Monsoon the party donation and the embassy

Monsoon, the party donation, and the embassy

Monsoon donated £100,000 to the Conservative party in 2008 - 2009.

"In August 2012, our Prime Minister announced that UK Trade & Investment will provide strategic support for the [retail] sector, focused on helping the UK retail sector win more business internationally and securing more valuable investment in the UK" and in 2013, Monsoon had a stand at a UK-subsidised trade show in Malaysia, organised by UK Trade and Investment and introduced by the British High Commissioner who gave the quote above about this notorious company that buys its products in India to sell in Malaysia.

Monsoon sponsor Estethica at London Fashion Week

It looks as though Monsoon had to wait three years for a result: did they get anything in 2008-13?

£100,000 would get you access to the "bottom of the premier league", according to Peter Cruddas, then treasurer of the Conservative Party. Mr Cruddas has cleared his name but I can't google a full text of what he said - only the edited video. Monsoon also sponsor Etsethica at London Fashion Week, which might otherwise ask for more from UK Trade and Investment, so maybe Monsoon is middle of the Premier League? They're also founder members of Ethical Trade Initiative (which refused to sign some of their corporate documents like codes of conduct about ethical standards) and get a huge advert for a not-yet-existing range of artizanal products, presented as a "case study" like the teaching aids produced by Centre For Stustainability in Fashion. It shares the same style of layout, photos, and of quoting a case that has not yet happened, just like the case of Juste produced in earlier materials. The "case study" was presented by Ethcal Fashion Forum to its members.

The other odd thing about this is the zest that UK prime ministers have had for making speeches to introduce obviously stupid policies, like subsidising the expansion of a shop that sells Indian goods into Malaysia, and is well known for paying late and failing to meet its own hopes of "ethical" claims like paying the minimum wage in India. The shop's Irish arm was also in "examinorship" or administration until 23rd of June. So it isn't a good business partner to recommend to anyone else.

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Monsoon handout in the style of Centre for Sustainable Fashion teaching materials, quoting a "case study" of something that has not yet happened.

This handout is very much like the London e-book, Growing Sustainable Economies, a collection of entrepreneurial case studies in Bangladesh and the UK, ed Hammond, L and Higginston, published by London College of Fashion. quoting things that might in future happen from the most active staff of Ethical Fashion Forum. Each one has "case study" written next to it, in hope of being quoted in some poor fashion student's essay.  Juste, the Ethical Fashion Forum's dress import business that never came to exist gets a long mention, Sari Dress Project by another Ethical Fashion Forum staff member gets another, alongside a new organisation which, as you can guess, is called Ethical Fashion Forum. "Project partners Department for Enterprise and International Development at London College of Fashion and BGMEA Institute of Fashion Technology give special thanks to the principal funders of this project, Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE), The British Council, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the companies featured in this publication. (There are also logos from the Department for International Development on the page among others).

Monsoon's handout doesn't have an EU funding logo on it or Dfid backing, but it keeps the strange phrase "case study", as though someone in a fashion college is going to quote this stuff in an essay.

Case Study: Monsoon / SEWA. Head of Corporate Responsibility Olivia Lankester on Monsoon’s artisan heritage

Monsoon, much like fellow British retailer EAST, have artisan collaboration embedded in their brand heritage. Founded by Peter Simon in 1973 after an epic road trip across Asia, the earliest Monsoon collections comprised clothes made in Indian villages using vegetable dyes, hand-loomed cotton and block printing (Monsoon, 2013).

Though now a global brand Monsoon continues to value artisan skills such as beading and embellishment. Monsoon is a founding member of the Ethical Trading Initiative and has its own code of conduct for all suppliers, paying unexpected visits to factories to ensure standards are met. Alongside this Monsoon is involved in a number of community projects in Asia, including a project reviving the silk cultivation industry in Afghanistan to provide livelihoods for widows and vulnerable women
.
Though most production has now shifted to larger factories Monsoon still trade with some of their original and smaller suppliers. This creates jobs and develops local communities at a time when the  number of artisans in India has declined 30% over the past decade (DASRA, 2013). According to Olivia Lankester, Monsoon’s Head of Corporate Responsibility, “artisans in India increasingly ind it hard to make a living from their craft, many living on the poverty line and struggling to meet their basic needs. This has lead to a generational loss of craft skills and contributed to mass migration to urban areas.” Monsoon aims to tackle this through their commitment to supporting craft communities in India.

Launching this October, Artisan Trade is a range of clothing, accessories and gifts made in collaboration with Indian artisan co-operatives. ”Many artisan groups have incredible skill and beautiful product but very limited access to market. This is where we can help – while also providing technical support to help artisans upgrade and update their product offer.” Artisan Trade is an expansion and rebranding of the Monsoon Boutique range, which provides sorely needed market access for Indian artisans. If successful the range will provide sustained employment for women which will move them away from the poverty line and enable future social mobility and economic growth.

Monsoon Boutique not only provides a sales channel for craftspeople, it also focuses on upcycling Monsoon’s fabric offcuts by using them to produce items such as quilts, aprons and childrenswear. All profits are donated to the Monsoon Accessorize trust which provides grants to artisan co-operatives such as SEWA (Self Employed Womens Association). SEWA is an embroidery co-operative in Delhi that over the past four years has received funding from Monsoon for a new embroidery centre, training programmes for women, a micro-credit programme and an education programme for children.
Rather than work through an intermediary Monsoon have always worked directly with Indian suppliers to design and produce their products. A team in Delhi are on hand to provide technical support, training and advice to producers, which Olivia feels makes a “huge difference” to the success of the operation. When necessary Monsoon have linked artisan co-operatives with larger suppliers to help with operations such as sourcing, packaging and testing requirements. Although not yet launched, Monsoon’s Artisan Trade has good prospects as an expansion of Monsoon Boutique. Their 40 years of experience working with artisans means Monsoon are well placed to bring such products onto the marker as the range already has a deined niche among Monsoon customers. The first Artisan Trade collection has taken 9 months from concept to delivery. Monsoon already have a well established network of suppliers which would help shorten the lead time on the range of artisan clothing for such a large market. The success of Monsoon’s community work is extensive, helping 10,000 disadvantaged women and children every year (Monsoon, 2013). The Artisan Trade line will not only provide employment for these women but proits from sales will be reinvested into community projects to create livelihoods and provide healthcare, education and shelter.
Photos:
Traditional hand block printing in India
Artisan Trade supplier, quilting cooperative
Yasmin Le Bon, visiting Monsoon Artisan Trade supplier Photography: Sam Faulkner

Below: Monsoon's offices in West London. Photography: Google Street View

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Cheap factory expensive shop

Cheap factory expensive shop

http://www.guardian.co.uk/…/2013/jul/28/india-sweated-labour - after reading six pages of comment after this article I discover

(1) a challenging rant with a challenging headline that offers no solution begs six pages or more of feebdack on a national newspaper site

(2) the fairtrade label is not completely trusted; people could do with a link on a swing-tag or something to help them check the checking system. Someone said it's a bit like labels on eggs - there's a lot to learn. Others distrust all claims. The article itself is a rant that lumps all ethical claims together and asks consumer to ask more questions

(4) UK-made or European-made goods are looked-for but not found. No surprise when our government rules-out compulsory labels to say where clothes come from, and ignores requests for more data from which to write trade directories.

(5) Several people - not just me - ask why the Bangladeshi government doesn't do its job and introduce some list of changes if it is to get 0% tariff access to the European market. This is in the spirit of the rant article, which questions respect for Indian authorities "Last week India's powerful planning commission claimed that poverty was at a record low of 21.9% of the population. It did so on the basis that people could live on 26 rupees (29p) a day in rural areas (33 rupees in urban areas). Many inside India baulk at this. Few outside the country did so."

(6) Every Guardian reader, Indian or British, is puzzled by the cost of shipping something to well-organised warehouse and from there to branches of some smart and advertised chain store in shopping centres or high streets. Nike and Addidas may be extreme in how much their brand costs and matters, but everything sold in modern shopping centres carries a big price tag for the shopping centre itself and getting stuff there, branded or not. The common debate is why M and S charge so much more than Primark when the technicalities of their shops are only so-much different and what they pay their suppliers is only so-much different. Nobody knows! One reader suggested that Gieves and Hawkes of Saville Row now sends some of its handmade work to India and back without the client knowing.

This is the article copied from the Guardian, with a link.

Admit it. You love cheap clothes. And you don't care about child slave labour

Until three years ago I did not believe in magic. But that was before I began investigating how western brands perform a conjuring routine that makes the great Indian rope trick pale in comparison. Now I'm beginning to believe someone has cast a spell over the world's consumers.

This is how it works. Well Known Company makes shiny, pretty things in India or China. The Observer reports that the people making the shiny, pretty things are being paid buttons and, what's more, have been using children's nimble little fingers to put them together. There is much outrage, WKC professes its horror that it has been let down by its supply chain and promises to make everything better. And then nothing happens. WKC keeps making shiny, pretty things and people keep buying them. Because they love them. Because they are cheap. And because they have let themselves be bewitched.

Last week I revealed how poverty wages in India's tea industry fuel a slave trade in teenage girls whose parents cannot afford to keep them. Tea drinkers were naturally upset. So the ethical bodies that certified Assam tea estates paying a basic 12p an hour were wheeled out to give the impression everything would be made right.

For many consumers, that is enough. They want to feel that they are being ethical. But they don't want to pay more. They are prepared to believe in the brands they love. Companies know this. They know that if they make the right noises about behaving ethically, their customers will turn a blind eye.

So they come down hard on suppliers highlighted by the media. They sign up to the certification schemes – the Ethical Trading Initiative, Fairtrade, the Rainforest Alliance and others. Look, they say, we are good guys now. We audit our factories. We have rules, codes of conduct, mission statements. We are ethical. 

But they are not. What they have done is purchase an ethical fig leaf.

In the last few years, companies have got smarter. It is rare now to find children in the top level of the supply chain, because the brands know this is PR suicide. But the wages still stink, the hours are still brutal, and the children are still there, stitching away in the backstreets of the slums.

Drive east out of Delhi for an hour or so into the industrial wasteland of Ghaziabad and take a stroll down some of the back lanes. You might want to watch your step, to avoid falling into the stinking open drains. Take a look through some of the doorways. See the children stitching the fine embroidery and beading? Now take a stroll through your favourite mall and have a look at the shelves. Recognise some of that handiwork? You should.

Suppliers now subcontract work out from the main factory, maybe more than once. The work is done out of sight, the pieces sent back to the main factory to be finished and labelled. And when the auditors come round the factory, they can say that there were no children and all was well. Because audits are part of the act. Often it is as simple as two sets of books, one for the brand, one for themselves. The brand's books say everyone works eight hours a day with a lunch break. The real books show the profits from 16-hour days and no days off all month.

Need fire extinguishers to tick the safety box? Hire them in for the day. The lift is a deathtrap? Stick a sign on it to say it is out of use and the inspector will pass it by. The dark arts thrive in the inspection business. We, the consumers, let them do this because we want the shiny, pretty thing. And we grumble that times are tight, we can't be expected to pay more and, anyway, those places are very cheap to live in.

This is the other part of the magic trick, the western perception of the supplier countries, born of ignorance and embarrassment. India, more than most, knows how to play on this. Governments and celebrities fall over themselves to laud India for its progress. India is on the up, India is booming, India is very spiritual, India is vibrant. Sure, the workers are poor, but they are probably happy.

No, they are not. India has made the brands look rank amateurs in the field of public relations. Yes, we know it is protectionist, yes, we know working conditions are often diabolical, but we are in thrall to a country that seems impossibly exotic.

Colonial guilt helps. The British in particular feel awkward about India. We stole their country and plundered their riches. We don't feel able to criticise. But we should. China still gets caught out, but wages have risen and working conditions have improved. India seems content to rely on no one challenging it.

Last week India's powerful planning commission claimed that poverty was at a record low of 21.9% of the population. It did so on the basis that people could live on 26 rupees (29p) a day in rural areas (33 rupees in urban areas). Many inside India baulk at this. Few outside the country did so.

But times are tough, consumers say. This is the most pernicious of the ideas the brands have encouraged. Here's some maths from an Observer investigation last year in Bangalore. We can calculate that women on the absolute legal minimum wage, making jeans for a WKC, get 11p per item. Now wave your own wand and grant them the living monthly wage – the £136 the Asia Floor Wage Alliance calculates is needed to support a family in India today (and bear in mind that the women are often the sole earners). It is going to cost a fortune, right? No. It will cost 15p more on the labour cost of each pair of jeans.
The very fact that wages are so low makes the cost of fixing the problem low, too. Someone has to absorb the hit, be it the brand, supplier, middleman, retailer or consumer. But why make this a bad thing? 

Why be scared of it?

Here is the shopper, agonising over ethical or cheap. What if they can do both? What if they can pluck two pairs of jeans off the rail and hold them up. One costs £20. One costs £20.15. It has a big label on it, which says "I'm proud to pay 15p more for these jeans. I believe everyone has the right to a decent standard of living. My jeans were made by a happy worker who was paid the fair rate for the job."
Go further. Stitch it on to the jeans themselves. I want those jeans. I want to know I'm not wearing something stitched by kids kept locked in backstreet godowns, never seeing the light of day, never getting a penny. I want to feel clean. And I want the big brands and the supermarkets to help me feel clean.

I want people to say to them: "You deceived us. You told us you were ethical. We want you to change. We want you to police your supply chain as if you care. Name your suppliers. Open them to independent inspection. We want to trust you again, we really do, because we love your products. Know what? We don't mind paying a few pennies more if you promise to chip in too."

And here's the best part: I think they would sell more. I think consumers would be happier and workers would be happier. And if I can spend less time trawling through fetid backstreets looking for the truth, I'll be happier.

guardian.co.uk | By Gethin Chamberlain

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Photo of ten "Young boys rescued from child traffickers at Katihar station in Bihar state, India, waiting for their parents to collect them". I have no idea what stories are hidden here, but know that some kind of welfare state in more of India could be part of the answer

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You are invited to a masterclass in fashion PR for big business

1. TACTIC ONE:
   Say the meaningless "ethical" word and then the quite vague "sustainable" word very quickly afterwards. That way you sound agreeable but can avoid talking about organic, vegan, or fairtrade fashion, and if you want you can avoid talking about the politics of China or Bangladesh and importing goods from those countries on a 0% tariff. Example:
   "I am particularly grateful to colleagues on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion for their hard work".
2. TACTIC TWO
   Pretend that all apparel manufacturing is done in the third world, so that you can compare conditions between one bad place and another rather than with conditions in the UK and other democratic countries with welfare states and good human rights records. This rules-out any mention of local jobs being lost as clothes are imported from China, and makes discussion of whether a welfare state paid for by garment factories seem rather distant and irrelevant.
   "Fashion today is both global and local, and even much of the produce of many of our high-profile "heritage" British brands, such as Burberry, Aquascutum and Crombie, is often all or mostly made outside the UK. The global nature of the fashion industry means that it is imperative that we work with colleagues internationally"
3. TACTIC THREE
   Make up some figures suggesting that the fashion import company which runs a chain-store and imports the clothes is the real beneficiary to the UK economy, helping money circulate right around the UK to create jobs growth and taxes.
   "Despite the high level of garment manufacture carried out overseas, the estimated value of UK-manufactured clothing and textiles in the UK was £8.1 billion in 2011, and the overall estimated export value of UK clothing and textiles was £7.3 billion" (source probably The Value of Fashion report commissioned by British Fashion Council from Oxford Economics)
4. TACTIC FOUR IS VERY SIMILAR TO TACTIC ONE
   Start talking about UK manufacturing very broadly, without mentioning recession, jobs, defecit between tax and spending, poverty, voters, food-banks, factory closures, and then suddenly introduce ethics-sorry-I-meant-other-issues and divert discussion to the other issues. So fashion is "within the BIS [Department for Business] agenda because of the manufacturing element [...] in November last year, Business Secretary Vince Cable promised government support to breathe new life into UK textile manufacturing as a study revealed that the cost gap with Asia is narrowing. Can the Minister tell the House how far such plans have gone and the extent to which sustainability and ethics in fashion is a priority consideration?"
5. TACTIC FIVE:
   Try to get another department to handle fashion than the Department for Business. Defra will do.
   "Will the Minister undertake to set up a meeting with me and other Members of both Houses on the APPG to discuss how we can best help to support the development of this part of the fashion sector? We need to get a commitment to develop practical, effective strategies across the different departments for realising the potential of rethinking how we "do" fashion. Because of its experience with the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, Defra is perfectly placed to broker and animate the necessary discussions."
    
6. AND FINALLY A MESSAGE FROM...
   "the British Fashion Council's Esthetica Showcase at London Fashion Week", sponsored by Monsoon. So if their lordships think that debating is dull and irrelevant to anything, it sounds as though real people believe all this stuff. Ask anyone about Esthetica Showcase sponsored by Monsoon, and maybe thay'll say "you politicians aren't popular, but now I know that you're helping Esthetica Showcase sponsored by Monsoon instead of talking about tax and jobs and the welfare state, I know you're one of the good ones". (made-up quote).

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planB4fashion In their words:"SOURCE MASTERCLASS: Communicating Sustainability
Contributor Ethical Fashion Forum
We introduce SOURCE market research including global market developments. Plus an exclusive presentation and workshop by Futerra, the global leaders in Sustainability Communications on how to touch hearts, minds, and change behaviours."
Like · Reply · 31 July 2013 at 19:17 · Edited

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Inquiry into All Party Groups - News from Parliament
The new Committee on Standards launches an inquiry...
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/standards/news/inquiry-into-all-party-groups/ unfortunately I missed the deadline for trying to think of something to say about all party committees. I don't know what I would have said. Volunteer juries to monitor videos and report what they believe to be claptrap?

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Monsoon called for tax breaks on itself, after doing this to others...

What Monsoon said after a debate calling for tax breaks:
"We need ethical fashion to become part of the mainstream if the industry is to play its part in a more sustainable future" - Peter Simon,Chairman

What Monsoon suppliers say about being paid by Monsoon
Anonymous on Drapers' record | 27 February 2013 9:17 am
"We have worked with Monsoon in the past. The ruthlessness has always been there... unfortunately this is not a "one of a kind" example from the High Street."

Anonymous on Drapers' record | 8 June 2013 11:05 am
"Drapers should investigate Monsoon more carefully they have now asked each supplier to fill out a costing form to show how much they are making. They want a detailed breakdown of overheads and % profit! This along with their terms of payment and discount makes them one of the most unattractive retailers to work with.

I always thought it was a partnership supplying a retailer but Monsoon are incredibly ruthless and someone needs to speak up and investigate."This is a press release promoted by Monsoon.

PRESS RELEASE

Industry Calls for Tax Breaks for Eco Fashion Businesses

Harold Tillman, Chairman of the British Fashion Council is spearheading a campaign that will incentivise fashion businesses to work in a more sustainable way and to make eco fashion more affordable and accessible to consumers.

This call for action follows this week’s RE: Fashion Summit and the recent British Fashion Council’s estethica debate on the promotion of ethical fashion and consumer engagement. The campaign, supported by Monsoon, Vivienne Westwood, Edun, George at ASDA, From Somewhere and London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion, calls on all parties to recognise that to effect change, sustainability and ethical fashion also needs to make commercial sense.

Maybe they want to get the money back that they donated to a political party. Everybody knows that multinationals channel payments through different countries and claim that the profit was made in the one with the lowest tax - Luxemburg for example - but Monsoon wants to save the costs of putting the money through somewhere like Luxemburg and to take the tax break right here in the UK. Oh here is a bit more about ethical fashion.

Monsoon Accessorize has been ‘named and shamed’ by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage.

The retailer was found to have owed £104,508 to 1,438 workers - putting it at the top of a list of 115 companies published today.

Monsoon said the failure occurred between 2011 and 2013 because of its policy of offering staff discounts upwards of 50% on its clothing, which they are encouraged to wear to work.
For a proportion of its 5,000 UK store employees the discount was mistakenly deducted from their wages, bringing them below the minimum wage threshold.

The issue came to light when HM Revenue & Customs reviewed Monsoon’s payroll system.

Staff parking space outside the Monsoon office .

Disambiguation: Monsoon Accesorize PLC is real

Whoops! page needs sorting.
It was just a line to say that Eddie Monsoon of Absolutely Fabulous is fiction, while Monsoon sponsors of the Estethica room at London Fashion Week, members of the Ethical Trade Initiative who have had their corporate responsibilility statements rejected by the organisation, Conservative Party donors who got a plug for their Indian-made garments for sale in Indonesia at the UK embassy in Indonesia, and occasional platform speakers at Ethical Fashion Forum alongside Futerra the advertising agency - that Monsoon is real. I think that was the gist.


Here are some other disambiguation aids for telling fact from fiction

You see much better dress sense on the tube going home from London Fashion Week than you do at the event. The first photo is fact: a downing street reception for fashionistas. The second photo is fact. Better dressed people on the tube. The third photo is fiction but quite similar to the first one.

 

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PlanB4fashion.blogspot.co.uk can be read on one long page about ethics fashion and trade