“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:
If you love the show, you can subscribe through iTunes, stitcher or spotify and listen offline on your favourite device (podcasts are great for long drives and commuting!)
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
The Future Is Beautiful Patron Video Circle
The Future Is Beautiful book (gift)
Amisha’s Presence Mentoring Programme
Support this podcast:
You can be part of the community that make this happen by supporting our show through Patreon in $, or direct through donorbox in £.
(this podcast is about people not products, we are disrupting the current model and are an advertising free zone, powered by you). You can donate anything from £2 a month or make a one off donation. Thank you.
Yes I want to be a Patron of The Future Is Beautiful
You must be logged in to post a comment.