Fashionscapes: A Living Wage
On the day that marks the 8th anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy, Andrew Morgan (director True Cost) and Eco-Age founder Livia Firth, release Fashionscapes: A Living Wage, the fourth in the investigative short documentary series.
In this latest addition to the Fashionscapes series on fashion’s just and ecological future, the pair follow the story of the activists and change-makers calling time on the poverty wages that trap millions of garment workers in never-ending poverty. For the first time the industry, that allows its workforce to live in destitution for its own ends, faces a coordinated, structured challenge through international law.
The film focuses on the garment workers and representatives in ‘garment hotspots’ silenced by brands. Livia and Andrew speak to the network of garment workers and activists they have maintained contact with over a decade. They uncover a flow of evidence, carried by women from the gates of ‘secret’ factories to a network of female legal professionals across the world, led by lawyers in The Circle, a global NGO using the collective power of women to support the world’s most vulnerable women and girls.
Fashionscapes: A Living Wage combines the voices of garment workers on the ground with top legal professionals who are working together to argue for the first ever EU legislation to ensure garment workers receive a living wage.
Join Eco-Age founder Livia Firth, Fashionscapes director Andrew Morgan, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) Kalpona Akter, human rights lawyer Jessica Simor QC, North Sails CEO Marisa Selfa and moderator Simone Marchetti, Vanity Fair European editorial director & Vanity Fair Italia editor-in-chief, as they discuss Fashionscapes: A Living Wage.
‘The fast fashion brands that have fobbed off civil society activists for years on living wage are being driven to change by a powerful alliance of women,’ says Livia Firth, ‘This documentary brings together women who are experts in poverty, degradation and injustice because as garment workers in their supply chains they live it every day with women at the top of their international legal careers. The resulting report and strategy is borne out of mutual respect and commitment. It holds the brands and retailers who have always maintained that a living wage isn’t possible, to account. A string of broken promises can now be challenged on the basis of a legal obligation to protect human rights. I can now see a day when we will get justice for garment workers.’
Andrew Morgan says: ‘This one is personal for me. After years spent witnessing first-hand the human rights emergency that is the modern-day fashion industry, I believe this moment holds the possibility for a new and needed chapter in this story. I’m so honoured to stand in solidarity with the game changers at The Circle, my ferocious friend Livia Firth and with millions of the world’s poorest workers everywhere in demanding an end to the grotesque exploitation of the world’s poorest workers.’
The movie was shot in countries across the world using local crews complying with covid regulations, with the support of Pulse Films Italia. The movie has been supported by The Circle and North Sails.