“We all have a disquieting feeling when we can calculate that the price of something doesn’t cover a living wage for the people who make it or the environmental cost of something.” ~ Safia Minney


E50 – SAFIA MINNEY ON MODERN SLAVERY, ETHICAL FASHION AND SUSTAINABILITY

SLAVES TO FASHION: A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS


Listen to the conversation:

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About this interview:


What can consumers and businesses do to make fashion fair for all?

In this episode Amisha meets author, consultant and social entrepreneur Safia Minney, Founder and former Global CEO of People Tree.  Safia speaks to us about modern slavery: all the ways it is hidden in plain view and what she and others are doing to change the broken system that perpetuates it.

Amisha and Safia discuss how the very fabric of our environments is part of a tangled web of human rights abuses and environmental degradation. We hear stories of some of the 41 million slaves worldwide who have been trapped in bonded labour, human trafficking. Safia explains how dependency on agrochemicals and GM seeds drives vulnerable farmers closer to the edge – with no margin and no place to turn after a bad harvest. We learn about the lives of malnourished teenage girls  and women working 70 hour weeks in garment factories, with their tea and toilet breaks slashed and running the daily gauntlet of sexual violence.

As awareness grows around modern day slavery and legislation begins to come in, big companies are forced to account for their efforts to mitigate against unethical treatment of workers in their supply chains. However, more still needs to be done and we all have a voice to speak out for those who are voiceless in the current system. Safia tells us how we can act to make a change, refusing to stay complicit in a polluting and abusive system where the human and environmental cost of high-street fashion prices is just too high.

“We need to find that appreciation for our food, for our clothes, for the products that we use and understand that these are not given to us. Nature doesn’t give them to us free of charge- they come  with environmental costs and they come with environmental risks and those  risks are often borne by the most vulnerable people in the world” ~ Safia Minney


Over the course of her career, Safia Minney MBE has been a pioneer in ethical business, establishing Fair Trade supply chain solutions, defining PR and marketing campaigns and the strategic directions needed to reach new markets. At the heart of everything she has done has been a creative force and passion to deliver social impact and sustainability. In 2006 Safia was recognised by the World Economic Foundation, Schwab Foundation as one of the world’s outstanding social entrepreneurs, she was awarded Social Entrepreneur of The Year in the Edge Upstart Awards. She is the Founder and former Global CEO of People Tree, former MD of Po-Zu and is the author of Naked Fashion, Slow Fashion and Slave to Fashion.


To find out more about Safia, visit www.safia-minney.com

To connect or work with Amisha, visit www.amisha.co.uk  


Links from this episode:

Stacey Dooley Investigates: Fashion’s Dirty Secrets

People Tree – Sustainable & Fairtrade Fashion

Po-Zu – Shoes with a good sole

Ethical Trading Initiative

The True Cost

Rules to Dress By

Safia Minney


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