There's a long history of exploitation in the denim supply chain, as our first guest this week, Bego Demir, can attest. He developed incurable silicosis in the 2000s as a result of his sandblasting job in a Turkish factory producing jeans for a famous American brand.
These days Bego coordinates Clean Clothes Campaign Türkiye, and is supporting a creative new activist strategy to hold another brand to account, this time for making big claims about being "responsibly made", while workers in a supplier factory in Istanbul faced harsh consequences when they dared to organise for better conditions.
Earlier this year, the Dutch office of the CCC network filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against denim giant Levi Strauss. Their core argument is that Levi’s used misleading claims on the labour conditions in its supply chain when advertising its products to Dutch consumers. Four individual consumers, who purchased Levi’s products believing they were buying from an ethical brand, have joined the lawsuit. One of then, Pam, is also on this week's show sharing her perspective.
Too many brands fail to prevent worker exploitation in their supply chains, from union busting to denying workers' their basic rights, whether that's the right to organise, to strike, or to be paid a living wage.
Could this latest CCC tactic - to use consumer law that protects shoppers from greenwashing - make a difference? Let's find out.
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