well as in the
fashion industry because as I say this
is pervasive it’s everywhere but
particularly around fashion we’ve held a
series of fashion roundtables in the
House of Lords Kay and that’s been very
very interesting because we’ve had
brands in and we said to them look
here’s the law this is what you’ve got
to be doing how can we help you to
fulfill your obligations how can we help
you to accept your own responsibilities
and get on with the job of recalibrating
your business models because clearly the
business models that we currently have
particularly in the fashion industry
which by the way is the second highest
polluter of all sectors in the world and
you know dry cleaning is a hugely
polluting industry too we have to do
something because it’s currently not
sustainable in any way shape or form so
those businesses have got to think again
what is the business model that will
deliver on people planet as well as the
profit that is needed and that’s where I
think we need leadership of a very
strong kind and are you finding that
leadership is shining through and that
there there are people who are really
taking up the baton and making specific
state changes around the business model
yes I am in the UK yeah I think I think
there are not going to name names
because I always think it’s not really
fair to do so but there are some leading
brands who are really really thinking
very carefully about this but not just
thinking about it but implementing and
and consulting on policies that will
eliminate as far as is possible this
kind of practices we’re not talking
about something that can be done
overnight but by the same token if we
think back those of us who are old
enough to remember when
hi street fashion was one shop on the
high street
Chelsea sell Chelsea girl yeah girl
after my own heart
which doesn’t even exist anymore yeah
but you know in those days in those days
yeah you know we were able to do lots of
different things we used to make our
clothes we used to decide to make a lot
of our own clothes yeah and we used to
be much more careful about you know our
choices because we didn’t have the
disposable income and because it wasn’t
being constantly marketed at us that we
had to have lots of new clothes two
three four times a year
that wasn’t way things are run now we
can’t go back to that model then but
what we can do is think about how we can
change it so that we have some kind of
equality it is a big issue that we
address these issues around the
environment and we stop people being
sucked into this awful kind of work
practices which mean their lives are
literally at stake and of course this is
something that so we need to be thinking
about not just here in the UK but on a
global basis absolutely and I think the
more legislators get in touch with this
particular area of requiring business to
accept responsibility the better thank
you no no thank you so much Thank You
Beverly [Applause]
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