What is the point in having a minimum wage if that wage doesn’t actually provide people with basic life necessities? McDonald’s employees and Garment workers feel this burn. This is where the living wage comes into play. The Asia Floor Wage Alliance has done a phenomenal job at not only identifying the factors that create the living wage but also making it translatable given the change in currency and cost of goods country to country. So, when you are researching garment factories to produce your collection, it is vital that you are educated on that country’s living wage and that your factory is paying their garment workers at or above that salary. Here are the 8 factors that determine a living wage (and their corresponding salaries in Asia to give you a head start).
It’s an widely known fact that we have a vast problem with over consumption in the developed world. The fact that we even have a diagnosable condition for compulsive shopping is a distressing and telling attribute of our modern society. The simple truth is we are consuming more than we need and throwing away more than we have places to dispose. But on our recent trip to India we were shocked by the great work we found being done in the one fast fashion factory we toured. Although this is only one garment manufacturing facility, it challenged our assumptions on the evils of fast fashion, and here’s why.
A year and a half ago, THR3EFOLD launched with the purpose of helping brands grow while providing jobs, education, and well-being to those in need. After a year of pop up shops, photo shoots, marketing campaigns, and seminars, we have learned a lot and have had the pleasure of helping some wonderful brands expand. However, skimming off the top of our profits in order to “give back” just didn’t sit well with us, because it didn’t feel like enough. In fact, it felt like nothing. So this summer our founder, Jessica Kelly, embarked on a research trip to India to make connections, learn about the global supply chain, and ultimately fine tune an idea she originally had at the conception of THR3EFOLD that was put on hold due to its rather grandiose vision.
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