FASHION VICTIMS- SALVADOS

Jordi Évole is a famous Spanish journalist, he has a TV program called ‘Salvados’ and in 2016 he did a special program with the name of ‘Fashion Victims’. The main topic was to discover the reality behind the labels of recognized brands with an affordable price. For this purpose, he went to Camboya to investigate the conditions of the workers, the factories in which they work and their opinion of their working conditions.

The program shows the statements of several workers, one of them said that if they don’t do extra hours of work, they can't pay the cost of living and holidays don’t exist for them. Another worker claims that rentals in the city are between $45 and new workers earn 128$ and the old ones 133$, because of that if they don’t do extra hours of works, they can't afford to pay for their basic living needs. In addition, their bosses treated them like animals, shouting pressure them to go faster. Worker conditions are terrible, “there is a lot of dust in the air, the water is not drinkable and has bugs, the sink has no light, there are leaks and water falls from the roof” said a worker from Camboya.

A testimony in charge of controlling production for the big textile companies in Asia told part of what she saw in her work: "I saw a lot of people with their faces burned”, "I've seen rivers of the color of the fashionable jeans season, because there are no purifiers”

It calls attention, when the journalist asks to another worker how would explain to Spanish people all the work and the suffering behind a piece of clothing. Surprisingly, she said she would tell the Spanish to keep buying to get more work and more pay. Unfortunately, with this we can reflect that despite the horrible and unfair system, they need the work for eating and living.

However, at another point in the program, a factory manager in Cambodia is interviewed. He said that is not possible move to another country such as Spain as long as the competitors are Chinese, Vietnamese or Bengali. Also said that the factory passes audits every six months that verify that there is no forced labor or child exploitation. They don’t want to hire people under 18, but often claim not to know the age of the workers.

It is not necessary go to other countries to realize the horrible work conditions in this sector. The program shows how big brands like Inditex forced Galician garage owners to choose between exploit their workers or close. Galician seamstresses explained that they were forced to work more than 10 hours a day while the prices paid by Inditex for each garment dropped considerably each year.