AAFA Urges Cambodian Government to Crack Down on ‘Blood Bricks’ Trade
America’s fashion industry has questions about brick kilns in Cambodia.
In a letter dated Dec. 18, Steve Lamar, president and CEO of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), expressed the trade group’s “great concern” about reports that textile waste is illegally stoking what some describe as Cambodia’s “blood bricks” sector, where the building materials are churned out to support the Southeast Asian nation’s construction efforts at the cost of human rights.
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Kiln owners often consolidate the debts of struggling farmers, who are forced to live and work amid toxic fumes, brick dust and sweltering temperatures until they pay off what they owe, one brick at a time, according to a 2018 report from Royal Holloway, University of London. Workers with families often enlist their relatives to work off their obligations, leading to a multigenerational workforce of bonded adults and children, particularly as debts pass from parent to offspring.
An investigation by Greenpeace’s Unearthed team in 2022 discovered the charred remnants of footwear and clothing from Clarks, Diesel, Michael Kors, Next, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Reebok at five kiln clusters in Cambodia even though the use of fashion scraps as cheap fuel is prohibited, both by the country’s government and according to most brands’ codes of conduct. Earlier this month, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) found pre-consumer waste belonging to Adidas, C&A, Disney, Gap, Lululemon, Primark, Under Armour and others at five operational and two permanently closed brick factories.
While some of the brands named across the two probes said they were investigating the allegations, others insisted that their environmental policies and close monitoring of suppliers would preclude any mishandling of textile waste. Even more did not return emails requesting comment.
LICADHO said that the practice of burning garment waste, which can release poisonous pollutants into the air if improperly handled, causing respiratory distress, headaches and other ailments, has increased in recent years, and that the Cambodian government’s “haphazard” labor inspections of kilns, with zero accountability or known prosecutions for debt bondage and other violations, have failed to curb the human rights and environmental abuses. One follow-up survey by Royal Holloway and a local workers’ union found that 23 out of 465 kilns collectively incinerated several hundred tons of castoff fashion per day.
“The continued burning of garment waste in Cambodian brick factories is hurting brick factory workers, children, communities and the environment,” Naly Pilorge, LICADHO’s outreach director, told Sourcing Journal. “This shameful practice has been publicly documented for years, and it is shocking that international garment brands have failed to end it for good.”
“Every brand sourcing from Cambodia is at risk of causing harm, as waste from dozens of brands has already been found in brick factories,” Pilorge added. “Brands cannot shirk responsibility for their own waste. They have to take responsibility for their entire value chain and leverage their commercial power and influence. They need to take immediate action to protect brick factory workers, their children and the environment.”
In his letter to Prime Minister Hun Manet, Lamar said that the AAFA, whose members include Adidas, Gap, Ralph Lauren and Under Armour, “stands united against child labor, bonded labor, adverse health conditions, and environmental degradation.” Just as important, he added, it doesn’t condone the practices described in the reports.
He urged the Cambodian government to step up its efforts to inspect brick factories and ensure compliance with labor and environmental laws, support initiatives to expand or improve the nation’s waste disposal system, secure the release of bonded laborers, place child laborers in appropriate schooling, and engage, as needed, engage international institutions such as the International Labor Organization to shift to more responsible practices.
“Through our collective policies and practices, we work to prevent the illegal use of our branded products, or the waste generated from the production of our products, from being used in this manner,” Lamar said. “We continue to engage our suppliers to better manage their textile waste.”
