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Hello reader. I bet I’ve got you guessing whether or not your t-shirt is more well-travelled than you or not?
Would you like to know the answer? If yes, stick around! If not, stick around anyways!!
To answer this question, there’s a few things I should mention so you can understand why your T-shirt is likely more well-travelled than you.
In short, the answer is most likely.
The clothing and textile industries are very global. 95% of all companies that sell in Canada are selling imported products. This means that they are outsourcing the production of their fibres, textiles, and garments to countries around the world. This is thanks to a growing global economy and the breaking down of international trade barriers.
First, a supply chain is the distribution of a product through multiple organizations. This means the t-shirt you saw in a store possibly had a lot of stops along the way. Think about it. Someone had to harvest the cotton; then someone spun it into yarn; that yarn was made into fabric; then that fabric was cut, sewed, and shipped to a warehouse; and then finally to a retail store.
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To summarize, your t-shirt took AT LEAST 6 steps before it turned into a shirt. Each of those steps was likely completed by a different person.
This is the basics of a supply chain; people coming together to transform materials, create products, and sell them to consumers.
See this source for more information on supply chains
Yes, this is a problem. The more steps a supply chain has, the more difficult it becomes for organizations to keep track of their supply chain. This leads to companies getting their clothes but not necessarily knowing where it’s coming from.
This can be problematic since not every organization or country has the same regulations or protection for workers as Canada does.
Take the collapse of Rana Plaza, the Nike Sweatshop scandals, or any example of child labour being used in the production of garments.
It’s saddening to think that your shorts might have been sewn by a 10-year-old being paid virtually nothing according to North American standards.
What’s worse, the larger the company is, the larger their supply chain becomes. This means that they overall have less control and less oversight over glaring issues in the production of their clothes.
You may be thinking “I only buy from X company that has a great track record and I’ve never heard of anything in the news.”
Chances are they never made it into the news because it is very common in the industry to use and even take advantage of workers in poorer countries.
For example, there’s been a lot of headlines about China’s treatment of Uighurs (a Muslim cultural minority) in their country. About 83 large companies have been linked to the use of Uighur forced labour.
We’re not talking about generic companies, we’re talking about notable brands like Nike, Adidas, H&M, Zara, and many more.
This is why it’s vital for us as consumers to do our research before buying!
You vote with your dollars and by purchasing products that take advantage of non-transparent supply chains, you’re contributing to that organization’s bottom line.
There are a few simple things you can do to combat these issues in the industry:
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Try buying local!
Chances are your local stores will have a better grasp on their supply chain and will be happy to chat with you about how they source their products.
Research, research, and more research!
Like I’ve mentioned above, you vote with your dollars. Make sure your vote counts and supports causes that are close to your heart.
Dear reader, before you go, I have one more thing to ask you. Look at the tag on something you’re wearing and go look up that brand. See what they say about their supply chain. Go digging for information about where your clothes are being produced.You will not be sorry you did it.
Let me know if you’ve enjoyed learning about supply chains in the fashion industry with me. I’d love to hear from you and what you’d like to see next!
As always give me a shout on my social media or send me an email: [email protected]
I look forward to hearing from you, and as always I hope you have a great day!
Until next time!
Side note: if this article got you thinking about supply chains and how we as consumers don’t really know much about them please consider filling out a brief survey for a project I’m currently working on.