Toxic Labels: The TRUE Cost of your Cheap Clothes | Child Labour in Fashion Documentary

In the past ten years, the price of clothes has fallen by 13%. But who has been paying the price? Can the ethical claims of the big brands be trusted?

From the exploitation of children and workers to forcing labourers to work in dangerous conditions and violating local and international laws, it seems many manufacturers are still reliant on sweatshop models of production. In this exclusive investigation, we access the sweatshops of Bangladesh, where girls like 12-year-old Khadija work 60-hour weeks. We film inside the factories and speak to the workers.

In Dhaka, we also meet Hanan, one of the growing number of workers whose lungs have been left in tatters after sandblasting jeans for years. Sandblasting, known to cause silicosis, is now illegal in Europe and Turkey so companies like Lindex have moved their production lines to India. We film these workers in action and then accompany Hann to hospital, where doctors advise him to stop working immediately. But Hann cannot afford to take more than one week off work. After that, he must return to the job that is slowly killing him.

Returning to Europe, we access a confidential document from Inditex, owners of Zara, which proves that every one of their Indian official suppliers was graded D (the worst possible score) for blatant breeches of their ethical charter, like using child labour. We also discover that in the shadows of the accredited suppliers exists at least 2,000 subcontractors who do not adhere to any kind of charter. We confront Pablo Isla, the current president of Inditex, at the annual presentation of Zara’s financial results. How can he justify practices at the factories producing Zara clothes?

This documentary was produced by Premiere Lignes and directed by Marie Maurice. It was first released in 2012.
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