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Fighting for Fair Fashion: How Can Garment Workers Make A Fair Living?
**🎙️ The Fashion Stitch – On Fabrics, Facts and Feelings
Episode 1: Fighting for Fair Fashion: How Can Garment Workers Make A Fair Living?**
55-hour weeks. $1.58 per hour. No overtime pay.
These are not the conditions of a faraway sweatshop, but realities for many garment workers in Los Angeles today. In this episode, host Clare Press explores the hidden stories of labor in fashion—past and present—and asks: what will it take to ensure fair wages, dignity, and safety for those who make our clothes?
💡 Beyond the challenges, we also celebrate wins:
● The Garment Worker Protection Act in California
● The historic 1982 Chinatown strike in New York
● The Dindigul Agreement in India, protecting women workers from gender-based violence
⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode discusses sensitive topics including gender-based violence and child labor. Please take care while listening.
Featuring:
● Anahí Cruz and Daisy Gonzalez from The Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles – on organizing against wage theft, the Garment Worker Protection Act and ending piece-rate-pay.
● Katie Quan, former labor organizer – on the historic 1982 garment worker strike in NYC’s Chinatown.
● Sabina Kaldonek from FEMNET e.V. – on gender-based violence and the Dindigul Agreement in South Asia.
● Journalist Carmen Maiwald – on child labor in Turkey’s textile sector.
● Carolin Franitza from OEKO-TEX® – on due diligence, social responsibility, and the role of certifications.
🔑 Topics we cover:
● Why sweatshops are not just “somewhere else”
● The role of trade unions in garment workers’ rights
● Gender pay gaps and workplace discrimination
● Child labor in Turkey and its root causes
● Living wages vs. minimum wages
● How corporate due diligence and certifications can help
📌 Sources and further reading:
● Garment Worker Center
● Chinatown’s Garment Strike of 1982 (ILGWU)
● FEMNET: Gender-based violence in Bangladesh (in German)
● Dindigul Agreement
● Dindigul Agreement – Progress Report
● Unsere Kleidung, ihre Kindheit (Republik) (research on child labor by Carmen Maiwald, in German)
● U.S. Department of Labor – Garment Worker Survey (2023)
● Living vs. Minimum Wage (Fashion Changers) (in German)
● OEKO-TEX® SteP Standard
● Brundtland Report “Our Common Future”
● UN Sustainable Development Goals
💌 Want to dive deeper? Sign up for the OEKO-TEX® newsletter for extra insights and updates: https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/news/
🎧 Credits
The Fashion Stitch is a co-production by OEKO-TEX® and Fashion Changers.
Executive Producer: OEKO-TEX®
Idea and Concept: Vreni Jäckle and Nina Lorenzen from Fashion Changers
Content Editor & Editorial for this episode: Nina Lorenzen
Production & Sound Design: Studio Ton Götze
Podcast Cover Design: Vreni Jäckle
Host: Clare Press
View all episodes
By OEKO-TEX Service GmbH & Fashion Changers**🎙️ The Fashion Stitch – On Fabrics, Facts and Feelings
Episode 1: Fighting for Fair Fashion: How Can Garment Workers Make A Fair Living?**
55-hour weeks. $1.58 per hour. No overtime pay.
These are not the conditions of a faraway sweatshop, but realities for many garment workers in Los Angeles today. In this episode, host Clare Press explores the hidden stories of labor in fashion—past and present—and asks: what will it take to ensure fair wages, dignity, and safety for those who make our clothes?
💡 Beyond the challenges, we also celebrate wins:
● The Garment Worker Protection Act in California
● The historic 1982 Chinatown strike in New York
● The Dindigul Agreement in India, protecting women workers from gender-based violence
⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode discusses sensitive topics including gender-based violence and child labor. Please take care while listening.
Featuring:
● Anahí Cruz and Daisy Gonzalez from The Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles – on organizing against wage theft, the Garment Worker Protection Act and ending piece-rate-pay.
● Katie Quan, former labor organizer – on the historic 1982 garment worker strike in NYC’s Chinatown.
● Sabina Kaldonek from FEMNET e.V. – on gender-based violence and the Dindigul Agreement in South Asia.
● Journalist Carmen Maiwald – on child labor in Turkey’s textile sector.
● Carolin Franitza from OEKO-TEX® – on due diligence, social responsibility, and the role of certifications.
🔑 Topics we cover:
● Why sweatshops are not just “somewhere else”
● The role of trade unions in garment workers’ rights
● Gender pay gaps and workplace discrimination
● Child labor in Turkey and its root causes
● Living wages vs. minimum wages
● How corporate due diligence and certifications can help
📌 Sources and further reading:
● Garment Worker Center
● Chinatown’s Garment Strike of 1982 (ILGWU)
● FEMNET: Gender-based violence in Bangladesh (in German)
● Dindigul Agreement
● Dindigul Agreement – Progress Report
● Unsere Kleidung, ihre Kindheit (Republik) (research on child labor by Carmen Maiwald, in German)
● U.S. Department of Labor – Garment Worker Survey (2023)
● Living vs. Minimum Wage (Fashion Changers) (in German)
● OEKO-TEX® SteP Standard
● Brundtland Report “Our Common Future”
● UN Sustainable Development Goals
💌 Want to dive deeper? Sign up for the OEKO-TEX® newsletter for extra insights and updates: https://www.oeko-tex.com/en/news/
🎧 Credits
The Fashion Stitch is a co-production by OEKO-TEX® and Fashion Changers.
Executive Producer: OEKO-TEX®
Idea and Concept: Vreni Jäckle and Nina Lorenzen from Fashion Changers
Content Editor & Editorial for this episode: Nina Lorenzen
Production & Sound Design: Studio Ton Götze
Podcast Cover Design: Vreni Jäckle
Host: Clare Press