Brands unite behind living wages
A consortium of European brands including Kings of Indigo, Armedangels, Mini Rodini and Nudie Jeans have teamed up with Amsterdam’s Fair Wear Foundation (Fair Wear) to implement a “new standard” for their factory workers.
The objective, they said, is to raise garment workers’ salaries from minimum wage to a living wage, despite not owning the factories and, therefore, paying workers directly themselves.
To bypass this, Fair Wear has been working on a “true [open] costing methodology”, Kings of Indigo revealed, which it is hoped will empower brands to uncover the amount factory workers are actually paid for their time and, as a result, help buyers avoid negotiating cost prices which would negatively impact these workers’ wages.
In the case of Kings of Indigo and its Turkish supplier Mergu, the difference between a minimum and a living wage was found to be 42%, it stated.
Image: Kings of Indigo via Instagram.
