Five days ago was the seventh anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh... The event highlighted the inhuman working conditions... New research by the Clean Clothes Campaign and Bread for the World shows that these working conditions also prevail in apparel-producing factories in Europe...

For their study "Exploitation Made in Europe", researchers in the four countries investigated for the Clean Clothes Campaign and Bread for the World and interviewed employees of suppliers of German fashion companies in Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria...

The investigation found several violations of human rights in the four countries examined, the most serious in terms of wages paid...

According to the Clean Clothes Campaign and Bread for the World, the low price that German apparel brands and retailers pay to suppliers for their orders is at the heart of the problem...

Until there is a strategic means of tackling this issue, there will be tens of thousands suffering in global brands' supply chains,” comments the Clean Clothes Campaign’s Bettina Musiolek. 

This is particularly true during the current coronavirus pandemic: ...Cancellations of orders mean that factories have to (temporarily) close down and lay off workers, usually without compensation. Brands and retailers must therefore stand by their commitments and pay fully and quickly for current, finished and in-production orders...