Can you ever be completely sure your clothes weren't made in a sweatshop?

The Star

5 days ago

The only way a fashion brand can ensure that a factory abides by the rules is to fully own it. The fact is, many companies also contract out to factories that sometimes then subcontract. Photo: Freepik
Ever since the 2013 disaster at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the deadliest accident in the history of the garment industry, it has been impossible for anyone to deny knowing that there is a labour crisis in the modern fashion world.
It is one that prioritises the constant production of more and cheaper stuff over the safety and livelihoods of many of the people employed to make that stuff.
Since then, a variety of laws and private agreements have been put in place to supposedly change this reality, but in fact every year seems to bring new revelations about fashion brands being caught for working with manufacturers that enforce sweatshop conditions.
Once upon a time these revelations centred primarily on fast-fashion or mass-fashion brands working with factories far overseas, but lately, they have also come from luxury houses that are working with factories in Italy.
Brands such as Dior, Armani, Valentino, Montblanc and Loro Piana have all gotten in trouble because of factories in Italy said to be operating with abusive conditions.
Often the factories that have been subcontracted by factories the luxury brands officially employ, though similar stories have been made public since the release of the 2007 documentary Luxury Slaves .
Read more: Has luxury fashion lost its appeal? Signs of shopper fatigue persist
This is particularly jarring, because for years luxury brands justified their high price tags by pointing to the quality of both the materials and the labour as well as the know-how involved in creating their products.
The implication was that part of what you were paying for was the security that what you were buying was made in a responsible way, by people who were fairly paid for their expertise.
This is why 'Made in Italy' and 'Made in France' became synonyms for 'made well'.
Not anymore. These days, policing supply chains can feel like playing Whac-a-Mole. As soon as one bad actor is exposed, another one pops up.
If you want to know how bad it is, check out the investigations of a nongovernmental organisation called Transparentem that is focused on stopping modern slavery. It has looked into the supply chains of more than 100 apparel companies.
So what's a consumer to do?
It's not enough to check to see if a brand claims to demand a code of conduct by their suppliers.
The only way a brand can ensure that a factory abides by the rules is to fully own it. And while brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hermes do, many companies also contract out to factories that sometimes then subcontract.
A lot of them, it turns out, don't have complete pictures of where their products are made.
As luxury has spread, the fashion supply chain has become ever more far-flung and complicated. Often single factories cannot produce the quantities demanded to ensure growth.
As sales slow and consumers rebel against the constantly rising prices of handbags and cashmere coats, companies have to increase their profit, and some have done it by paying less on the back end.
Indeed, Ben Skinner, the founder of Transparentem, recommends looking at a 2023 benchmarking study conducted by the Business & Human Rights Resource Center and KnowTheChain.
He said that the study 'found that many luxury brands scored poorly, with brands such as Burberry, Ferragamo, LVMH (owner of Loro Piana) and Prada ranking near the bottom'.
Read more: 'Moving far too slow': Fashion labels lag behind on sustainability pledges
In the end, the safest approach for those looking for certainty about how their clothes are made would be to think small and local.
Companies such as Alabama Chanin offer clothes handmade by artisans in the community, using cotton sourced, ginned and dyed by onshore mills. It's the fashion equivalent of 'know your own food'.
The products are more expensive because of it, but it may be a taste worth acquiring. – ©2025 The New York Times Company/Vanessa Friedman
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.