LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - British budget fashion chain Primark said on Wednesday it was constantly on the watch for any slavery in its supply chain while dismissing the idea that low cost meant exploitation.
Paul Lister, head of Primark's ethical trading team, said the retailer known for cheap, high turnover fashion kept its costs down by not spending on advertising and buying in bulk to achieve economies of scale.After years of facing accusations of using "sweatshops" employing "slave labor" to produce T-shirts for just three pounds ($4), Primark has this year started to talk publicly about what it is doing to ensure its supply chain is ethical.Lister said Primark's business model was designed to produce low cost goods but he acknowledged the garment supply chain was complicated and the retailer was always looking to spot any issues."It is about constantly being vigilant, constantly being out there and knowing what to look for and being forensic," Lister told Trust Women, an annual human trafficking and women's rights conference organized by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.The United Nations' International Labour Organization estimates there are 21 million victims of forced labor globally, with 56 percent in the Asia-Pacific region that is home to many clothes factories used by international brands.Lister said by starting with its stores and going backwards in the production chain, it was easy for Primark to be confident of what was going on in the 1,700 supplier factories it uses globally to stock its 290 stores in Britain, Europe and the United States.COMPLICATED CHAINBut he said it started to get trickier to monitor ethical practices moving down the chain to Tier 2 factories producing such items as buttons, zips and fasteners and to Tier 3 factories such as dye houses."The further down the supply chain you go the more complicated it gets," said Lister, who joined Primark's parent company Associated British Foods