(crowd clamoring)
(acoustic guitar music)
- The garment industry is broken.
People would be shocked
if they saw what goes on in their factories.
It really chances the way you think about clothing,
when you consider the people in the process.
But because there's no visibility when you buy garments,
you are just oblivious to it.
- [Newscaster] The Rana Plaza complex,
which housed a textile factory, collapsed last week,
killing 400. - Rescue workers
in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka
are continuing to hunt for survivors.
- [Newscaster] Today's disaster
is unlikely to slow a booming industry
which thrives on the world's lowest labor costs.
- When factories collapse, we hear about it.
When factory fires kill workers, we hear about it.
- The grinding long days, the difficulties they face,
we don't hear about that.
It touches something we don't want to talk about a lot,
which is, poorly paid people living in places
where they don't have a lot of opportunity.
That's a hard subject to talk about.
(acoustic guitar music)
- The root of the problem is corporate greed.
It's companies trying to maximize profit
by selling as much, for as little as possible,
to consumers who are willing to buy those products.
- More and more Americans are awakening
to the reality that there are responsible,
sustainable alternatives to sweatshop products.
- Your purchasing decisions can affect the lives
of workers around the world.
We look at fair trade as the first step
in a very long journey towards getting
wage equity in the supply chain.
(acoustic guitar music ends, last note reverberates)
(speaking in a foreign language)
(men's choir singing in a foreign language)
(speaking in a foreign language)
(bus rumbling over the road)
(machines humming)
- My name is Chamara De Silva.
I'm the general manager of Hirdaramani Mihila.
We are making mainly tops, jackets, t-shirts, pants.
We are unloading the fabric.
It's from the fabric supplier
that's from Taiwan.
This will spread the fabric.
They will drive the cutter for the design.
So after cutting, it will be numbered
and then it will be inspected.
There are 1,400 people working in my factory.
It's about 78% women and about 22% men.
Piece by piece, one person will be doing
only one operation.
She checks the garment, whether it is good or bad.
98.8% is good.
At the end of the line, packed in box,
the completed goods go out.
- So there are a lot of factories out there
that do an amazing job.
Right now the problem is that those factories
that are performing at a more sustainable level
simply don't have an effective way
to compete with the bottom-feeders,
with the bad factories.
Bad labor practices look pretty much the same.
A common theme is bad treatment of workers,
low wages, unsafe factories, and pollution
of the environment around those factories.
We live in the age of globalization.
Farmers and factory workers around the world
are going to be plugged into the global market
in one way or another
and so for me the question is,
are they victims of the global market?
Or are they being included in the benefits
of globalization?
- Fair trade in the garment industry
is a fairly new concept.
Typically it's associated with other products,
like chocolate, tea, and coffee.
For a factory to become Fair Trade Certified,
the factory works hard towards meeting
Fair Trade standards.
When brands join the program, they agree
to pay a premium on top
of the cost of the item.
- The good news is those workers receive
that money directly.
It doesn't even go through management.
The workers set up their own bank account,
they manage those funds directly,
they get to vote on whether or not to distribute
that money as a bonus or start a scholarship program
or build a daycare center.
- We are working with about eight brands
in this Mihila factory.
Patagonia were the one and only brand
approved for fair trade.
So we learned about the fair trade
and then we discussed what this is,
what are the benefits, what is the purpose.
Impression was really superb.
(speaking a foreign language)
We met here with the employee council,
and one of the most, most important proposals
was the daycare.
I can remember the day I went to see the daycare
because it was one of the happiest moments in my life.
I mean, it was amazing, you know.
I saw the laughter, I saw the smiles.
(children singing)
More than anyone, mothers were really happy.
They can concentrate on work because
they know that their children are in safe hands.
- (speaking a foreign language)
- The industry has an opportunity to take a stance
and try to provide a better, more positive way of living
for a lot of people around the world.
- We have to prove the business case
for responsible business.
If it's just a philanthropic
or a philosophical endeavor,
it won't scale.
We have to prove that fair trade
is good for business.
- Patagonia is really ramping up our program quickly.
In fall '14, we had 11 fair trade certified styles.
In fall '16, we're gonna be at 200,
and in fall '17, we're gonna be at 300 styles,
and that's 30% of our product line.
(studious violin music)
- We envision farmers and workers becoming
architects of their own future.
We're helping workers not just improve
their lives but also find their voice.
The results go way beyond just $30,000 a year
to this factory or $50,000 to that factory
and the projects that they do with that
but underneath that and above that is
this invisible dividend from Fair Trade.
It's all about hope and pride
and dignity
and self-confidence.
(pensive instrumental music)
(reading aloud in a foreign language)
(speaking in a foreign language)
(vehicle honks horn)
(cheerful acoustic guitar music)
(speaking a foreign language)
- In a world where two billion people live
on two dollars a day, we clearly have our work
cut out for us.
- [Cara Chacon] I think it's really easy for people
to forget that there are people behind everything
that we buy in the supply chain
and that hands actually touch it.
We're not just here to make a product.
It's about sending a message to the world
that eventually no factory has workers
that are exploited.
I mean, that just should not be tolerated
in this day and age.
We need to keep the pressure on so that
every brand is doing this.
- [Woman In Blue Shirt] We just want to sweep the effects
of thoughtless consumption under the carpet,
and we can because we don't have to think about it.
That's the invisible story behind
the products that we buy.
We have to keep asking the hard questions
and challenge ourselves.
There's an easy route and there's a hard route
that involves doing the right thing.
(bright, hopeful music)