According to Ethical Fashion Addicter, volunteers from grassroots charity War On Want organized a protest last Thursday to slam Topshop and encourage British students to boycott the fast fashion line.
Outside Topshop locations throughout England, War On Want protesters asked students — the likely consumer of the high street retailer — to make their voices heard regarding what the group calls the store’s “exploitation of workers” in the developing countries where it sources its manufacturing.
“The 1.2 billion dividend for Sir Philip Green, who owns UK retailer Topshop, was enough to double the salaries of Cambodia’s whole garment workforce for eight years,” reads a War On Want press release.
While we understand the point the group is making about pay inequity in fashion, there are emerging arguments that though factory work may seem unglamorous by Western standards, it’s far preferable to the alternatives.
Jobs in Third World countries are hard to come by and more first-hand accounts are pointing to the fact that workers would rather be employed in factories than in less savory ways of making money.
If War On Want is alleging abuse in Topshop factories, that is certainly a completely different thing. But exploitation is open to interpretation.
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