What’s up y’all, it’s Sussan Mourad here with Clevver News, and Kendall and Kylie
Jenner have issued a response to claims they haven’t been fairly paying their clothing
line workers amid the pandemic.
We’ve JUST managed to forget about the fact that Kylie Jenner was stripped of her ‘billionaire’
status by Forbes and allegedly forged her tax returns, and now the Jenner sisters have
been hit with another controversy surrounding unfair pay for clothing line workers.
Along with Kylie and Kendall, many other celebrities, including Cardi B, have been hit with claims
that Global Brand Group, the company who own the clothing lines sold and marketed under
their names, has left thousands of garment workers “starving” around the world.
According to a recent report, Kylie and Kendall have refused to pay their factory workers
in Bangladesh, who create the garments for their Kendall + Kylie fashion line amid the
pandemic.
The fashion non-profit company Remake published the report that also claims that clothing
makers would not be paid for garments made in February and March due to sudden drops
in sales.
CEO of Global Brand Groups, Rick Darling, issued a statement, saying QUOTE, “Given
the unpredictability of the situation, our retail partners have cancelled orders, and
existing inventory and product in production may have no sell-through.
Consequently, we have no choice but to make the difficult decision to cancel all S/S 2020
orders from all suppliers (without liability).”
Remake fired back claiming that Global Brands Group does have a choice but the company is
“just choosing not to implement it”.
Global Brand Group’s decision resulted in more than 50,000 factory workers in Bangladesh
and Los Angeles being left in a vulnerable position, some even at risk of “starving
to death,” while others have lost out on receiving government assistance.
They also pointed out that those disproportionately affected by the pulled contracts are mostly
“black and brown women who work 10-12 hour days and live paycheck to paycheck.”
These women also live in “crowded urban dwellings and take congested transportation
to get to work.”
Not to mention, factories around the world are reopening, forcing garment makers to come
back to work despite rising infection rates, ultimately risking their own health.
Rumors have gotten so out of hand to the point that fans are now lobbying for Kendall and
Kylie to pay their factory workers.
One fan responded to a recent post from Kylie, saying QUOTE, “Pay your workers!
@KylieJenner @iamcardib @KendallJenner you have billions but you are refusing to pay
poor women who make your clothing for minimum wage in Bangladesh.
Hope you are taking notice @CNN @ABC @CBSNews @NBCNews #LaborRights #WomensRights.”
Others had much stronger opinions on the matter, like this user who tweeted, “people are
dying in my country and f***ing kylie jenner is ordering products for her company from
them and refusing to pay them f*** everything.”
And another user has even accused Kylie of being a ‘performative activist,’ saying,
“Kylie Jenner is the perfect example of performative activism.
Posting about BLM on her social media just to appease her fans.
But behind the scenes her companies are unwilling to pay poor (mostly female) garment workers
in Bangladesh.
Make it make sense.”
A petition for the cause to pay factory workers fairly, was part of a #PayUp campaign, that
demands that multi-million dollar brands like Gap and Primark honour their contracts with
suppliers so they can pay their workers, and has since attracted over 200,000 signatures.
The outrage has gotten back to Kendall and Kylie, who have since issued a statement to
their official clothing company Instagram account completely slamming these claims.
The statement read QUOTE, “We would like to address the unfortunate and incorrect rumor
that Global Brands Group owns the Kendall + Kylie brand and that we have neglected to
pay factory workers in Bangladesh as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is untrue.
The Kendall + Kylie brand is owned by 3072541 Canada Inc., not GBG.
The brand has worked with CAA-GBG in the past in a sales and business development capacity
only.”
It goes on to say, “We know these are trying times for the fashion industry and garment
workers as a whole, and we continue to support all of our partners working in factories who
produce our products.
We manufacture in countries all over the world and have not received any concerns from the
factories who produce our goods.”
According to Kendall + Kylie’s official statement, thankfully the claims seem to appear
untrue, but we will keep you updated should the story continue to develop.
For more on the KarJenners, click right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know all your thoughts on Kendall and Kylie’s response to fans
regarding these claims.
I’m your host Sussan Mourad, bye guys!