Transparency day: ODC visits local fashion enterprises
More and more small local companies attempt to oppose the conventional garment and fashion industry in Cambodia. Instead of producing cheap clothes and paying low wages, the fashion startups choose a different path, one that provides better conditions for the workers and yields creative products produced not in massive factories outside the city but in small workshops in Cambodia’s capital. On Wednesday, 25 April 2018, ten of them opened their doors for everyone who wanted to glimpse the places of production. As an NGO that pursues the values of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Open Development Cambodia took the opportunity and visited two workplaces with some staff members.
The abolishment of poverty, health and well-being, responsible production, and climate protection are only a few of the SDGs that match the production practices of the sustainable social fashion enterprises. Tonlé, the first stop of the ODC delegation, uses, for example, fabric which has been thrown aways by the big garment factories. Purchased on local markets, tonlé transforms them into high-quality products which can be purchased in Cambodia as well as in Europe and the US. Séverine Brault who is currently interning at tonlé gave the ODC staffers a tour covering almost the whole production chain – from the fabric stock, all the way over the dying process to quality control and the wrapping of the final product. Sustainability is one of tonlé’s main objectives; in accordance with their slogan – “every thread matters” – they try to avoid waste wherever possible – so that they even use fabric snippets and paper shavings to produce their own paper. Customers of tonlé can be sure that they avoided a lot of harmful emissions and can even learn about the employees who made their items. Every piece of garment is tagged with the name of the employee who was involved with it.
But not only tonlé lets its customers know about who made the product – we found the same concept at the workshop of Cambodia Creations, our second destination on Transparency day: At every stuffed animal produced by women working for Cambodia Knits you can find the name of the knitter and the number of stitches needed. Most of the women work from home and are spread across the country. A fair salary, flexible working hours, social security and annual leave enable a more carefree life for the workers and their families. The same is true for the two other enterprises located at the workshop of Cambodia Creations not far from Tuol Tom Poung market: Fair Weaves is specialized for hand-woven traditional textiles while Khmer Creations makes contemporary handmade jewellery and accessories. Cambodia Creations combines all three labels in their store in the heart of Phnom Penh. Their approach – ethical work principles, sustainable employment, creative designs from talented Cambodian artisan – opposes the oftentimes severe working conditions of Cambodian garment workers in the mass industry.
The ODC staff that had the opportunity to visit the two workshops are happy about the insights they gained on Transparency Day. The event was part of the Fashion Revolution Week, an annual global event organized by the global movement Fashion Revolution. The activists aim to improve conditions in the fashion industry. The Fashion Revolution Week was first organized after the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1138 people and injured many more on 24th April 2013, and since then takes place on the anniversary of the catastrophe. The Fashion Revolution Week 2018 in Phnom Penh closes with a day full of fashion shows and presentations of local brands and on Saturday, 28 April.
For more information about Fashion Revolution and the enterprises ODC dropped by please visit the following websites:
