Photo: Courtesy of H&M
The fact that we've become used to seeing $5 T-shirts and jeans sold for $9.99 is both a huge testament to advances in technologies, infrastructures, and economies and the distance between us and the way our clothing is made. While designer prices have steadily climbed since our grandparents' generations, the cost to produce everyday clothes has dropped astronomically. While that means we're able to pick up a little something extra with our hard-earned money seemingly guilt-free, it also means that there's someone else on the other side of the world who's been locked into an unfair, inhumane system.
H&M is taking some first steps to correcting this disparity. The brand announced yesterday that it's considering raising retail prices in order to afford higher wages for its textile workers on the other side of the country. In Bangladesh, the second-largest producer of textiles, the average pay for workers can be as low as $67 a month (which was just raised from $37 per month earlier this year and is a barely livable wage in the country). And, that's something H&M wants to fight against.
Swedwatch, a company that monitors Swedish corporations, has said that H&M has been lobbying governments to raise minimum-wage levels, enforce annual reviews, and set up accords that protect workers, and the company is considering raising its own retail prices to make sure that the pay structures balance out once it increases salaries. Regardless, its goal of paying its 850,000 worldwide workers more by 2018 is firmly in place. Click through to The Huffington Post to find out more about the steps H&M is taking to correct worker injustice and to read about the discussions that took place on Monday. (HuffPo)