Oxfam’s ‘Naughty & Nice’ list details big retailers operating in Australia which disclose factory location
British advocacy group Oxfam release on Monday its yearly “Naughty & Nice” list with details on the location of the factories of major retailers and how its clothes are made. Included in the “Naughty” list are Zara, Uniqlo and Topshop which have factories in Australia.
Other retailers or brands in the list which have not provided more details about their factories are Just Jeans, Peter Alexander and Dotti owned by the Just Group; Best & Less owned by Pepkor South East Asia; Gorman, Dangerfield and Alannah Hill owned by Factory X; and ASOS of the UK, The Sydney Morning Herald Reports.
Oxfam, which asked donors to know if the brands they purchase for Christmas are treating the women workers in their factories fairly, is pushing for more transparency among the retailers. The initiative was the result of the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh which resulted in the death of workers.
The “Nice” list includes Wesfarmers, Woolworths, H&M, Gap, Cotton on Group, Pacific Brands, Specialty Fashion Group, Jeanswest, Forever New and PAS Group. Oxfam notes that the “Nice” list is expanding just in time for the Christmas shopping holiday.
Helen Szoke, chief executive of Oxfam Australia, points out that 10 of the most popular fashion retailers in Australia have passed the transparency tests in their supply chains. To benefit from the publication of the “Naughty & Nice” list are workers and brands.
“It allows workers themselves and organisations like Oxfam to find and raise issues relating to underpayment, safety and excessive overtime much more easily,” she explains. In an Oxfam study on Myanmar factory workers, the group found that employees worked an average of 11 hours daily, six days a week, but were pair poverty salaries insufficient to afford them food, good housing, health and education for their families.
