Introduction

In the bustling heart of the UK, Leicester’s garment industry, once a beacon of thriving commerce, faces a pivotal moment. Recent challenges have brought to light a need for change and revitalisation.

The Shifting Landscape

The exodus of major fashion brands from Leicester has marked a turning point. Driven by concerns over working conditions and negative media focus, this shift has left a void, resulting in diminished work opportunities and economic strain.

The Impact

1. Job Losses: The departure of brands has led to a sharp decline in work, causing widespread job losses and economic challenges for many local families.
2. Economic Ripple Effects: The downturn in the garment industry impacts not just the workers but also the local businesses and suppliers, contributing to a broader economic challenge.

A Call for Revitalisation

This situation presents an urgent need for action:

1. Attracting New Business: Proactive efforts are needed to attract new brands and businesses, highlighting Leicester’s potential for high-quality, ethical garment production.
2. Investing in Skills: Upskilling the workforce is crucial to position Leicester as a hub for ethical and skilled manufacturing.

FAB-L’s Advocacy

FAB-L stands as a critical advocate in this revitalisation effort. Key initiatives include:

1. Improving Working Conditions: Championing Leicester as a model for ethical practices to attract conscientious brands.
2. Community Engagement: Garnering local support to create a unified appeal for bringing businesses back to Leicester.
3. Policy Influence: Collaborating with policymakers to create incentives for brands to operate in Leicester.

Conclusion

The need to rebuild Leicester’s garment industry is clear. It’s an opportunity to foster a more ethical, sustainable future. FAB-L is dedicated to leading this transformation, ensuring that Leicester reclaims its place as a proud and ethical centre of UK manufacturing.

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As part of my university studies, I learned that Leicester, located in England’s Midland regions, stands at the forefront as a fashion manufacturing hub for the UK. While this has contributed to Leicester and the UK’s economic growth, a report led by ETI and the University of Leicester back in 2015 stated that many of Leicester’s garment factories have a history of long-standing labor rights violations. In 2020 during Covid-19 Lockdown expose by Labour Behind The Label showed factories breaking Covid-19 protocols and still operating during the lockdown behind closed doors.

Amidst the chaos, Fashion-workers Advice Bureau Leicester (FAB-L) was created in partnership with 3 trade unions and brands with the intention to genuinely help the industry, its people and to bring about a change. I interviewed FAB-L’s senior community engagement and outreach worker Tarek Islam sho quotes “Garment workers know that they should be paid more, but they’re still willing to work for less than the minimum wage, because most workers have no other choice and are vulnerable, they would rather have some income rather than no income.”

He also reinforces on the issues of language proficiency and inadequate skills building amongst the community which in turn act as barriers towards growth and raising their voices. He said, “Most workers belong to ethnic minorities and have come to the UK to make a living, in many cases English is not their first language and hence find it difficult to communicate their needs to both their employer and the government, there is not as single state-funded support or welfare rights service available to help workers, and  there are some official services available to help them but they are online, workers find it challenging to be a part of them simply because of language difficulties.”

From our conversation it’s clear to see that FAB-L in the past few months has been doing a great job in tackling these issues, from legal services to support groups and encouragement of trade unions, the people’s organization has supported up to 80 garment workers with issues ranging from welfare rights to recovering wages and improving working conditions in factories.

Tarek states   “We have also been working with various universities & NGOs. We have worked with the likes of the University of Leicester, the University of Sussex, and other trade unions in carrying out programs to advocate for better working conditions for garment workers.

Tarek believes that “while it may take time to change the industry results in the last few month show and prove things can change, the garment industry in Leicester can get better but slowly but surely, there is a lot of work to be done and we all need to work together”

He went on to say that everyone in the supply chain should be able to do their part as ethically as possible, from the consumers, the brand, the manufacturer, and even the government, to make sure no such scandalous practices in the past happen again

Written by: Jumana Amthaniwala (+447570681216)

London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London

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Fashion Revolution is a unique organisation that is revolutionising the textiles and garment industry worldwide by encouraging the transparency of major brands across the globe. Fashion Revolution scores and rates Big Brands all over the world according to how transparent they are in all aspects of their business, especially when it comes to their supply chains and their responsibility towards their carbon footprint, climate change and pollution.

These ratings can then be used as leverage for other NGOs and media to demand change or take action. FAB-L got to learn the difference between transparency and sustainability, and now understands the importance of transparency.

It was a very good, informative and engaging event. The findings and statistics in the report show how much work, effort and research Fashion Revolution has put into it. Having read reports by the ETI and Nottingham University Rights Lab, it’s interesting to see that even though reports are produced by unrelated organisations but the findings and solutions in the reports are similar.

For example, the Fashion Transparency Index 2022 highlights that worldwide “Only 13% of brands disclose how many of their suppliers’ facilities have trade unions”.  The report then advocates that “Organising and bargaining are vital tools for workers. In fact, they are the primary and often the only means for workers to gain improved conditions and wages.”

Similarly, the reports from ETI and Nottingham University both identify that there is no union presence in the textiles industry in Leicester and one of the long-term solutions to tackle exploitation is through an unionised workforce.

The event was also attended by various high-profile media agencies like British Vogue, WWD, Vogue Business and Drapers among many others. FAB-L was referenced in this Just-Style article.

The report also covers the importance and the need, for all civil rights, workers’ rights and NGO’s to come together as one, if we want to revolutionise the fashion industry. It has inspired us to plan a future FAB-L “friends of garment workers” event where we aim to bring together NGOs, agencies and charities from all over the country to join up and learn how everyone can work together.

Since the launch of FAB-L and with the support of brands and unions (GMB, UNITE & TUC Midlands), we have helped 80 garment workers with various issues ranging from welfare rights to recovering their missing pay and facilitated fashion workers to express their views directly to both regulatory bodies and brands.

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FAB-L (Fashion workers Advice Bureau-Leicester) welcomes the Low Pay Commission’s report on the Leicester textiles sector which was published today.

We applaud their starting point question of ‘why have concerted efforts by enforcement bodies found relatively modest non-compliance in Leicester, when other bodies and individuals we spoke to believe it to be widespread and flagrant?’ and their recognition of the ‘reluctance of workers to make a complaint or provide intelligence to enforcement officers is a problem for enforcement activity.’

We support their finding that ‘Bodies that workers trust – such as trade unions and charities – have an important part to play in identifying and reporting abuses.’

We are particularly delighted by their confirmation that ‘the most tangible outcome of this work to date has been investment in a team of dedicated community workers offering advice and support to textiles workers, the Fashion Workers Advice Bureau Leicester (FAB-L).’

In view of their concluding statement that ‘It is clear that the reporting process as currently constituted does not work for low-paid workers such as those we met in Leicester. There is a fundamental lack of confidence in the process’, it is imperative to ensure the positive developments effected in Leicester (including the setting up of FAB-L) are not just maintained but built upon, so more fashion workers can access this highly valued service.

The full report can be found on this link: National Minimum Wage (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Below are other articles that comment on the Low Pay Commission’s report.

UK garment workers accept underpayment due to ‘fear, insecurity’ (just-style.com)

Fast-fashion factories in Leicester use secret clocking-in machines to cover up illegally low wages (inews.co.uk)

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Possibly for the first time in 20 years, garment workers (with the support of FAB-L) felt empowered enough to protest and demand their wages.

For far too long, garment workers’ voices have been suppressed. Over the last two decades, thousands of garment workers have been subject to labour abuse, unpaid wages, unsafe work environments, and more!

Due to the lack of services and support available for the garment workers, they had no choice but to accept their predicament.

Garment workers feared even talking openly about these everyday labour abuses.

Hopefully not for too long anymore, as the seed of change and empowerment has been planted!

Prior to FAB-L’s launch, many government and independent agencies reported that garment workers were not willing to speak or report problems, with some helplines receiving just 1 anonymous call in the whole year.

Previously, garment workers hadn’t reported issues because they have been let down too many times with the lack of response and remedies. In some cases, garment workers even lost their jobs because of raising issues.

The garment workers had lost all hope and trust in government-linked agencies.

FAB-L has been changing this! With its service going public on 24^th January 2022 and in a very short time, and with the help and support of Trade unions, NGO’s and some Fashion brands, FAB-L has been able to make a tidal difference!

Through engaging two workers from within the community, FAB-L has been able to connect and build trust with the garment workers. FAB-L uniquely assists with welfare rights, legal advice & advocacy services covering immigration, housing, and education, in addition to workplace rights.

FAB-L has already helped garment workers recover over £40,000 of missing wages, and it has helped over 50 workers resolve various housing and welfare issues.

Consequently, the garment workers are willing to walk side by side with FAB-L.

After the rally, the garment workers said “We didn’t know we could do something like this and now we feel enlightened and empowered, and we’re looking forward to the next rally and will attend in bigger numbers!”

They also stated even if they are not able to recover their wages, they now know they can fight!

So, please stay tuned for more developments.

And with special thanks to Labour Behind the Label for organising the rally and to the trade unions (The TUC Midlands, GMB and UNITE) for their advice and guidance.

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