Shopper discovers ‘hidden message’ stitched on to Primark dress

23-06-2014 10:29PM #1

More "slave labour" in the rag trade, but the clothes are cheap so who cares...

http://thedailyedge.thejournal.ie/primark-exhausted-hours-label-1532738-Jun2014/
IRISH CLOTHING RETAILER Primark is investigating after a customer discovered a hand-stitched label with a damning message on a £10 dress she purchased in the store.
Rebecca Gallagher from Swansea, Wales, was surprised to find a second tag sewn over the regular Primark label, which read ‘Forced to work exhausting hours’.
She told the South Wales Evening Post that to her, the label looked like a “cry for help – to let us people in Britain know what is going on.”
She said she rang Primark to ask what was going on, but was put on hold for 15 minutes before being cut off.

Nodin · 23-06-2014 10:30PM

I suspect agitprop meself.

Mr. Incognito · 23-06-2014 10:33PM

She managed to slack off long enough to stitch the second tag though, in English.

Amazing how she managed that.

urabell · 23-06-2014 10:34PM

Look at her, a dress that big was bound to have some message on it, 1000 dresses with 1000 yards of thread will eventually spell out the complete works of Shakespeare given enough time.

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276352/Article/images/21241950/6213922-large.jpg

Yellowblackbird · 23-06-2014 10:36PM

I got a message in the post one time, written on toilet paper. It said 'Help. They have me trapped in the bathroom'

EuskalHerria · 23-06-2014 10:41PM

Perfectly placed advert on boards. Solves this problem perfectly.

wretcheddomain · 23-06-2014 10:43PM

First, it wasn't a hidden message, it was reasonably explicit. Second, if that shopper cared so much about slave labour then why did she bother going there in the first place? Third, it wasn't a dress, it was one half of a pair of 70's curtains the woman will gown herself with after the shower every night.

Archeron · 23-06-2014 10:45PM

I did not know Primark was Irish, ya learn something every day!

23-06-2014 10:48PM

No one should be surprised, if they buy a 10 euro garment that has been assembled in a country thousands of miles away, packaged and shipped to Europe, unpacked, stacked on a shelf by someone else and the payment taken by someone else on a till, that somewhere along the way in the production of this disposable fashion, someone vulnerable and desperate for money has had their labour exploited so that they can buy a cheap dress and throw it away after a few washes.

I don't shop in Primark.

urabell · 23-06-2014 10:49PM

Candie wrote: »

No one should be surprised, if they buy a 10 euro garment that has been assembled in a country thousands of miles away, packaged and shipped to Europe, unpacked, stacked on a shelf by someone else and the payment taken by someone else on a till, that somewhere along the way in the production of this disposable fashion, someone vulnerable and desperate for money has had their labour exploited so that they can buy a cheap dress and throw it away after a few washes.

I don't shop in Primark.

You're mad if you think the more expensive shops do anything differently, they just have a bigger profit margin

Ronan|Raven · 23-06-2014 10:56PM

It is canadian owned.

23-06-2014 10:57PM

urabell wrote: »

You're mad if you think the more expensive shops do anything differently, they just have a bigger profit margin

Thats sometimes true, but not always.

If you make an effort to see what country the stuff is both sourced from and manufactured/assembled in, you increase the likelihood of buying ethically. If workers are subject to the labour laws of a western country, they're much less likely to be exploited.

It's more damage limitation than foolproof.

To make no effort at all and just buy the obviously exploitative stuff anyway with the justification that 'they're all the same' is just perpetuating the cycle.

Conditions will only improve when the garment industries in those countries are threatened because people wont buy from places where decent labour laws are not in place and multi-nationals can't outsource their slavery.

23-06-2014 10:58PM

sugarman wrote: »

British owned

Irish actually http://www.primark.com/en-ie/about-us/about-primark

urabell · 23-06-2014 11:00PM

Candie wrote: »

Thats sometimes true, but not always.

If you make an effort to see what country the stuff is both sourced from and manufactured/assembled in, you increase the likelihood of buying ethically. If workers are subject to the labour laws of a western country, they're much less likely to be exploited.

It's more damage limitation than foolproof.

To make no effort at all and just buy the obviously exploitative stuff anyway with the justification that 'they're all the same' is just perpetuating the cycle.

Conditions will only improve when the garment industries in those countries are threatened because people wont buy from places where decent labour laws are not in place and multi-nationals can't outsource their slavery.

People in Ireland worked in sweatshops until not so long ago, as these countries pull their socks up and slowly fall over the line into the 21st century things will change for them as well. Time is the only cure, not microactivism.

wretcheddomain · 23-06-2014 11:02PM

Archeron wrote: »

I did not know Primark was Irish, ya learn something every day!

sugarman wrote: »

British owned

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It is canadian owned.

Deleted User wrote: »

Irish actually http://www.primark.com/en-ie/about-us/about-primark

It's actually Iraqi owned

David900 · 23-06-2014 11:03PM

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It is canadian owned.

I think its British owned. It is owned by Associated British Foods.

It was started in Dublin under Penny's brand, but couldn't expand internationally with that name because of the similarity to US retailer JC Penney.

Spanish Eyes · 23-06-2014 11:03PM

urabell wrote: »

You're mad if you think the more expensive shops do anything differently, they just have a bigger profit margin

I shop in Penneys. Love it. At least I am supporting people who need the jobs abroad. Don't forget this bankrupt country also provides 600million euro a YEAR to Foreign Aid through our taxes, so we do help out big time.

As for the la di dah Labels...I have no doubt they are produced in the same way. Who would know?

Some people are daft not to think this happens.

23-06-2014 11:05PM

urabell wrote: »

People in Ireland worked in sweatshops until not so long ago, as these countries pull their socks up and slowly fall over the line into the 21st century things will change for them as well. Time is the only cure, not microactivism.

That's not the advice given in the UN Anti-Slavery literature, but it's easy advice to follow because it puts no onus on the consumer of the products of slavery to alter their habits.

Nobody can buy ethically 100% of the time, but making no effort to buy ethically at any time isn't going to change anything, ever.

Seaneh · 23-06-2014 11:09PM

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

She managed to slack off long enough to stitch the second tag though, in English.

Amazing how she managed that.

Yeah, because nobody in the Indian Sub-Continent speaks English...

urabell · 23-06-2014 11:12PM

Seaneh wrote: »

Yeah, because nobody in the Indian Sub-Continent speaks English...

Anybody who does probably isn't working in a sweatshop.

Candie wrote: »

That's not the advice given in the UN Anti-Slavery literature, but it's easy advice to follow because it puts no onus on the consumer of the products of slavery to alter their habits.

Nobody can buy ethically 100% of the time, but making no effort to buy ethically at any time isn't going to change anything, ever.

The UN might just be the single most ineffective body on the planet.

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller · 23-06-2014 11:13PM

Most likely put there by bored staff who then hope the note is discovered in one of the fitting rooms so they can then get a good laugh at it being discovered. Guess the all got bored supergluing Euro coins to the footpath.

Spanish Eyes · 23-06-2014 11:14PM

Candie wrote: »

That's not the advice given in the UN Anti-Slavery literature, but it's easy advice to follow because it puts no onus on the consumer of the products of slavery to alter their habits.

Nobody can buy ethically 100% of the time, but making no effort to buy ethically at any time isn't going to change anything, ever.

Can I ask what your definition of buying ethically is, and how does one totally and absolutely verify the facts?

Atlantic Dawn · 23-06-2014 11:14PM

Looks like balls to me, would have been someone else quality checking them to check for stuff like this before they left the factory. Then when you get to Primark someone instore has to put them on display, would have been spotted. My guess is someone in the UK having some fun writing on the labels for an unknown reason.

Capt'n Midnight · 23-06-2014 11:16PM

We're forgetting the most important thing.

How did that dress pass quality control with a second label ??

Reality check
cheap clothes are made in sweatshops, simple as

expensive clothes are also made in sweatshops, the only difference is that the brand owners get a much bigger cut

remember the old statistic about Air Jordan getting paid more by Nike for the ads he did than the entire workforce got paid to to make the footwear

Alf. A. Male · 23-06-2014 11:18PM

Archeron wrote: »

I did not know Primark was Irish, ya learn something every day!

sugarman wrote: »

British owned

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

It is canadian owned.

Deleted User wrote: »

Irish actually http://www.primark.com/en-ie/about-us/about-primark

wretcheddomain wrote: »

It's actually Iraqi owned

David900 wrote: »

I think its British owned. It is owned by Associated British Foods.

It was started in Dublin under Penny's brand, but couldn't expand internationally with that name because of the similarity to US retailer JC Penney.

Jesus, companies change owners so quickly these days. Who owns it now?

Richard Hillman · 23-06-2014 11:23PM

Assuming it is from Bangladesh, anybody in Bangladesh that speaks English would be fairly well educated and would have a lot more job prospects than working in a sweat shop. I dont believe it is legit.

Taylor365 · 23-06-2014 11:24PM

Its part of the ABF group.

Founded In Ireland though so if I were to give it a nationality, it would be Irish.

Seaneh · 23-06-2014 11:26PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

How did that dress pass quality control with a second label ??

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Looks like balls to me, would have been someone else quality checking them to check for stuff like this before they left the factory. Then when you get to Primark someone instore has to put them on display, would have been spotted. My guess is someone in the UK having some fun writing on the labels for an unknown reason.

In a factory of a few hundred people pumping out thousands of pieces every day there might be a random quality check of 1 garment per hundred, at the very most. They don't check every piece that goes through the shop floor.

In the store a floor worker would be taking a box of "medium" sized pieces and putting them onto a shelf/hanger/whatever. They don't check labels or quality, they just put them on display in good faith.

I've bought jackets with the pockets not properly stitched, buttons in the wrong place or button holes too tight to actually work. The odds of a label getting through checks isn't all that out of the realms of possibility.

wretcheddomain · 23-06-2014 11:28PM

Alf. A. Male wrote: »

Jesus, companies change owners so quickly these days. Who owns it now?

The Illuminati of course

Dozen Wicked Words · 23-06-2014 11:29PM

Primark have replied, querying why a dress that was on sale a year ago only had this issue coming to light now.

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2014/06/23/primark-responds-to-the-exhausting-hours-label

Not a regular vogue reader, I Googled it, honest

23-06-2014 11:37PM

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Can I ask what your definition of buying ethically is, and how does one totally and absolutely verify the facts?

A simple way to increase the chances of buying products made with non exploited labour (not foolproof, nothing is) is to buy from other EU countries or Western European countries. They're far more likely to have been manufactured in accordance with labour laws of the individual countries, and even if they aren't, conditions tend to be better anyway.

Also it helps to be aware of particular products and regions with connections to slavery and child slavery.

http://www.laborrights.org/in-the-news/us-lists-countries-exploiting-child-labour

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/15/world/child-labor-index-2014/

http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-worst-child-labor-risks-2012-1?op=1

Not all exploited people produce goods sold in the West, it's often things like child and coerced soldiers, sex workers, and farm workers.

Many major sportswear manufacturers have a great deal to be ashamed of. Chocolate, clothing, coffee, tea, and many electronic goods are often produced by the exploited and enslaved. Buying ethically means looking up the companies ethical policy online and making that judgement call. Nobody is perfect or makes all ethical consumer choices, but you can minimise where possible.

People will often choose to change their habits when they become aware of the origins of the things they take for granted. Few people would enjoy chocolate that they know is produced with the labour of children forced and sold into slavery, worked to exhaustion and sometimes death, but if you buy chocolate that isn't Fairtrade, that is actually reasonably likely to have been the case.

Shopper discovers ‘hidden message’ stitched on to Primark dress

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