Almost no fashion brand owns factories any more. The business model is one of contracting out: a brand places an order at a supplier, who then often subcontracts this out even further.
The global garment industry has doubled over the past 15 years and is powered by an estimated 60 million-strong workforce. The deprivation that the vast majority of these workers and their families face on a daily basis stands in stark contrast with the huge profits reported annually by global fashion brands.
The search of the global garment and sportswear industries for the lowest production costs comes at a high price: the health and safety of workers. After more than a century of work as CCC, developing national regulations and international conventions, workers continue to lose their health and lives while stitching our clothes…
The supply chain in manufacturing not only has many steps, over the past 25 years it has become highly globalised. That means: garments are often designed in one country, assembled in another and sold worldwide.
Most companies in the sector design the clothing and sell the clothing, but outsource production to manufacturers in countries with cheap labour (cheaper than in Western Europe and/or American countries). Typically, production takes place
low-wage countriesin Asia, such as China, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar, while most of the clothing is sold in Europe and the US.